Last November and December, we shared the story of John Henry Mann’s death at Hickam Field in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, making him the first World War II casualty from Chautauqua County. After passing the letter from Michael Tom to the Harmony Historical Society, we thought that we would never know anything else about John and his family.
Then, on June 24, the Fenton received a message from Carole Bakalar, Ruth Mann’s daughter and John Henry’s niece telling us that they had identified John’s remains. She also informed us that the family was in the process of making arrangements to bring him home for burial.
Here is what we now know about John following the attack at Hickam Field. According to an article from Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, “In the days following the attack, Navy personnel recovered the remains of U.S. Army and U.S. Army Air Forces casualties, which were subsequently interred in the Schofield Barracks Cemetery.
In August 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel from World War II, members of the American Graves Registration Service disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the Schofield Cemetery and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was unable to confirm the identifications of twelve men from the Hickam Field attack at that time, including “Unknown Case 195”, later redesignated X-195. The AGRS American Graves Registration Service subsequently buried the unidentified remains in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. On Dec. 27, 1948, a military board classified Mann as non-recoverable.”
Then we received a press release from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency with the following information:
In June 2019, (DPAA) Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency personnel began exhuming the 12 Schofield Barracks Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis. X-195 was disinterred in 2020 and accessioned into the DPAA Laboratory.
To identify Mann’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological and dental analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis.
Mann’s name is recorded in the Courts 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.
Mann will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on a date yet to be determined.”
We do not know when he will be buried but are grateful to know that he will be honored by being laid to rest with his comrades in arms at Arlington Cemetery.
