ARLINGTON, Va. — On Monday, May 11, 2026, USS Arizona family member Kevin Kline spoke at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s All Hands meeting at DPAA Headquarters in Arlington before an audience of more than 800 employees joining in person and from locations around the world.
The event also included senior leadership from the Office of the Secretary of War, including Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata and Deputy Under Secretary Sean O’Keefe.
Kline, Executive Director of USS Arizona Operation 85 and grandnephew of GM2c Robert Edwin Kline, addressed the agency on the family-led effort that helped move the USS Arizona Unknown Identification Project forward after years of delay. His remarks focused on the growth of Operation 85, the scale of family participation, and the broader importance of restoring names to unidentified American service members.
Following his remarks, DPAA Director Kelly McKeague presented Kline with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Superior Public Service Award Medal, personally pinning the medal on him during the ceremony.
According to the award certificate, Kline was recognized for “extraordinary leadership and unwavering dedication” as Executive Director of Operation 85. The citation credits his efforts with helping secure the family reference samples needed to advance the identification of USS Arizona unknowns and describes his work as instrumental to achieving the threshold required for the project to move forward. The award is dated May 11, 2026, and signed by Director Kelly McKeague.
The recognition marked a major milestone for Operation 85, which has spent the past three years locating, engaging, and organizing families connected to the USS Arizona unknowns buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
The disinterment and identification process tied to that effort is now scheduled to begin on December 7, 2026, coinciding with the 85th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
For those interested, the full video of Kline’s remarks and the award presentation is available to watch at the link below.