BOGALUSA, La. — After 81 years, a Louisiana native who died in the Pearl Harbor attack is finally home.
The remains of Navy Seaman First Class Houston Temples were identified last year and he was laid to rest with proper military honors on the 81st anniversary of the December 7 attack near his hometown in Bogalusa.
"Normally when we gather at a funeral service such as this it is to grieve, but today we gather to celebrate... to celebrate the long overdue homecoming of a local son and national hero," Temples' nephew, Trent Temples said.
Not a single person who was at his funeral got to meet Navy Seaman First Class Houston Temples. He was only 24 when he was killed in the attack. His niece, Shirley Temple Hayman, had just been born five months prior.
"Wow. So many people. I'm so happy," Hayman said during the funeral service.
Hayman and Temples feel the letters their uncle wrote while aboard the USS Oklahoma as a 24-year-old give a glimpse into his values.
"At the bottom of his letter, he said, 'mama, mama don’t worry about me. I'm serving my country,'" she said.
Temples’ remains were identified last year and now on the anniversary of the attack, he was buried with full military honors.
"Even though it was 81 years ago when he died he still deserves that," said Rear Admiral Terry Eddinger, a chaplain with the navy.
Eddinger said 429 sailors and marines died on the Oklahoma when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
"And only 35 were able to be identified. The ship rolled over within 12 minutes of being hit and when it rolled over, it trapped the bodies inside and they could not roll it back over for two years," Eddinger said.
In 2015 the Navy began collecting DNA samples from families to identify the remains. That's how they identified Temples and 360 others.
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