CENTERTOWN, Ky. — The remains of two Kentucky men who died 80 years ago during Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor were returned to the commonwealth this week for burials that coincide with Memorial Day.
The Daily News reports the remains of U.S. Navy Seaman 2nd Class Howard Scott Magers, of Barren County, arrived home on Saturday.
Magers was stationed on the USS Oklahoma and was one of 429 members aboard the ship that were killed by attacking Japanese forces at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He, and more than 400 other men aboard the ship, were buried in mass graves at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, which is known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In 2015, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) exhumed the bodies and began the identification process using dental and anthropological analysis and DNA testing. Magers was accounted for in December 2020.
This week, Magers was laid to rest with full military honors.
The Courier Journal reports, U.S. Navy Fireman 3rd Class Welborn L. Ashby, of Centertown, is being buried on Memorial Day with full military honors.
Ashby, was assigned to the battleship USS West Virginia. It was moored at Ford Island when the attack happened. A total of 106 crewmen aboard the ship died, including Ashby.
Like Magers, his unidentified remains were interred at the Punchbowl. In 2017, his remains were disinterred and taken to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. By collecting evidence and analyzing dental, DNA, and anthropological clues, scientists were able to identify Ashby.
The burials of the two military servicemen come as part of a larger effort by the federal Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency to use technology to identify remains from Pearl Harbor that were previously unidentified.
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