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Navy Sailor from Detroit who was killed in Pearl Harbor accounted for

Posted at 8:54 AM, Apr 19, 2022
and last updated 2022-04-19 08:54:49-04

(WXYZ) — A U.S. Navy Sailor Sailor from Detroit who was killed during Pearl Harbor has been accounted for.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Tuesday that Navy Seaman 2nd Class Tceollyar Simmons, 18, from Detroit, was accounted for on Nov. 18, 2021.

Simmons was assigned to the USS California, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when it was attacked by Japanese aircraft.

The USS California sustained multiple torpedo and bomb hits, and caught fire before slowly flooding.

In all, 104 crewmen, including Simmons, were killed.

From December 1941 to April 1942, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew which were then interred at the Halawa and Nu'uanu Cemeteries.

To identify Simmons' remains, scientists from the DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis.

Simmons’ name is recorded on the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts 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.

He will be buried on June 14, 2022 in Hacoa, Alabama.