JONES; FRED M
UNITED STATES NAVY
WORLD WAR II
CA
Individual Type Accounted For
Rank MM1
Service Number 3109636
Location Hawaiian Islands
Date of Loss 12/07/1941
Unit USS Oklahoma; UNITED STATES NAVY

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000001DKIovEAH

On August 12, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Machinist's Mate First Class Fred M. Jones, missing from World War II.

Machinist's Mate First Class Jones, who joined the U.S. Navy from California, was aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He was killed in the attack, and although his remains were initially recovered, they could not be identified at that time, and he was buried as an unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In 2015, advances in forensic techniques prompted the reexamination and eventual identification of MM1 Jones' remains.

Machinist's Mate First Class Jones is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/1143486/sailor-killed-in-world-war-ii-identified-jones/

News | April 6, 2017

Sailor Killed in World War II Identified (Jones)

Remains of Machinist's Mate 1st Class Fred M. Jones, killed in the attack on the USS Oklahoma during World War II, have now been identified.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Jones was assigned to the 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 Jones. No single vessel at Pearl Harbor, with the exception of the USS Arizona, suffered as many fatalities.

From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu'uanu Cemeteries.

In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Jones.

In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the NMCP for analysis.

DNA analysis and circumstantial evidence were used in the identification of his remains.

Interment services are pending.

https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/Article/1709839/uss-oklahoma-sailor-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-jones-f/

Press Release | Dec. 11, 2018

USS Oklahoma Sailor Accounted For From World War II (Jones, F.)

WASHINGTON – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Navy Machinist’s Mate 1st Class Fred M. Jones, 31, of Otter Lake, Michigan, killed during World War II, was accounted for on Dec. 5, 2016.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Jones 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 Jones.

From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries.

In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Jones.

In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the NMCP for analysis.

To identify Jones’ remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, which matched a niece and a grand niece, as well as circumstantial evidence and laboratory analysis, to include dental comparisons and anthropological analysis, which matched Jones’ records.

DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their partnership in this mission.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war. Currently there are 72,771 (approximately 26,000 are assessed as possibly-recoverable) still unaccounted for from World War II. Jones’ name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

For family information, contact the Navy Casualty Office at (800) 443-9298.

Jones was buried May 20, 2017, in Port Huron, Michigan.

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 call (703) 699-1420/1169.

Jones’ personnel profile can be viewed at https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000001DKIovEAH

Fred M Jones