A sailor killed on December 7, 1941, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, has finally returned home 75 years later.
Navy Seaman 2nd Class Lewis Wagoner was buried in October in a family plot in Whitewater Cemetery of Harvey County, Kansas after his long-unidentified remains were identified in June 2015.
AARP produced a video on Wagoner's story and interviewed his family.
Wagoner was a sailor aboard the USS Oklahoma in Pearl Harbor during the attack 75 years ago to the day. He was one of 429 sailors on the Oklahoma who died. A witness said Wagoner jumped into the water as the Oklahoma was taking fire and was never seen again. Wagoner's body was recovered in the clean up efforts and he was buried in a mass grave with his shipmates in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency is in the middle of a project attempting to identify the 388 sets of remains in the cemetery from the Oklahoma, Fox News reported. Wagoner was one of the first to be identified. A DNA sample from a relative was used to help identify Wagoner.
Flown by Delta Airlines to Haysville, Kansas on Oct. 8, Wagoner was greeted by an Honor Guard and a salute from fire engines to the taxiing airplane. Then taken to Whitewater Cemetery, Wagoner was buried with full military honors and a plaque on his grave that denotes his Purple Heart.
Wagoner's only surviving brother as well as his nieces, nephews, and many others came to pay tribute to the fallen soldier as he finally came home to be laid to rest.
Lorna Davis, a niece of Wagoner, told AARP how proud she is that America still searches around the world and puts effort into recovering and identifying the remains of service members.
"There are other countries that don't do this and they can't understand why our country does this," Davis said. "That just makes me proud that our country is willing to remember the people who have served."