For only the third time, military forensic experts have identified a casualty of the attack on Pearl Harbor who was buried as an unknown 64 years ago.

Seaman 2nd Class Warren P. Hickok, an 18-year-old sailor from Kalamazoo, Mich., assigned to the USS Sicard, was identified by the Hawai'i-based Joint Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Command at Hickam Air Force Base.

Just like the two unknowns identified before him, Hickok was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and disinterred after amateur historian Ray Emory convinced officials that he could prove the identity.

The 84-year-old Emory, a Pearl Harbor survivor, helped with the 2003 identification of Payton L. Vanderpool Jr., a 22-year-old fireman second class, and the 2001 identification of Thomas Hembree, a 17-year-old apprentice seaman.

Hickok's younger sister, Marilyn Woodring, was briefed on the identification process by four Navy officers yesterday in her home in Clearwater, Fla.

But it was no surprise. She was contacted months ago by Emory, a retired mechanical contractor from Kahala.

The 80-year-old Woodring wasn't sure how to feel yesterday.

"You know, it has been so many years," she said. "It is not like it just happened. You are not upset. In fact, you are kind of glad that they found him. And that we can have a funeral for him."

PUNCHBOWL LIKELY

Funeral arrangements have not been decided, but Woodring said she thinks her family will return her brother to his grave at Punchbowl.

Army Maj. Rumi Nielson-Green, a spokeswoman for the identification lab at Hickam, said Hickok was identified primarily based on dental records. He also closely matched the biological profile of the remains in age, height and ethnicity, she said.

And one more thing: Hickok had a healed fracture in his right leg, just like the unknown remains.

Hickok was assigned to the Sicard, which was being overhauled when the Japanese forces attacked on Dec. 7, 1941. He was among a group of sailors in nearby barracks who were sent to help defend the USS Cummings and the USS Pennsylvania.

Exactly how he died is unclear, but Emory said he thinks Hickok was killed when a bomb hit the Pennsylvania.

The remains were disinterred in June. Emory was there, as he has been for the others. Identifying the unknown at Punchbowl has become a mission for him.

WORK ISN'T DONE

Emory found Hickok while researching the fate of sailors killed when the Pennsylvania was attacked.

Their remains were never identified, but because the Navy knew their names, Emory was able to request their personnel deceased files.

With those in hand, he sought to compare them with the military's so-called "unknown files" from the attack. He has about 160 of those files.

Emory found a match with Hickok's file and gave the information to the Hickam command in November 2003. He felt the dental records and the healed leg fracture would prove his case.

Emory said yesterday that he isn't finished naming the unknown.

"I've got some more right behind this as soon as I get some dental records," he said. "I'm on it. You haven't heard the end of this story yet."

Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.