( CNN ) Remains of up to nearly 400 unaccounted for service members tied to the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor will be exhumed this year , the Defense Department announced Tuesday . The hope is that most of the battleship 's sailors and Marines can be identified . `` The secretary of defense and I will work tirelessly to ensure your loved one 's remains will be recovered , identified , and returned to you as expeditiously as possible , and we will do so with dignity , respect and care , '' Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work said in a statement . `` While not all families will receive an individual identification , we will strive to provide resolution to as many families as possible . '' The USS Oklahoma sank when it was hit by torpedoes on December 7 , 1941 , during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . A total of 429 sailors and Marines on the ship were killed . Thirty-five crew members were positively identified and buried in the years immediately after the attack , according to the Defense Department . By 1950 , all unidentified remains were laid to rest as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific . In 2003 , five more service members were identified , with the help of historical evidence from Pearl Harbor survivor Ray Emory , 93 . Emory , a native of Peoria , Illinois , was serving as a seaman first class on the light cruiser USS Honolulu that fateful day . After the war , Emory worked in Washington state before moving to Hawaii about 30 years ago . The retiree made it his mission to ensure graves are properly identified . `` It 's something I looked forward to for a long time , '' he told CNN about Tuesday 's announcement . Speaking by phone from Honolulu , Emory said that proper identification means a lot to the families of those who lost loved ones -- and to him . Next of kin were being notified starting Tuesday . Service members who are identified will be returned to their families for burial , with full military honors . WWII pilot , 99 , reunited with historic C-47 plane . CNN 's Phil Gast contributed to this report .
USS Oklahoma was lost during Japanese attack on Pacific in 1941 . Hundreds of crew members were buried without identification .