War victim's family calls hometown burial bittersweet experience
By Timberly Ferree, staff writer
Family of fallen WWII soldier Alfred Eugene Livingston, a former Worthington resident, is experiencing mixed emotions as the date of his bittersweet homecoming approaches.
Until a recent identification through dental records, Livington's remains were buried as an unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Livington perished in 1941 while serving in the U.S. Navy on the USS Oklahoma during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
His nephew, Douglas Hobbs explained, Just growing up I always heard stories about my uncle and how he died in Pearl Harbor from my mother (Lois Hobbs) whenever she would talk about it.
Lois Hobbs, is Livington's next of kin, but Doug Hobbs is his mother's power of attorney, he explained during a phone interview earlier this week.
I don't know if it's really hit her yet but she's excited, he explained- noting that the reality of the situation has not quite hit home.
We were excited and disappointed on the same hand knowing that all this time he could have been identified, Hobbs said- noting that dental records and historical evidence reclaimed his uncle's identity.
On July 21, Livingston will be put to rest at the Worthington Cemetery with full military honor, Hobbs explained.
Livingston has other living relatives that are also happy about the news, Hobbs said.
My mother and myself are not the only closest relatives... there are several of us. There are several nieces and nephews, Hobbs explained. It's exciting for us.
Heather Harris, a historian for the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Honolulu, Hickam Air Force Base, explained in an interview earlier this week, We actually did not make this identification based on DNA. We made it on historical evidence based on dental records...a dental match between the paper records we have for Livington and the pieces for the unknown.
According to Harris, Livingston's identification would have not been possible without the research of Ray Emory, an 86-year old Peal Harbor survivor.
Mr. Emory started doing this in 1968. He conducts extensive research on Pearl Harbor, researching casualty lists...along the way he started researching into buried unknowns since the late '90s. He contacted us about Livingston, Harris explained.
NEWS RELEASES from the United States
Department of Defense
No. 906-07 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 20, 2007
Missing WWII Sailor is Identified
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
He is Fireman 3rd Class Alfred E. Livingston, U.S. Navy, of Worthington, Ind.He will be buried on Saturday in Worthington.
On Dec. 7, 1941, Livingston was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma when it was attacked by Japanese torpedo aircraft and capsized in Pearl Harbor.The ship sustained massive casualties.Livingston was one of hundreds declared killed in action whose body was not recovered.In the aftermath of the attack, some remains were recovered from the waters of Pearl Harbor.One set of sailor's remains was recovered and thought to be associated with the USS Arizona losses.However, when efforts to identify the sailor failed, it was inconclusive what ship he was assigned to and he was buried as an unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as The Punchbowl.
In 2006, a Pearl Harbor survivor and researcher, contacted the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) and suggested that the biological and dental information on file for the unknown sailor may be correlated with Livingston's personnel file.JPAC's analysts studied the documentation and found enough evidence to support the researcher's findings that Livingston was actually recovered after the war even though he was originally listed as one of the hundreds of unrecoverable servicemen from the attack on Pearl Harbor.In February 2007, the grave for the unknown sailor was exhumed.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC also used dental comparisons in the identification of Livingston's remains.
For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site athttp://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/ or call (703) 699-1420.
