Posted on 07/20/2007 7:47:44 AM PDT by Military family member
INDIANAPOLIS — A Worthington man finally will be laid to rest Saturday in his home town after at least 65 years away.
Fireman 3rd Class Alfred Eugene Livingston was aboard the USS Oklahoma when the ship was attacked and capsized in Pearl Harbor by a Japanese torpedo aircraft Dec. 7, 1941, according to a Navy Office of Community Outreach news release.
His remains arrived Thursday in Indiana after spending more than 60 years buried in two different cemeteries in Hawaii as an unknown soldier, according to a Department of Defense memorandum.
About 20 family members stood by somberly as a Navy Honor Guard carried Livingston’s remains to a hearse at the Indianapolis International Airport. A few held small American flags, including Louise Hobbs of Greenwood, Livingston’s only surviving sibling.
When Livingston’s body could not immediately be identified after being pulled from the harbor, he was labeled as X-99 and buried at the Nuuanu Cemetery in Oahu, Hawaii.
(Excerpt) Read more at tribstar.com ...
Her brother's return: Louise Hobbs (far right with flag), the sister of U.S. Navy Fireman Third Class Alfred Eugene Livingston, watches as Alfred's casket is placed inside a hearse during the arrival of the remains at the Indianapolis International Airport Thursday. F3/c Livingston was killed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. Joseph C. Garza / The Tribune-Star
WESTVILLE, Ind. — A World War II Navy pilot whose remains were identified last year after being excavated from a mountainside crash site in Hawaii will be buried Friday in a Westville grave site with full military honors.
Ensign Harry “Bud” Warnke’s plane crashed on June 15, 1944, in the Koolau Range on Hawaii’s Oahu Island as he was training in aerial dives. He was 23.
A few days after the fatal crash, a search team found wreckage from Warnke’s plane on a mountain slope along with a shoe fragment buried at the site.
According to military reports from the time, items and remains from the wreckage were collected and buried at the site shortly before Warnke’s unit left the island to support World War II efforts.
But Warnke remains weren’t identified until last year after a team that included forensic scientists excavated the crash site and found them.
Warnke’s cremated remains were returned to the family Thursday for burial Friday in the Westville grave site. Warnke’s parents reserved the site for him after receiving the news in 1944 of his crash.
Several family members plan to attend the burial, including Warnke’s sister, Myrtle Tice, 87, and Warnke’s niece, Pat Turner of Westville, who said she knew her uncle only from photographs.
Rest in Peace
Back home in Indiana: An honor guard from Navy Operational Support Center Indianapolis carries the casket of U.S. Navy Fireman Third Class Alfred Eugene Livingston to a hearse as Livingston's family looks on Thursday at the Indianapolis International Airport. The remains of F3/c Livingston return to Indiana 65 years after his death Dec. 7, 1941 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Welcome home sir, and thank you.
May God comfort Louise Hobbs. Again.
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