Remains of Minnesota WWII Sailor to be Laid to Rest in May

MANKATO (AP) _ The remains of a southern Minnesota sailor killed at Pearl Harbor will be laid to rest more than seven decades after his death.

The Mankato Free Press reports that 22-year-old Radioman 2nd Class Quentin Gifford was on the USS Oklahoma when it was capsized by torpedoes in December 1941. The U.S. Navy had listed Gifford as lost in action since February 1942.

Human remains from the attack site were taken to a Navy lab in 1941. Those that couldn't be identified were buried in a Hawaii gravesite. The Navy began exhuming soldiers in 2015 to analyze their DNA. Three of Gifford's siblings contributed DNA for analysis in 2016. Gifford's remains were identified in July.

A family member says services will be held at Fort Snelling National Cemetery on May 2.