17-year-old Pearl Harbor sailor’s remains return home after 80 years
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The remains of a 17-year-old sailor killed in the World War II attack on Pearl Harbor are returning home for a proper burial 84 years later.
According to his obituary, Royle Bradford Luker will be buried with full military honors on May 30 in Plainview, Arkansas. He will be buried next to his parents, including his father, a World War I veteran.
“He did his best in the U.S. Navy as a Fireman Third Class aboard the USS West Virginia and was killed in the line of duty during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7, 1941,” his obituary at Cornwell Funeral Homes said.
His obituary states that his funeral was arranged after modern forensic tests and DNA analysis comparing his remains with DNA from living relatives confirmed his identity decades later.
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Royle B Luker was 17 years old when he was killed during the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. (Defense Prisoner/MIA Accounting Agency)
For his service and sacrifice, Luker reportedly received numerous military awards, including the Purple Heart, awarded to those wounded or killed in combat, and the Navy Presidential Unit Citation, which recognizes extraordinary heroism of military units under enemy fire.
Other honors and awards listed in his obituary include the Gold Star Veteran designation, Combat Action Ribbon, Navy Expeditionary Medal, Navy Good Conduct Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, American Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal.
THE WWII SOLDIER WHO WAS KILLED IN FRANCE ABOUT 80 YEARS AGO WILL BE RE-BURED IN THE NATIONAL CEMETERY TO RECOGNIZE.
Sailors stand amid the wreckage and watch as the USS Shaw explodes during the Japanese attack on Ford Island Naval Air Station in Pearl Harbor. (Fox Photos/Getty Images)
Luker was among the 106 crew members killed when the USS West Virginia was shot down during Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
He was listed for decades as having been killed in action, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, but his remains were buried unidentified at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific as unknown persons. His name was also mentioned in the Missing Courts there.
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Nearly 82 years after his death, Luker’s name was officially released on May 29, 2024, after authorities exhumed multiple coffins for modern forensic and DNA testing, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
The USS Arizona Memorial is seen in Honolulu ahead of the 84th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 2025. (Mengshin Lin/AP)
The young sailor was the son of World War I veteran George F. Luker and Nettie Estelle David Luker, according to his obituary.
Family members, some of whom lived in Arkansas at the time of his deployment, reportedly said Luker was remembered “with pride and affection.”
He is survived by his two nephews, Donald Bradford Henderson and John Luker, and his niece, Becky Downen Lensing, according to his obituary.
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“More than 80 years later, Royle Luker’s DNA and a family’s willingness to share their DNA bridged the gap between loss and knowing,” the obituary said. “He will now be returned home and left to rest.”
The USS West Virginia was anchored off Ford Island in 1941 when Japanese planes launched torpedoes at the battleship, according to the U.S. Navy. The ship suffered multiple torpedo hits and eventually sank to the shallow harbor bottom.
