20-year-old Navy Seaman 1st Class James Richard Ward was aboard his first ship out of basic, the mighty battlewagon USS Oklahoma, on that fateful morning of 7 December 1941.
As noted by the Navy at the time, the order was given to abandon ship, but Ward “remained in a turret holding a flashlight so the remainder of the turret crew could see to escape, thereby sacrificing his own life.”
Navy Seaman 1st Class James Richard Ward/USS Maryland floats alongside the capsized USS Oklahoma after the Pearl Harbor attacks on Dec. 7, 1941. USS West Virginia is burning in the background.
His actions that day left him counted among the missing from the one-sided battle, entombed in his ship, and the Navy later presented his family with the Medal of Honor and invited them to christen a destroyer escort (DE-243) named to recognize him in 1943.
Last month, S1c Ward, identified in 2019 from recovered remains, was finally brought home, and buried at Arlington at the request of his family.