Art News

National Park Service’s Chief Historian Says Three Possible Japanese Airmen for Skull

HONOLULU (AP).- The skull found in Pearl Harbor believed to be from a Japanese pilot in the Dec. 7, 1941 attack could belong to one of three airmen who were aboard a torpedo plane that was shot down where the surprising discovery was recently made. Daniel Martinez, the National Park Service’s chief historian for Pearl Harbor, said Friday he and historian Mike Wenger planned to spend the weekend researching the names of the three Japanese men on a Nakajima B5N2 bomber that went down in the area where the skull was discovered during dredging in April. Forensic scientists with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command on Oahu are conducting tests to confirm that the skull belongs to one of 55 Japanese airmen killed in the attack. Martinez said the Nakajima B5N2, also known as a Kate bomber, was shot down in the southeast loch of the harbor. That’s where an excavation crew in April found the skull during overnight dredging in water