Free Republic

Charles Louis “Sonny Boy” Saunders lost his life when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the 18-year-old’s body has finally arrived at his hometown of Winnie, Texas, where he will be laid to rest 80 years to the day after he died serving his country. KTRK in Winnie Texas reported on Saunder’s amazing journey home: Last week, the body of Navy Seaman 2nd Class Charles L. Saunders arrived at Bush Intercontinental Airport. The Chambers County Sheriff’s Office then escorted the hero’s body to Winnie. The attack on USS Oklahoma resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen,...

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman from World War II have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors. Navy Fireman 2nd Class James B. Boring, 21, of Vales Mill, Ohio, will be buried August 6, in Albany, Ohio. On Dec. 7, 1941, Boring was assigned to the USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship...

When the battleship USS Oklahoma turned over just 15 minutes after being hit by the first Japanese torpedo on 7 December 1941, 429 sailors and Marines were either already dead -- or soon would be. Men that somehow survived the initial nightmare of torpedoes, bombs, shrapnel, bullets, and fire had to swim through another level of hell to reach the relative safety of land. Those that remained inside the flooding ship would spend days in pitch-black darkness with no food, water, and what breathable air they had was being slowly used up while they hoped for rescue. 78 years later,...

<p>WALNUT RIDGE, Ark. – An Arkansas sailor who died during the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor will be honored after his remains are brought home this summer.</p> <p>Glenn Tipton was killed aboard the USS Oklahoma, a battleship that capsized in the attack by Japanese aircraft.</p>

A World War II veteran who was the last surviving member of the U.S.S. Oklahoma has passed away at the age of 94. Lewis Jacob Egnatovich was on board the U.S.S. Oklahoma when the Japanese Fleet bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. In all, 429 of his fellow shipmates were killed in the attack. He was just 20-years-old at the time of the attack. “On Friday, March 18, Lou died peacefully at the age of 94, cancer did what WWII could not do,” his obituary reads. “He was a loving and dedicated husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Lou was...

The Defense Department announced in April that the remains of up to nearly 400 unaccounted for service members tied to the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor will be exhumed. That process began on Monday. “This was the first set of remains from the USS Oklahoma to be disinterred,” said Jim Horton, the director of the Punchbowl cemetery. Disinterment ceremonies were held when the bones of Korean War veterans were exhumed for identification. Now, hundreds who served on USS Oklahoma during World War II may also be identified. The attacked happened at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. But many bodies...

HONOLULU (AP) - Sixty-three years after the sneak attack that plunged the United States into World War II, hundreds of men who died aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma are finally getting their own special tribute. A new exhibit of photos, artifacts and oral histories was being unveiled Monday to honor the 429 men from the Oklahoma who died in the Dec. 7, 1941 attack. That is the second-highest number of Pearl Harbor casualties behind the USS Arizona, where most of its 1,177 killed crewmen remain entombed. The anniversary also will be marked with simultaneous ceremonies Tuesday aboard the Arizona Memorial...