Navy to Bury Identified Pearl Harbor Sailor With Honors on May 30

The U.S. Navy will bury the remains of Fireman 3rd Class Royle Luker with full military honors on May 30 at New Bethel Cemetery in Plainview, Arkansas. Luker was 17 when he died during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was one of 106 crew members killed aboard the USS West Virginia.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency confirmed Luker’s identity on May 29, 2024. Investigators used forensic methods unavailable at the time of his death. His remains had rested in a grave labeled unknown until the agency reopened the case. The agency exhumed 35 caskets associated with the West Virginia in 2017.

Burial Details Rear Adm.

Michael Van Poots, deputy commander of Submarine Forces, will preside over the ceremony. Services begin at 2 p.m. at the cemetery where Luker will be laid to rest beside his parents. Luker will be buried next to his father, World War I veteran George F. Luker, and his mother, Nettie Estelle Luker.

Luker is survived by two nephews, Donald Bradford Henderson and John Luker, and a niece, Becky Downen Lensing. He received multiple posthumous decorations, including the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, and World War II Victory Medal. >"The Navy will bury Fireman 3rd Class Royle Luker with full military honors on May 30 at New Bethel Cemetery in Plainview." — Stars and Stripes, May 22, 2026