NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Full military honors will be given to a Louisiana sailor whose remains have been identified more than 75 years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Friday that the remains of Navy Seaman 2nd Class Charles C. Gomez Jr., of Slidell, were accounted for Sept. 19.
Gomez was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma on Dec. 7, 1941 when Japanese aircraft attacked it at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor. The attack resulted in the deaths of 429 USS Oklahoma crewmen, including then-19-year-old Gomez.
Gomez's nephew, Charles Fogg, of Pearl River, Louisiana, says learning his uncle's remains had been identified was "unbelievable." He says a memorial service will be held in Slidell on June 3, 2019, on what would have been Gomez's 97th birthday.