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The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Navy Chief Carpenter’s Mate (CCM) Tedd M. Furr, 39, of Selma, killed during World War II, was accounted for on Nov. 5, 2020 and will be laid to rest in April.

Furr joined the U.S. Navy from Alabama. He was aboard the USS Oklahoma (BB-37) on Dec. 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor when the ship came under attack from Japanese forces. The ship sustained multiple torpedo hits and was capsized during the attack.

Furr was among 429 crewmen killed in the incident. His remains were recovered from the ship; however, they could not be identified at the time. Furr was buried as an unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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 (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Furr.

Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.

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

Furr’s name is recorded 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. His body will be buried on April 2, 2025, in the Punchbowl.

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

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

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420/1193.