TUMLINSON; VICTOR PATRICK

UNITED STATES NAVY

WORLD WAR II

TX

Individual Type Accounted For

Rank FCM3

Service Number 3601838

Location Hawaiian Islands

Date of Loss 12/07/1941

Unit USS Oklahoma; UNITED STATES NAVY

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XgBHEA0

On February 8, 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Fire Controlman Third Class Victor Patrick Tumlinson, missing from World War II.

Fire Controlman Tumlinson joined the U.S. Navy from Texas and was serving aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) during the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. He was killed in the attack, and while his remains were recovered from the ship following the incident, they could not be individually identified at the time. FCM3 Tumlinson's remains were initially buried as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii. In 2015, advances in forensic techniques prompted the reexamination of unknown remains associated with the Oklahoma, leading to the identification of FCM3 Tumlinson.

Fire Controlman Third Class Tumlinson is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

USS Oklahoma Sailor Accounted For From World War II

Oct. 22, 2019

WASHINGTON— The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Navy Fire Controlman 3rd Class Victor P. Tumlinson, 19, of Raymondville, Texas, killed during World War II, was accounted for on Feb. 8, 2019.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Tumlinson was assigned to the battleship 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 Tumlinson. 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, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Tumlinson.

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 Punchbowl for analysis.

To identify Tumlinson’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.

DPAA is grateful to the Department of Veterans Affairs for their partnership in this mission.

For family information, contact the Navy Service Casualty office at (800) 443-9298.

Tumlinson will be buried Dec. 7, 2019, in his hometown.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.dpaa.mil/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420/1169.

Tumlinson’s personnel profile can be viewed at

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XgBHEA0

Victor P Tumlinson