COKE; GEORGE ANDERSON
UNITED STATES NAVY
WORLD WAR II
TX
Individual Type Accounted For
Rank SEA1
Service Number 3564982
Location Hawaiian Islands
Date of Loss 12/07/1941
Unit USS Oklahoma; UNITED STATES NAVY

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000001DKIoqEAH

On September 23, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Seaman First Class George Anderson Coke, missing from World War II.

Seaman First Class Coke, who joined the U.S. Navy from Texas, was aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He was killed in the attack, and although his remains were initially recovered, they could not be identified at that time, and he was buried as an unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In 2015, advances in forensic techniques prompted the reexamination and eventual identification of SEA1 Coke's remains.

Seaman First Class Coke is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/1143481/sailor-killed-in-world-war-ii-identified-coke/

News | April 6, 2017

Sailor Killed in World War II Identified (Coke)

Remains of Seaman 1st Class George A. Coke, killed in the attack on the USS Oklahoma during World War II, have now been identified.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Coke was assigned to the USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Coke. No single vessel at Pearl Harbor, with the exception of the USS Arizona, suffered as many fatalities.

From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu'uanu Cemeteries.

In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Coke.

In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the NMCP for analysis.

DNA analysis and circumstantial evidence were used in the identification of his remains.

Interment services are pending.

https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/1217613/uss-oklahoma-sailor-killed-during-world-war-ii-accounted-for-coke/

Press Release | June 16, 2017

USS Oklahoma Sailor Killed During World War II Accounted For (Coke)

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman from World War II have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Navy Seaman 1st Class George A. Coke, 18, of Arlington, Texas, will be buried June 24 in his hometown. On Dec. 7, 1941, Coke was assigned to the USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Coke.

From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries.

In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Coke.

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In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015, DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the NMCP for analysis.

To identify Coke’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) which matched a cousin and Y chromosome (Y-STR) DNA analysis, which matched a nephew, as well as circumstantial evidence and laboratory analysis, to include dental comparisons and anthropological analysis, which matched Coke’s records.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war. Currently there are 73,054 service members (approximately 34,000 are assessed as possibly-recoverable) still unaccounted for from World War II.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420.