Aurora Sailor Who Died At Pearl Harbor To Be Buried In Batavia

AURORA, IL — U.S. Navy Petty Officer Second Class Walter Howard Backman was killed at the bombing of Pearl Harbor when he was just 22 years old. Like many of the other victims of Pearl Harbor, the Aurora native's remains were not identified after his death. Now, after more than 75 years, Backman's remains have been identified and will be buried in a Batavia cemetery, according to Chicago Tribune.

Backman, along with close to 400 other men who had not been identified, was ultimately buried in one of nearly 50 mass graves in National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

Nearly 70 years later, in 2015, the USS Oklahoma Remains Preservation Project made it their mission to identify the fallen sailors. They disinterred nearly 13,000 skeletal remains, Chicago Tribune reports, using DNA samples to identify the remains. Backman's remains were discovered in the first wave of sailors who were positively identified.

According to Chicago Tribune, it is not clear whether Backman has any remaining family in the Aurora area.

After Backman arrives back home in Illinois, his remains will be buried in a plot at Batavia's River Hills Memorial Park.

>>Image credit: AP Images/Audrey McAvoy/Associated Press

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