Body identified as that of missing Oklahoma serviceman from World War II

Wednesday, December 14th 2005, 2:49 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Human remains found on Kiska Island off Alaska have been identified as that of a Navy seaman from Oklahoma who went missing in action in World War II, the Defense Department said Wednesday.

Seaman 2nd Class Dee Hall was one of seven crewmen aboard a PBY-5 Catalina flying boat that left Kodiak Island, Alaska, on June 14, 1942, to attack Japanese targets in Kiska Harbor in the Aleutians, the department said in a news release.

The plane crashed on the side of Kiska Volcano in bad weather and under heavy Japanese anti-aircraft fire.

The wreckage was found after the United States retook the island from the Japanese in August 1943. The remains of the crew were buried in a common grave marked "Seven U.S.N. Airmen" with a wooden marker. Following the war, attempts to locate the common grave were unsuccessful.

In 2002, a wildlife biologist found the wreckage. The crash site was excavated in August 2003 and the remains were found buried nearby.

The Defense Department identified Hall's hometown as Syra, Okla. However, that town name does not appear on state maps.

The remains are to be buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio. He is survived by a sister, Lee Gordon, who lives in Floresville, Texas.