Remains of 20-year-old Wichita man killed at Pearl Harbor have been identified

A 20-year-old Wichita man killed when the battleship he was aboard was hit with torpedoes during the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor has been identified, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Thursday.

The morning blitz killed more than 2,400 Americans, injured about 1,250 more and thrust the U.S. into WWII. Navy Ship’s Cook 3rd Class Robert Goodwin was assigned to battleship USS Oklahoma. Multiple torpedoes hit the battleship, capsizing it and killing 429 crewmen, including Goodwin.

His remains were identified in November using “dental and anthropological analysis” as well as mitochondrial DNA, according to the DPAA.

A burial is planned for him on May 14 in Topeka.

Goodwin’s remains were among those buried in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

“Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS Oklahoma Unknowns ... for analysis” and were able to identify Goodwin, the DPAA said.

This story was originally published April 15, 2021 at 2:15 PM.