Eighty-one years after he was killed within the assault on Pearl Harbor, Seaman First Class Wilbur F. Newton’s stays returned to his hometown in Missouri.
Members of Newton’s household felt relieved and at last at peace when his stays, recognized via DNA testing, arrived at Kansas Metropolis Worldwide Airport on Tuesday to a Navy guard and water salute from two fireplace vehicles.
“It is extremely shifting for the household,” stated Jane Perkins, the daughter of Newton’s first cousin. “We’ve hoped, we’ve all the time puzzled, however no one actually knew prior to now.”
Newton died Dec. 7, 1941 within the assault on Pearl Harbor whereas stationed aboard the usS. Oklahoma, based on his obituary. His stays had been interred in Hawaii together with different unidentified servicemen since 1941.
The Protection POW/MIA Accounting Company used dental and anthropological evaluation to determine Newton after his maternal first cousin and her two sons gave the Navy samples of their DNA in 2012. Newton was accounted for on Oct. 21, 2021 — almost 80 years after his demise.
Robin Deeds, the son of Newton’s oldest dwelling relative, stated that whereas he knew his father had a primary cousin who died at Pearl Harbor, he didn’t know Newton’s identify till his father realized that his stays had been recognized.
“After eighty years, you hand over after a sure period of time,” Deeds stated. “I need to thank his cousins that gave the DNA as a result of if it hadn’t been for for these three, we wouldn’t be right here right this moment.”
Newton might be buried in his household plot in Mound Metropolis, Missouri, which additionally holds the stays of his dad and mom and two of his three sisters.
“Once we discovered that marker, we knew we had discovered the place he belongs,” Perkins stated.
Newton was born on Sept. 23, 1912, in Polk, Nebraska. His household settled in Mound Metropolis when he was seven years previous.
Based on his obit, Newton joined the U.S. Navy in Could of 1940 for a six-year enlistment after beforehand becoming a member of the Civilian Conservation Corp in Leavenworth and dealing for The Works Progress Administration in San Francisco.
Through the assault on Pearl Harbor, Newton’s ship sustained a number of torpedo hits, inflicting it to capsize. Newton and 428 of his fellow crewmen died — few survived. Newton was 29 years previous when he died.
The American Graves Registration Service disinterred the stays from the usS. Oklahoma in 1947, however had been solely in a position to determine 35 of the boys on the time, based on the DPAA.
The unidentified stays had been buried on the Nationwide Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. They stayed there for 68 years earlier than the DPAA exhumed the unknown stays for testing in 2015.
For his service, Newton acquired the American Protection Service Medal, a Purple Coronary heart, and the Gold Star pin, amongst different honors.
Navy sailors Julie Mota Herrera and Elizabeth Gronau-Younger, each second class petty officers, stated they had been honored to participate within the ceremony on Tuesday.
“You can be within the Navy all of your life and that is positively essentially the most honorable factor,” Gronau-Younger stated. “Particularly in our day and age the place we don’t actually see battle time, that is one thing we get to do, to honor who we’ve misplaced.”
A service for Newton might be held at United Methodist Church in Mound Metropolis at 10 a.m., Could 28 adopted by a army ceremony at Mount Hope Cemetery. Pettijohn & Crawford Funeral Dwelling might be open for the neighborhood to pay their respects from 9 a.m. to five p.m. on Could 26 and 27.
The household requests memorial donations to the Mound Metropolis United Methodist Church, Mound Metropolis American Legion cemetery fund, or the Mound Metropolis Kiwanis Membership. Please ahead all donations to Pettijohn & Crawford Household Funeral Service, P.O. Field 174, Mound Metropolis, MO 64470.
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