Mandan man killed in Pearl Harbor identified

A Mandan man killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 has been accounted for.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) says they have identified the remains of 24-year-old Navy Fireman 2nd Class Albert Renner.

Renner was on the battleship USS West Virginia, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The ship sustained multiple torpedo hits, but counter-flooding measures taken by the crew prevented it from capsizing. It came to rest on the shallow harbor floor. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 106 crewmen, including Renner.

Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crewmen, representing at least 66 individuals. Those who could not be identified, including Renner, were interred as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.

From June through October 2017, DPAA, in cooperation with cemetery officials, disinterred 35 caskets, reported to be associated with the USS West Virginia, from the Punchbowl and transferred the remains to the laboratory for identification.

Renner was accounted for on August 19, 2019.