Pearl Harbor victims’ burials set
Since ’15, agency has identified 186 sailors, Marines
HONOLULU — More than 75 years after nearly 2,400 members of the U.S. military were killed in the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, some who died on Dec. 7, 1941, are finally being laid to rest in cemeteries across the United States.
In 2015, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency exhumed nearly 400 sets of remains from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii after determining advances in forensic science and genealogical help from families could make identifications possible. They were all on the USS Oklahoma, which capsized during the attack, and had been buried as unknowns after the war.
Of the 429 sailors and Marines on the Oklahoma who died, only 35 were identified in the years immediately after the attack. The Oklahoma’s number of casualties was second only to the USS Arizona’s, which lost 1,177 men.
As of this month, the agency had identified 186 sailors and Marines from the Oklahoma who were previously unknown.
Slowly, the remains are being sent to be reburied in places like Traer, Iowa, and Ontanogan, Michigan.
Some have already been reburied this year. Others will be interred on Friday.
Durell Wade was born in 1917 in the Hardin Town community of rural Calhoun County, Mississippi. He enlisted in the Navy in 1936 and in 1940 re-enlisted for another twoyear tour.
His burial in his home state was originally planned for a weekend, when it would be more convenient for people to attend. But because of scheduling conflicts at the North Mississippi Veterans Memorial Cemetery, his family decided the 77th anniversary of the attack would be an appropriate date, even if some people have to take time off, said his nephew, Dr. Lawrence Wade.
He was one of the sailor’s relatives who provided DNA to help identify him.
Renate Starck has been pondering the eulogy she’ll give at the funeral for her uncle, Navy Seaman 1st Class William Bruesewitz, on Friday.
“We always have thought of him on Dec. 7,” she said. “He’s already such a big part of that history.”
Bruesewitz, of Appleton, Wisconsin, will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C.
“It’s a real blessing to have him returning and we’ve chosen Arlington because we feel he’s a hero and belongs there,” Starck said.
About 50 family members from Wisconsin, Florida, Arkansas and Maryland will attend.