Sibling’s DNA could help ID slain sailor - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Sibling’s DNA could help ID slain sailor

DALLAS — For decades, Sandy Patton has kept a letter from her Navy brother when he was stationed on the Oklahoma before the battleship was attacked at Pearl Harbor.

DNA from that letter could help Patton, 89, of Trophy Club, identify the remains of her brother, who died in the 1941 attack by the Japanese.

She provided a DNA sample last year to military experts working to identify remains from past U.S. battles, including those of Starring Winfield, 22.

Patton, who was among nearly 300 people at a meeting last weekend in San Antonio to update military survivors, was assured that identifying Winfield's remains was a priority for the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command in Honolulu, The Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday.

"It wasn't exactly what I expected," said Patton, who had hoped to learn that her sibling's remains were identified. "But they assured us that they were working long and hard and wouldn't stop until they got answers for the people who lost a loved one."

More than a year passed before the hull of the ship was righted and the bodies removed. Only 35 were identified. The rest went into mass graves, many which have been reopened.

"I said I just happened to have a letter my brother wrote from the Oklahoma," Patton said. "They asked if I had the envelope, and they said they'd take very good care of it."

The hope is that Winfield licked the flap of the envelope to seal the letter, leaving behind his DNA, which can be compared to his sister's for a final identification.