USS Oklahoma Marine Accounted For From World War II (Taylor, C.)

WASHINGTON – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Marine Pfc. Charles R. Taylor, 26, killed during World War II, was accounted for on July 26, 2021.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Taylor was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Taylor.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing

while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or

https://www.linkedin.com/company/defense-pow-mia-accounting-agency.

Taylor’s personnel profile can be viewed at

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XgDIEA0.

TAYLOR; CHARLES ROBERT
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
WORLD WAR II
State OK
Individual Type Accounted For
Rank PFC
Service Number 284217
Location Pearl Harbor
Date of Loss 12/07/1941
Unit MARINE - UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

On July 26, 2021, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private First Class Charles Robert Taylor, missing from World War II.

Private First Class Taylor entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Oklahoma. He was serving aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) on December 7, 1941, when the ship came under attack from Japanese forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Oklahoma capsized in the attack, and PFC Taylor was among those killed in the incident. His remains were eventually recovered from the ship; however, they could not be identified at the time of their recovery. PFC Taylor's remains were buried as unknown remains at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 2015, the DPAA received authorization to exhume and reexamine unknown remains associated with the Oklahoma using advances in forensic technology. As part of this effort, PFC Taylors remains were disinterred and accessioned into the DPAA laboratory, where they were successfully identified.

Private First Class Taylor is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Charles R Taylor