KILLED  IN  ACTION

Marvin Birch Adkins was reportedly born on August 3, 1921 in Sherman County, Oregon.  He enlisted in the U.S. Navy from Arizona on November 10, 1939 and following recruit training was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma on January 24, 1940.  Historical records indicate he was promoted to Gunners Mate Third Class on July 1, 1941.  Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, GM3 Adkins was one of the 429 crewmen who died in the attack when the Oklahoma was struck by torpedoes, capsized and sank to the bottom.  Unfortunately, his body was not identified when it was recovered after the battle and his remains were buried in a cemetery in Hawaii marked “Oklahoma Unknowns.”  GM3 Adkins was survived by his father who was residing in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

In 2015 the remains of Oklahoma unidentified crewmen were disinterred and on May 31, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency reported that the remains of Gunners Mate Third Class Marvin Birch Adkins had finally be identified.  His name is engraved on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, and a rosette has been engraved next to his name to signify that he now rests in a known gravesite.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)