Kevin Kline always believed his missing uncle’s final resting place was either within the sunken U.S.S. Arizona battleship at Pearl Harbor, HI or lies beneath the solemn U.S.S. Arizona Memorial.  But a recent trip to Hawaii with his family revealed something he and his entire family never knew. There were many remains from the U.S.S. Arizona that were removed from the ship, never identified and left buried 10 miles away from Pearl Harbor in commingled graves marked “Unknown”.

In November of 2022, Kline attended a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) “Family Member Update” (FMU) in Norfolk, VA. He wanted to know when the unknown crew members buried from his uncle’s ship would be identified.  The answer he received from DPAA officials both shocked and infuriated him.

An internal DoD policy put a threshold on the minimum number of crew members needed that must have DNA Family Reference Samples (FRS) on file at the Armed Forces DNA Identification Lab (AFDIL) from the U.S.S. Arizona in order to consider any disinterment or identification of the unknowns from the USS Arizona.  The U.S.S. Arizona, having incurred the largest loss of life during the attack on Pearl Harbor (1,177) would require 643 crew members (60%) of the still missing 1,072 to have FRS on file.

Kline accepted that as a logical answer at the time to ensure a large number of family participation for DNA matching prior to disturbing any graves. But it was the answer to Kline’s follow up question that lit the flame for Operation 85 and this charitable foundation to be born.

Kline’s question was simple; “What is the DPAA currently doing to meet that 60% FRS threshold of the U.S.S. Arizona crew and when did they expect to have enough family DNA to begin the identification process?”

According to a March 2022 feasibility study conducted by the Assistant Secretary of Navy Manpower & Reserve Affairs, the DPAA officials cited to Kline it would take 10 years, $2.9 million and 12,600 Navy man hours to locate and solicit DNA Family Reference Samples to meet the threshold of identifying the USS Arizona unknowns. They replied since they only have 18 current FRS on file, it would be both impractical and a bad use of their department resources to locate thousands of family members, just to potentially identify 85 or so of the unknown crew.

The answer he received was one that has inspired Kline and many others to volunteer and push for change within the DPAA leadership, culture and policy.

OPERATION 85 was launched by Kline on April 6, 2023 to successfully do the work the DPAA refused to do; finding the surviving family members, solicit their DNA samples to the US Navy and US Marines Corps casualty offices, and working towards real reform and change within an agency that should never tell a family member “it’s not worth the agency’s time and resources to work towards the identification of any American service member”.

OPERATION 85’s success has been a game changer, and with the help of three professional volunteers, together they have debunked almost all of the excuses and talking points the DPAA had given Kline and so many other families of the USS Arizona unknowns, along with many other families of other conflicts and wars where Americans are still missing or unidentified. You can see their progress at their main project website: www.USSArizona.navy.