Albany native who died at Pearl Harbor will be re-interred on anniversary of attack

ALBANY — After efforts in the 1950s and in recent years to identify bodies of U.S. service members who died nearly 80 years ago during the attack on Pearl Harbor, most of the 394 servicemen who were killed have been returned to their families for burial.

Among the 51 who have not been identified is Albany native Petty Officer First Class Walter Benjamin Manning, an electrician’s mate on the battleship U.S.S. Oklahoma, which was sunk during the surprise Japanese attack on military bases in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941.

On the 80th anniversary of the attack that brought the United States into World War II, Manning and his 50 comrades will be re-interred together at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, located in the Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu.

“On the morning of Dec. 7, he had just finished his shift on radio operations,” said Joyce Manning, wife of Manning’s nephew, George Manning. “He had gone back down to his bunk for his nap.”

An initial attempt was made to identify bodies in the 1950s using dental records, she said. More recently, the military made another attempt.

“About six or eight years ago, the Navy wrote a letter to my husband asking for his DNA,” she said. “They had decided that with DNA they might be able to identify some more people, and they did. He (Manning) was not identified. There were 51 families that never got an ID.”

Still, Manning’s family was impressed by the efforts made on the behalf of those who fell at Pearl Harbor, and George and Joyce’s two daughters and son, Merrie Manning Conaway, Melanie Manning Adler, and George Kilpatrick Manning Jr., plan to attend the December ceremony.

“People from each family have been invited to attend at the Navy’s expense, which I think was really laudable,” Joyce Manning said. “We’re very proud that Walter has been recognized like this and impressed too with the Navy for all the work they have done through the MIA/POW program.”

Walter Manning’s brother, George “Mutt” Manning, grew up in Albany, and there are still relatives who live in the area, Joyce Manning said. There is a memorial for Walter Manning at the family’s cemetery section in Albany.

George and Joyce Manning visited the U.S.S. Oklahoma Memorial site at Pearl Harbor several years ago.

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