About Operation 85

Our Mission

The U.S.S. Arizona “Operation 85” is a civilian volunteer effort to assist the POW / MIA Defense Accounting Agency (DPAA) in locating and acquiring the DNA samples of a minimum of 643 family members that are blood related to the 1072 unrecovered sailors and marines killed aboard the U.S.S. Arizona.  With that, we hope the Armed Forces Medical Examiners Office can match those family DNA samples to potentially 85 (or more) unknown U.S.S. Arizona service members currently commingled and buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hi.

Our goal is to have the required minimum 643 family DNA samples by or before the 85th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 2026; and ultimately to have all “unknowns” of the U.S.S. Arizona identified.

To everyone…. we say…… Welcome aboard the U.S.S. Arizona.

 

“Operation 85” – Family & Partner Commencement Address – Kevin Kline

 

Disclaimer: This website and “Operation 85” is managed and maintained by family members of the unrecovered U.S.S. Arizona crew members killed December 7, 1941. We are not in any way affiliated with or endorsed by the United States Department of Defense, any military service, veterans organization, the DPAA, the National Park Service or any other U.S. government entity.  Operation 85 acts only as an intermediary to locate and connect with family members of the U.S.S. Arizona crew.

The U.S.S. Arizona “Operation 85” © 2023

Kline's at the USS Arizona Memorial

Passing the Torch to the Next Generation of U.S.S. Arizona Family Members

As we get further and further away from the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, there is a chance that information and knowledge of family history from the U.S.S. Arizona and the attack on Pearl Harbor may get lost with each dying generation.  It’s important to pass on your family history and instill the importance of those that served, and those that gave the ultimate sacrifice.  The U.S.S. Arizona’s “Operation 85” Founder and Executive Director Kevin Kline, takes time at the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial to pass a torch to his two young daughters, honoring their fallen uncle GM2c Robert Kline at a flag raising ceremony on the Arizona Memorial in August 2022.