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Holyoke native killed in attack on Pearl Harbor to be buried Jan. 27
Merle Hillman’s family received a call Nov. 1 that his remains had been identified after close to 83 years since his death.
When Cheryl Quinn received a letter from the U.S. Navy in 2011 requesting she send DNA samples in an attempt to identify the remains of her uncle, who died in the 1941 attacks on Pearl Harbor, she didn’t think anything of it. She complied, and as the years went on, she forgot all about it.
But on Nov. 1, Quinn received a phone call. It was from a high ranking Navy official telling her the remains of her uncle Merle Hillman had been identified.
“It was totally out of the blue,” said Quinn, who lives in Holyoke. “I wasn’t expecting to hear this at all.”
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Hillman, a native of Holyoke, was on board the battleship USS California during the Dec. 7 attacks on Pearl Harbor almost 83 years ago. After decades of seeking closure about her uncle, Quinn and her family will finally be able to bury Hillman’s remains in his hometown on Jan. 27.
Hillman, a sailor who enlisted in the Navy in 1937, was a second-class pharmacist’s mate at the time of his death. He was promoted four times while serving, climbing up the ranks from seaman apprentice to hospital apprentice and finally pharmacist’s mate, a position that saw him rendering medical assistance to patients.
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Hillman, 25, was aboard the USS California while it was moored at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). The ship sustained torpedo and bomb hits, killing 104 crewmen, including Hillman.
In the late 1940s, members of the American Graves Registration Service began exhuming some remains of American casualties in an effort to identify them, but could only identify 39 of them at the time. Hillman’s unidentified remains were then transferred to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, where many unknown sailors from the Pearl Harbor attack were buried.
Around the same time, a military board classified unidentified remains, including Hillman’s, as non-recoverable.
“All [my father and Hillman’s sister] knew was that he was considered missing-in-action and had died in Pearl Harbor,” Quinn said.
Despite the limited information about his fate, Quinn and other relatives of Hillman kept his memory alive, thinking of and remembering him on the anniversary of the attack.
“We always knew that he had given his life for his country, and we didn’t really know a whole lot more about him,” said Quinn. “But we always thought of him, especially on the anniversary of December 7.”
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Hillman’s remains were buried at the cemetery until 2018, when DPAA reinvigorated efforts to identify unaccounted-for sailors. The agency unearthed 25 remains from the Cemetery of the Pacific and was able to identify five, including Hillman’s.
Quinn credits advancements in technology as part of why her uncle’s remains can now be brought home. Officials used a combination of DNA testing and dental records to identify Hillman, she said.
The DPAA website also said scientists used mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome analysis to link remains to soldiers who lost their lives.
“I’m just so glad they finally did it in our lifetime. He’ll be coming home [Jan. 24], and he’s going to get a funeral that he’s so justly deserved,” Quinn said.
After Quinn and her family received the call that Hillman’s remains were identified, the Navy brought them a book that detailed more about his life and service.
“[The Navy chief] came to the house here and brought us a book that explained all about what had happened since Pearl Harbor, where his remains had been buried, medical, dental records,” Quinn said. “Basically, it told the story of the whole time he was in service, which was way more than my father and his sister knew.”
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On Jan. 24, the family will travel to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut to retrieve Hillman’s remains. His remains will be buried at 11 a.m. on Jan. 27 in St. Jerome Cemetery in Holyoke with full military honors.
Coincidentally, Hillman’s remains are being brought home by another sailor who is also a native of Holyoke.
“[The sailor] called me and said ‘I’m a Holyoke boy bringing home a Holyoke boy,’” Quinn said. “It just makes it a little more personal, that he had somebody from our city that’s going to be escorting him home.”
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