James Richard Ward, age 20, from Springfield, Ohio, Clark county.
Parents: Howard Joseph Ward
Service era: World War II
Military history: Uss Oklahoma; United States Navy
Date of death: Sunday, December 7, 1941
Death details: On August 19, 2021, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Seaman First Class James Richard Ward, missing from World War II.
Seaman First Class Ward entered the U.S. Navy from Ohio. On December 7, 1941, he was aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) when it came under attack from Japanese forces at Pearl Harbor. The Oklahoma capsized as a result of torpedo hits, and SEA1 Ward was among those killed in the attack. His remains were recovered from the ship following the incident; however, they could not be identified at the time, and were buried as unknown remains at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 2015, the DPAA received authorization to exhume unknown remains associated with the Oklahoma and reexamine them using advances in forensic techniques. As part of this effort, SEA1 Ward’s remains were disinterred and accessioned into the DPAA laboratory, where they were successfully identified.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
