Family finds closure after Pearl Harbor sailor identified

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A family originally from West Michigan now have the answer to the question they’ve been asking for eight decades: What happened to Raymond?

The U.S. Navy says it has identified the remains of Seaman 2nd Class Raymond Devere Boynton of Grandville. He will be buried at the National Memorial of the Pacific in Hawaii on March 20.

“He was a youngster,” said Harry Zies, Boynton’s lone surviving nephew, said.

Boynton was 19 when the USS Oklahoma sank during the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

“He had freckles,” Zies said. “I didn’t realize that but even on his thing they identified so many freckles on this arm. It was kind of interesting.”

While Zies never met his uncle, he told News 8 that his mother talked frequently about their time growing up in Grandville. He said she never fully accepted he died in Pearl Harbor, because his remains weren’t identified.

“She always got that feeling, because she never got that closure, that he was alive somewhere,” he said.

Boynton was identified through the USS Oklahoma Project, which leveraged DNA profiling to identify 388 unaccounted for service members who were onboard the battleship when it sank. The project collected samples from surviving family members to put names to previously unidentified remains. Since 2015, 356 missing in action personnel have been individually identified. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency says all of the unaccounted for personnel have now been collectively identified.

Among them have been other sailors from Michigan, including Ensign Francis Flaherty, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery as the ship capsized; and Seamen 1st Class Wesley Graham of Watervliet and Joe Nightingale of Kalamazoo. Flaherty was the oldest of the four at the age of 22.

Remains of Michigan sailor killed in Pearl Harbor attack return home

The Navy covers preparation of the remains, casket and transportation to the final resting place chosen by the family.

“I had the option to bury him at the National Cemetery in Michigan and I thought, ‘No, I think it’s better off being over there where he’s been for the last what 60, 70 years, 80 years,’” Zies said.

Boynton received the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

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