By MARK PRATT
The stays of a sailor from Massachusetts who died when the USS Oklahoma was struck by a number of torpedoes throughout the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor in 1941 are being buried at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday.
The interment comes greater than 80 years after the assault that drew the U.S. into World War II and almost 4 years after the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency introduced that Electrician’s Mate third Class Roman W. Sadlowski, of Pittsfield, had been accounted for utilizing superior DNA and anthropological evaluation, in addition to circumstantial and materials proof.
About 15 members of the family from Massachusetts, Texas and Florida are scheduled to attend the ceremony that was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, mentioned Joe Makarski Jr., who’s Sadlowski’s nephew and who provided a DNA pattern a few decade in the past that was used to assist determine the stays.
“We’re quite excited,” Makarski, 81, mentioned in a phone interview. “It’s been a long time, and I am glad to be alive to finalize it.”
Makarski by no means met his mom’s brother, however he grew up listening to about him.
“I remember my Dad and Mom speaking about him, and they always spoke very highly of him,” he mentioned. “I know he worked at General Electric and he did the books for my mother’s little beauty salon in Pittsfield. Growing up, I always saw his picture at my grandmother’s house.”
Sadlowski, 21, enlisted within the Navy on July 31, 1940, in line with the Navy’s Office of Community Outreach.
As an electrician’s mate his duties included sustaining, working and repairing the battleship’s electrical techniques, motors, mills and alternators.
The USS Oklahoma was among the many first vessels hit throughout the Japanese assault on Dec. 7, 1941, struck by three aerial torpedoes simply earlier than 8 a.m. when many sailors have been nonetheless asleep under deck, in line with Navy accounts.
The port facet was torn open and inside quarter-hour of the primary strike, it had rolled over fully, trapping tons of of crew members. Two members of the crew earned the Medal of Honor for his or her efforts making an attempt to save lots of their fellow sailors, and a 3rd was awarded the Navy Cross.
Sadlowski was amongst 429 USS Oklahoma sailors and marines who died.
Of those that died, 388 couldn’t be recognized and have been buried on the Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
The means of disinterring the stays for DNA evaluation started in 2015, and since then 355 have been recognized, in line with the Navy.
Sadlowski’s household debated the place to have the stays buried, Makarski mentioned. They thought-about veterans’ cemeteries in Massachusetts and Florida, and even thought-about his hometown of Pittsfield, though there are not any recognized members of the family nonetheless dwelling within the western Massachusetts metropolis.
“We talked a lot about it, and decided on Arlington because of its prestige,” he mentioned.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”