USS Turner explosion victims may be buried with others in Long Island National Cemetery, Pinelawn

The family of a Pennsylvania naval officer, killed more than eight decades ago when an anchored Navy destroyer exploded and sank off New York Harbor, believes their loved one's remains may be buried and intermingled with other victims of the World War II disaster in four unknown sailor graves at Long Island National Cemetery, Pinelawn.

 Recent investigations conducted by World War II historians and researchers suggest that some "missing" sailors from the USS Turner disaster may be buried on Long Island, with headstones marked "Unknown U.S. Sailor, January 3, 1944" — the day the destroyer sank.

Now, with the 82nd anniversary of the sinking of the USS Turner approaching on Saturday, the family of Petty Officer 3rd Class Herbert Alvin Dunkel is urging the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency to finally exhume the Pinelawn  graves.

Looking for 'closure'

"My family was under the impression that there were never any remains found, or if they were, they were put in some sort of potter's field with no reference whatsoever," said Dunkel's nephew, Edward Skiba, 68, of Houston. "After all these years, we would really like to bring this to closure."

The Pentagon still lists 136 victims of the Turner’s explosion as officially missing. The DPAA, which is responsible for recovering and identifying the nation's missing war dead, classifies Dunkel’s case as "Active Pursuit."

Roughly a decade ago, World War II researcher Ted Darcy discovered military and cemetery records indicating at least four of the Turner victims were buried as unknowns in Pinelawn.  

Darcy, now retired and living in Florida, believes many of the other victims — some bodies were identified and sent home — could be there as well.

"These guys have been neglected by the government," said Darcy, who would like to see the soldiers afforded a proper burial. "The families didn't even know they were there. They were never told anything."

John Eakin, a military researcher who has also looked into the Turner sinking, suspects the remains of both the unknown soldiers and those whose bodies were positively identified, were "consolidated, and the remains of multiple men are in single caskets that were returned to families. Either that or ... the remains of many men were packed into a few caskets and buried as a single unknown rather than conduct multiple honorable burials for each man."

The total number of sailors buried in each grave isn’t known.

In 2017, after The Associated Press first reported on Darcy's findings, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced that it would look into archival records and reach out to family members associated with the Turner.

Skiba said his family submitted DNA samples to the agency in 2024. But a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency official indicated that the families of 60% of the unidentified victims would need to provide samples to move forward with exhuming the remains. As of mid-2025, they had not reached close to that figure, Skiba said.

The agency did not respond to requests for comment.

A mysterious disaster

Dunkel, originally from Oil City, Pennsylvania, was 21 years old and recently married when he entered the U.S. Navy during the war.

On Jan. 3, 1944, the Turner, a 10-month-old Navy destroyer, was anchored a few miles off the lighthouse at the entrance to New York Harbor, having recently returned from a successful trans-Atlantic convoy.

During the early morning hours, an explosion erupted below deck, setting much of the ship ablaze, according to Pentagon records. The ammunition storage on board continued to explode until one large detonation broke the ship in two and caused it to capsize and rapidly sink, records said. 

More than 150 men were rescued but 136 others were killed by the blast or drowned as the destroyer sank, records show.

Pentagon records show that 16 of the unaccounted for sailors were from New York, with the majority from Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx or Manhattan. None were from Long Island.

The cause of the explosion is unknown, although Navy records mention that anti-submarine munitions were being defused around the time of the blasts.

While Dunkel’s status remains unaccounted for, he is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the East Coast Memorial at the southern end of Battery Park in Manhattan.

The memorial honors the 4,601 missing American servicemen who lost their lives in the Atlantic Ocean while engaged in combat during World War II.

Back home in Pennsylvania, there is a stone next to the grave of Skiba's grandparents, reading "In memory of Herbert A Dunkel."

"I would like it to read, 'here's where Herbert A Dunkel rests,' " Skiba said. "That way, he could be next to his parents."