West Loch Disaster remembrance planned

The Obama Hawaiian Africana Museum and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency will host a remembrance ceremony Wednesday at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl honoring the anniversary of the deadly 1944 West Loch Disaster.

On May 21, 1944, service members were working on several vessels docked at West Loch loading weapons and supplies to support Operation Forager, the invasion of the Japanese-occupied Mariana Islands. At 3:08 p.m. something caused an explosion aboard LST-353 near its bow. The blast killed serv­icemen on board and rained burning debris on nearby vessels.

The debris ignited fuel and munitions stored on their decks, setting off an explosive chain reaction. By the time the smoke cleared, explosions and debris had destroyed six LSTs, killing at least 163 people and injuring 396 — though some historians suspect shoddy record- keeping by Army officials in a rush to keep Operation Forager on track could have as many as 100 more uncounted.

More than half of the soldiers were Black troops from the 29th Chemical Decontamination Unit. The handling of the West Loch disaster and its aftermath would in time contribute to calls for the desegregation of the U.S. military after World War II.

Many of the dead were buried at Punchbowl as unknowns, where they rested for decades. But in 2024 the DPAA exhumed the remains of the unknowns in an effort to identify them based on a mix of DNA testing and historical research. According to a media release by the Obama Hawaiian Africana Museum, speakers at the event will talk about an emerging DPAA partnership with the Obama Hawaiian Africana Museum to engage with people who may be related to the West Loch dead to collect additional DNA to support efforts to identify the remains.

The ceremony will be at 2-3 p.m. Wednesday at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl, 2177 Puowaina Drive.