On Dec. 7, 1941, McMurtrey was assigned to the battleship USS California, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS California sustained multiple torpedoes and bomb hits, which caused it to catch fire and slowly flood. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 103 crewmen, including McMurtrey.
From December 1941 to April 1942, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew and subsequentially interred them in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries in Hawaii.
In September 1947, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. causalities from these cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks as part of their task to recover and identify fallen U.S. personnel from the Pacific Theater. In addition to the 42 causalities initially identified from the USS California after the attack, the laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 39 men from the ship, none of which were McMurtrey. The AGRS subsequently buried the outstanding unidentified remains in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP) (also known as the Punchbowl) in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified the remains of the unidentified USS California crew members, including McMurtrey, as non-recoverable.
In 2018, DPAA personnel exhumed the 25 USS California Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis. Anthropological analysis by scientists at DPAA and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR) analysis by scientists at the Armed Forces Medical Examiners System were used to finally identify McMurtery’s remains.
McMurtrey was officially accounted for on July 31, 2024, over 80 years since his death. McMurtery’s niece, Sharon Gunselman, received the U.S. flag from his funeral service.
(U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery / released)
Funeral Honors
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) Director Kelly K. McKeague, left, offers condolences to Sharon Gunselman following the funeral service for Gunselman’s uncle, U.S. Navy Seaman 1st Class Aaron L. McMurtrey, in Section 69 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. McMurtrey was killed during WWII at age 27.
Sailors conduct military funeral honors with funeral escort for Seaman 1st Class Aaron L. McMurtrey in Section 69 of Arlington National Cemetery, Va., Feb. 13, 2025. McMurtrey was assigned to the USS California on Dec. 7, 1941, when the battleship sustained multiple torpedo and bomb hits during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 103 crew members, including McMurtrey, who was officially accounted for in 2024 after his remains were identified. Credit: Elizabeth Fraser, Army
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