Pearl Harbor Victim To Be Buried On Memorial Day In Batavia

BATAVIA, IL --- For close to eight decades, the name Walter H. Backman has been part of a long list. A list of names of sailors who were killed in Pearl Harbor, but whose remains were never identified. This Memorial Day, Backman will come home for good to be laid to rest in a cemetery in Batavia thanks to ongoing efforts to identify him and other sailors who died on the USS Oklahoma that day.

Backman's memory will be honored at a special ceremony on Memorial Day, Monday, May 28. The service will begin with a brief prayer at Healy Chapel in Aurora before heading to River Hills Memorial Park for Backman's final interment at 2 p.m.

The young naval sailor was just 22 years old and working as a radio operator when Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941. Backman's remains were originally interred in a mass grave until 2015, when they were disinterred as part of the USS Oklahoma Project. On its website, the USS Oklahoma Project organizers say they are "heavily invested in seeing this project through until all 388 MIA remains have been identified and returned to their families.

Backman's Memorial Service will include full military honors. View his obituary for more information on Walter Backman's Memorial Day Ceremony.

Image via Walter Backman Obituary