Reserve Seaman 2nd Class Ira N Slaton
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today Navy Reserve Seaman 2nd Class Ira N. Slaton, 22, of Albertville, Alabama, killed during World War II, was accounted for on Sept. 24, 2018.
On July 24, 1944, Slaton was aboard the battleship USS Colorado, which was moored approximately 3,200 yards from the shore of Tinian Island, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Early in the morning, the USS Colorado, along with the light cruiser Cleveland and destroyers Remey and Norman Scott, commenced firing toward the island. Within two hours, a concealed Japanese shore battery opened fire on the USS Colorado and the USS Norman Scott. The first hit on the USS Colorado resulted in a heavy explosion, and the ship sustained extensive fragmentation damage. From the attack, four crewmen were declared missing in action, and 39 personnel were killed, including Slaton. Slaton and the other casualties were subsequently interred in the 4th Marine Division Cemetery on Saipan.
In February 1948, under the direction of the American Graves Registration Service’s 9105th Technical Service Unit, three battlefield cemeteries, including the 4th Marine Division Cemetery, were disinterred. While the majority of identifications that had been tentatively made following the attack were upheld, nine sets were reclassified as “unknown.” Of those, five were eventually identified and four were declared as unknown and were interred at the Manila American Memorial and Cemetery in the Philippines.
On Oct. 18, 2017, personnel from DPAA, in partnership with the American Battle Monuments Commission, exhumed Unknown X-76 from the Manila American Memorial and Cemetery and accessioned the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Slaton’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.
On July 24, 1944, Slaton was aboard the battleship USS Colorado, which was moored approximately 3,200 yards from the shore of Tinian Island, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Early in the morning, the USS Colorado, along with the light cruiser Cleveland and destroyers Remey and Norman Scott, commenced firing toward the island. Within two hours, a concealed Japanese shore battery opened fire on the USS Colorado and the USS Norman Scott. The first hit on the USS Colorado resulted in a heavy explosion, and the ship sustained extensive fragmentation damage. From the attack, four crewmen were declared missing in action, and 39 personnel were killed, including Slaton. Slaton and the other casualties were subsequently interred in the 4th Marine Division Cemetery on Saipan.
In February 1948, under the direction of the American Graves Registration Service’s 9105th Technical Service Unit, three battlefield cemeteries, including the 4th Marine Division Cemetery, were disinterred. While the majority of identifications that had been tentatively made following the attack were upheld, nine sets were reclassified as “unknown.” Of those, five were eventually identified and four were declared as unknown and were interred at the Manila American Memorial and Cemetery in the Philippines.
On Oct. 18, 2017, personnel from DPAA, in partnership with the American Battle Monuments Commission, exhumed Unknown X-76 from the Manila American Memorial and Cemetery and accessioned the remains to the DPAA laboratory for analysis.
To identify Slaton’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.