Royle Luker’s remains have been identified 85 years after he lost his life during the attack on Pearl Harbor aboard the USS West Virginia.
Luker will finally head home to Plainview, Arkansas. From Stars & Stripes:
Fireman 3rd Class Royle Luker will be buried with full military honors at New Bethel Cemetery in Plainview, where he was raised before enlisting in June 1941, according to a Navy news release Wednesday.He was the son of George Luker, a World War I veteran, and Nettie Estelle David Luker. He is survived by two nephews and a niece, according to his obituary on the Cornwell Funeral Home of Darndanelle, Ark., website.The presiding Navy flag officer at the ceremony will be Rear Adm. Michael Van Poots, deputy commander of Submarine Forces.Luker was among the 105 West Virginia crew members who died on Dec. 7, 1941.
Luker received the following medals and honors: Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, World War II Victory Medal, American Campaign Medal, Navy Presidential Unit Citation, Navy Good Conduct Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, Navy Expeditionary Medal, and World War II Gold Star Veteran.
The Japanese hit the USS West Virginia with seven torpedoes. It sank in the shallow water before hitting the harbor floor:
“Following the attack, rescuers were alerted that sailors were alive within the hull by tapping sounds coming from within the ship,” the Navy release said.“The trapped sailors were sitting on tons of live sunken ammunition and no technology existed back then to rescue them,” it said. “All rescue personnel could do was stand by helplessly.”Some survived for days in air pockets, living on emergency rations and freshwater.Three men survived in an airtight storeroom until Dec. 23, leaving behind a calendar with 16 days crossed out in red pencil, the Navy release states.
But salvagers found remains of 70 men.
The military interred the remains at the Halawa Naval Cemetery on Oahu.
The American Graves Registration disinterred the remains in 1947. Scientists identified all of the men except for 34.
Those not identified were buried as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency exhumed the bodies in 2017. The organization used advanced DNA science and family members to identify the fallen heroes.
Luker will be laid to rest next to his parents on May 30 at New Bethel Cemetery.
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