Remains of Navy Man Killed in Pearl Harbor Attacks Identified and Returned to Family, 75 Years Later
The remains of Lewis Wagoner, a Navy man who died at Pearl Harbor, were identified and returned to family members, exactly 75 years after the attack.
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"To have him come home, to be close to all of us, means a whole lot to them and to me," his nephew, Mark Wagoner, told AARP.
Lewis, who was killed when he was 20 years old, was one of first to have their bones examined for DNA. His remains, along with those of other sailors aboard the USS Oklahoma, were exhumed in June 2015 to be tested using newly developed forensic technology.
According to Lewis' nieces, his brothers even came forward with his DNA to expedite the process.
"Lewis was my oldest brother," said Carl Wagoner, his last living sibling. "He was the first one in the Navy. My brother was always very important to me anyway. He loved people and liked to go to school."
Lewis was one of eight sons growing up in the family farm, located in Whitewater, according to FoxNews.com. He left school when he was in 10th grade to help out on the farm, before joining the Navy.
He was assigned to the USS Oklahoma, stationed in Hawaii, during the attack on December 7, 1941.
Carl said he recalled their father receiving a telegram that evening, and finding out Lewis had died in the attack. A shipmate had reportedly told the family he saw Lewis jump in the water as their ship was being attacked, and never saw him resurface.
Lewis was one of the 428 Americans to die that day, and one of 393 service members who were unable to be identified, and placed in mass graves in Hawaii.
"It was hard to see the unidentified headstones of those mass graves," said Lee Longaker, Lewis' niece.
The organization behind the testing said they hope to identify most of the soldiers by 2019.
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