Remains identified as Kentucky man killed during World War II at Pearl Harbor

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Barren County, Kentucky man killed during World War II was accounted for, announced on Tuesday.

Elmer P. Lawrence was serving in the U.S. Navy as Seaman 1st Class when Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Lawrence, who was 25 years old, was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma. The ship was hit by multiple torpedoes and capsized, resulting in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Lawrence.

Navy personnel recovered the remains, which were interred in the Halawa and Nu'uanu cemeteries. According to a news release, the remains were disinterred in 1947 by members of the American Graves Registration Service. The remains were transferred to Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The lab staff identified 35 men, but unidentified remains were placed in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

In 1949, a military board classified those remains that couldn't be identified as non-recoverable, including Lawrence. In 2015, remains were again exhumed for analysis. Lawrence's remains were identified using dental and anthropological analysis.

Lawrence will be buried in Smiths Grove, Kentucky on July 22, 2023.