Remains Of Mass. Sailor Who Died At Pearl Harbor Identified
PALMER (CBS) - The remains of a Massachusetts sailor who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor have been identified.
"It's very, very moving to me," said Marge Cavanaugh of Palmer, who wasn't sure this day would arrive. "It's the hub actually of our little, small town."
A life-long resident of Three Rivers, a village of Palmer, she remembers when the park was named for seaman first class Frank Hryniewicz, the first town resident killed serving in WWII.
The park was dedicated at the end of WWII. Using DNA the Navy was finally able to identify the remains of its namesake.
The Hryniewicz family, who is no longer in Palmer, was asked for DNA several years ago, but they didn't think anything would come of it.
"No, I didn't think so. We never found out after the war, where he was, what happened," said Peter Hryniewicz, Jr., Frank's cousin.
The DNA matched unnamed remains buried in Hawaii. Hryniewicz was 20 years old when he was killed in Pearl Harbor. The discovery has in a way brought him back to life almost 80 years later.
"It will make more real to them rather than just a name on a piece of stone," said Cavanaugh.
She appears to be right.
"I thought it was pretty cool that they actually found this guy. I didn't know that he wasn't identified," said Palmer resident Talon Armitage.
"I want to know what he did before he went to war, like who he was," said Taylor Gatto.
That question gives Cavanaugh, who is a Korean War veteran, hope that a younger generation will look beyond the names etched in memorials.
"We're not just going to say OK that's over that's done with. These men and women fought for our country. They preserved our freedom and we're not going to forget that," said Cavanaugh.
