Remains of Ohio Navy fireman identified 80 years after Pearl Harbor

Ohio Navy Fireman 1st Class Beoin H. Corzatt’s remains were finally identified eight decades after he was killed on the USS Oklahoma in Pearl Harbor.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency made the announcement on Friday that he was accounted for on Dec. 17, 2020.

On Dec. 7, 1941, Corzatt was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. Corzatt was from Arcanum, Ohio and was 24-years-old.

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The ship was struck by several torpedoes, causing it to capsize, which claimed the lives of 429 crewmen, including Corzatt.

From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of those involved in the historic Pearl Harbor attack.

The recovered remains were then interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu cemeteries in Hawaii. In September 1947, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) removed the remains and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks.

AGRS then buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.

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The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time.

A military board classified the unidentified bodies in October 1949, including Corzatt. 

To identify Corzatt’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR), and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.

Corzatt’s name is on the Walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII. 

A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Corzatt will be placed in his final resting place on Sept. 21, 2022, at the Punchbowl.