The burial of a young US sailor who fell at Pearl Harbor 83 years later

Wars not only result in a multitude of identified deaths, but also in missing and totally anonymous deaths.

Figures of the Japanese attack on the American base at Pearl Harbor in 1941
The USS Arizona battleship memorial in Hawaii and the sunken ship beneath it

In the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States had 2,403 dead, of which 2,008 were members of the Navy, 218 members of the Army, 109 were Marines and 68 were civilians. One of those dead was buried in the wreckage of the battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37), which was refloated in 1943.

That unidentified young man was buried in an unmarked grave in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii. He was there until 2015, when the Defense POW / MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), in charge of identifying the fallen US, unearthed the remains of that young man and other crew members of the USS Oklahoma who had not been identified.

On January 29, 2016, that anonymous young man was identified as Seaman Second Class Challis James, who had turned 18 just three weeks before dying in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

On June 8, 2024, 83 years after the attack, James' remains were buried with honors in the Arlington National Cemetery, in Virginia. Three of James' nephews, accompanied by his family, attended the funeral ceremony.

Challis Elliott, one of her nephews, commented that her mother rarely talked about her brother. "She just said that he was smart and artistic," Elliott recalled. “All we have is a picture of his ship, and he wrote, ‘this is the boat I’m going to be on.’"

Arlington National Cemetery today released the video of this young man's burial. Give him, Lord, eternal rest. Let perpetual light shine upon him. Rest in peace.

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Photos: U.S. Army / Sgt. Ashleigh Maxwell.