PART 1 OF 2
PART 2 TO FOLLOWThe Patriot Guard Riders have been invited to accompany Fireman First Class Everett Cecil Titterington, 20, of Milford, Iowa from the airport to the funeral home in preparation to be laid to rest at Riverside National Cemetery. It will our honor to accompany this repatriated WWII hero from the Greatest Generation.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that Navy Fireman 1st Class (F1c) Everett C. Titterington, 21, of Milford, Iowa, killed during World War II, was accounted for on March 23, 2021.
On December 7, 1941, Titterington was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 Sailors and Marines, including F1c Titterington.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Titterington.
Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis.
To identify Titterington’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), Y chromosome DNA (Y-STR), and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.
F1c Titterington’s name is recorded on the Walls 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.
NOTE: This mission posting is to facilitate your voluntary participation in honoring this military veteran. For those interested, and all PGR members are welcome, we will be accompanying this WWII hero from the airport to the funeral home, approximately 17 miles. Please see the timetable if you would like to participate. For those who would rather go directly to the mortuary, we will meet you there
TIMETABLE FOR WEDNESDAY, 04 SEPTEMBER 20241715: Stage at Jack and the Box, Holt Blvd, Ontario, CA.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ds5vz7RVPeesTGLY91745: Mission briefing.
1815: Move to arrival location.
1900: KSU Tillman Riverside Mortuary, 2874 Tenth St., Riverside, CA.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/FQSMYALkyNo9LroL6TOM BARRY
California PGR State Captain
casc@patriotguard.org
714-206-1227You do not have to be a veteran or a motorcycle rider to attend this mission. All PGR members are welcome. We encourage those who do not ride to attend in your car. If this will be your first mission go to the initial staging area and you will be briefed there by the Ride Captain (RC). Dress for motorcycle riding or dress casually if you are driving a cage (car). Please feel free to attend any portion of this mission you can. Please ride/drive safely.
