From in immediately previous post,
Ifindedout asked
"Wonder why it took so long to connect a UID body
with a man overboard on a cruise in the same month"?
Yes, from the previously cited media report:
A 20-year cold case has come to a close.
cbs12.com
it's known that Donald H. Kirk "had been reported
missing to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department
on September 15, 2003." Given that the
circumstances of his disappearance were recorded,
that he was missing from a gambling boat, it is
reasonable to take the view that
if his missing
person case, as soon as practicable, had been
entered into NamUS,
this UID case could
probably have been brought to a solution
years
earlier by this cases' investigating authority,
the Palm Beach ME & Palm Beach Sheriff's
Office (even without the use of DNA).
So this case stands as an example of the need
for an all States legislative requirement that
all police forces enter all their UID & longer
term missing persons cases into NamUs.
As far as regards Donald H. Kirk's case specifically,
it's a bit interesting that they now know who he
was but at present don't seem to know all his
background (and still can't figure out e.g. all
the derivation of his tattoo).
As said in that article video that
HmmMysterious
previously cited;
Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office & Medical Examiner's Office Teams with Othram to Identify a 2003 Maritime John Doe
dnasolves.com
the tattoo, as seen here;
FL - FL - “Maritime John Doe", Wht, 65-75, maritime tattoo, Atlantic Ocean, Sep'03 - Donald H. Kirk
is assumed (IMO correctly) to contain a
representation of anchors at the bottom and
above that a stylized eagle with wings spread,
the eagle as may be seen e.g. here:
What's above that appears to be, IMO, a picture
of a type of animal, a fish or a seal, (or possibly a
composite picture of two sealife items, perhaps
meant to be a unique tattoo representing the
individuals service in not one but several navy units).
Initially I thought the black jagged part of it was
a representation of a bat, but now I think it could
just as likely be meant to be a representation of
just the dorsal fin of some type of fish. (Of course,
above whatever that is, are the letters 'U.S.N.').
A lot of U.S. submarines during WW2 were named
after sea animals and although most of them were
laid up during the late 40's, it occurred that during
the 1950's, into the 60's and 70's a slew of those
diesel-electric submarines were put back into use
as e.g. training boats, of navy personnel and of
navy tactics (e.g. so destroyers could practice
detection of subs) and other uses.
As an example, here is a webpage of the WW2
Sub USS Batfish, which is currently parked close
by
Muskogee, Oklahoma, and which was
brought back into commission in the 1950's;
Note the unobscured face of an individual in the
centre of the picture, who bears a resemblance
to the UID now known to be named Donald H. Kirk.
Although that name does not appear in the crew
lists of that submarine, there is some possibility
that he was a part of the crew of some other
transiting submarine or of that base at that time,
being Guantanamo Bay NAS.
Possibilities as to what sea animal(s) (and therefore
what same-named naval ships or boats) the tattoo
represents, if a submarine, are the USS Batfish,
Cavalla, Pompanito, Spikefish, Redfin, Sirago,
Sea Poacher, Seal, Sea Lion, Sea Leopard, Sablefish,
and others unknown.
Cheers
