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SW Michigan Sailors Killed At Pearl Harbor Identified

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Two more sailors from southwest Michigan killed during the Japanese attack on Peral Harbor 80 years ago have been found and identified.

The Pentagon says the relatives of seamen first class Joe Nightingale of Kalamazoo and Wesley Graham of Watervliet have been notified. Both were sailors aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma when it was bombed and torpedoed on December 7th, 1941. The ship later capsized, trapping many of its crew underwater.

The Defense Department says the bodies of both men were recovered from the Oklahoma after it was raised but were not able to be identified at that time. Nightingale and Graham Both were buried in cereteries in Hawaii.

The Pentagon began exhuming unidentified sailors from the battleship in 2015. Using DNA analysis and other modern techniques, Nightingale's remains were identified in 2019. Graham was identified the following year.

Nightingale and Graham will be reburied at Fort Custer National Cemetery near Augusta in the late fall of 2021.

Andy Robins has been WMUK's News Director since 1998 and a broadcast journalist for over 24 years. He joined WMUK's staff in 1985. Under his direction, WMUK has received numerous awards for news reporting.
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