A 17-year-old U.S. Navy sailor killed when enemy Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor during World War II will finally be laid to rest in his hometown.
Fireman 3rd Class Royle Luker will be buried Saturday in his hometown of Plainview, Arkansas, where he grew up before enlisting in June 1941, Stars and Stripes reported Thursday.
The article said forensic methods at the time did not allow officials to identify his remains, thus he was buried in a grave marked “unknown.”
Luker, who was the son of a World War I veteran, will be buried with full military honors at New Bethel Cemetery, and his remains are being returned home more than 84 years after his death, per Fox News. The outlet noted that modern forensic testing and DNA analysis confirmed his identity through living relatives.
Luker was aboard the USS West Virginia during the attack that killed 105 of its crew members on December 7, 1941. The vessel was hit by several torpedoes and sank at Ford Island, the Stripes article continued, citing a press release from the Navy.
Rescue crews realized sailors were trapped alive inside the hull when they made their presence known by making tapping sounds, according to the Navy.
However, those sailors were trapped with live ammunition and there was no technology available at that time to get them out safely.
“All rescue personnel could do was stand by helplessly,” the Navy continued, noting many of them survived for days breathing inside air pockets.
The Stripes article continued:
Salvagers discovered the remains of about 70 men below decks, according to the Navy release. Dozens of recovered remains were interred at the Halawa Naval Cemetery on Oahu. They were disinterred in 1947 by personnel with the American Graves Registration Service, who identified all but 34 remains. Those remains were designated “non-recoverable” and buried as unknowns in what is now the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. In 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which uses forensic methods to identify the nation’s war dead, exhumed 35 caskets containing remains associated with the West Virginia. Luker was among those.
Over 2,400 Americans died when the surprise assault was launched, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan the next day, according to History.com.
While making his request for a declaration of war, Roosevelt said, “Yesterday, December 7, 1941 a date which will live in infamy the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
As Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole Nation remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God.
According to the Fox article, Luker reportedly received several military honors for his sacrifice. Those included the Purple Heart and the Navy Presidential Unit Citation which recognizes extraordinary heroism.
Breitbart News reported about Luker on the federal holiday of Memorial Day which is set aside for the nation to mourn and honor service members who gave their lives for the United States of America.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website regarding Memorial Day’s history features a quote dated 1868 from Brevet Lieut.-Col. Edmund B. Whitman who said: “That Nation which respects and honors its dead, shall ever be respected and honored itself.”
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