Twin brothers — one who survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and one who did not — will be buried together 75 years later.
John Anderson, who survived the attack, lost his twin brother, Jake, who was among the 1,177 sailors and Marines who died on the USS Arizona, according to a report by the Forum News Service.
Many of the sailors and marines were entombed when the ship sank on December 7, 1941.
Navy divers will inter John’s cremated remains in the No. 4 turret of the USS Arizona. The cremated remains of another man who survived the attack will also be interred.
John, who died last November at the age of 98, reportedly felt guilty that he survived and his brother did not.
“For years, John was hesitant to even talk about Jake, He always carried a guilt burden that he couldn’t get Jake. And finally one day, I said, ‘John, you never really mention Jake, why is that?’ And he said. ‘I always felt funny that I lived and he didn’t. I always wondered why I was spared and he wasn’t.’ He just felt like he let himself down, and Jake down as well as the rest of the family,” Karolyn Anderson, John’s wife, told the news service.
Even 75 years later, the Navy’s Exchange Service Command’s Uniform Support Center continues to work to ensure a proper burial for those killed in Pearl Harbor, according to a press release by the Navy.
“The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) laboratory in Hawaii continues to work to identify the remains of Sailors and Marines who were killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941,” the Navy said.
“At that time, many service members’ remains were buried together because they couldn’t be identified. However, as technology has improved over the years and family DNA can be used to identify remains, DPAA is now able to return service members back to their loved ones for burial,” said the Navy.