Using dental records, other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, based at Hickam Air Force Base, made the identification, a Pentagon release said. The Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains.

The remains of Seaman 1st Class General P. Douglas, U.S. Navy, of Newcomb, Tenn., have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors, the release said.

He will be buried Jan. 26 in Sneedville, Tenn.

On July 6, 1943, the light cruiser "USS Helena" was struck by torpedoes fired by Japanese destroyers off the coast of Kolombangara Island, Solomon Islands, in what would become known as the Battle of the Kula Gulf. More than 700 servicemen were rescued, but Douglas was one of more than 150 servicemen who were missing as the ship sunk, the release said.

In June 2006, a resident of Ranongga Island, Solomon Islands, notified U.S. officials that he exhumed human remains and Douglas' dog tag that he found eroding out of the ground near a trail by his village. The officials contacted the JPAC, which subsequently traveled to Ranongga Island to examine the burial location where they verified that no additional remains were present.