Teen Sailor From Pearl Harbor to Be Buried at Home
A 17-year-old US Navy sailor, who lost his life during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II, is finally set to be laid to rest in his hometown.
Firefighter 3rd Class Loyle Rooker will be buried this Saturday in Plainview, Arkansas, the place where he grew up before enlisting in June 1941.
At the time of his death, authorities were unable to identify his remains, leading to his burial in a grave marked “unknown.”
Rooker, the son of a World War I veteran, received full military honors when he was initially laid to rest in New Bethel Cemetery. Remarkably, he has now returned home more than 84 years after his death. Modern DNA testing confirmed his identity through living relatives.
He was on board the USS West Virginia during the attack on December 7, 1941, which resulted in the death of 105 crew members. The ship took several torpedoes and eventually sank off Ford Island, as stated in Navy press materials.
Rescuers learned that some sailors were alive inside the ship, but they remained trapped with live ammunition, and there was no available technology to rescue them safely.
“All rescuers could do was wait helplessly,” the Navy noted, adding that many of them managed to survive for days by breathing air pockets.
In terms of recovery, the Navy reported that about 70 bodies were located below deck. Many of those bodies were interred at Halawa Naval Cemetery in Oahu, but after being disinterred in 1947, all but 34 were identified. The remaining remains were marked as “unretrievable” and laid to rest as unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. In 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Office exhumed 35 coffins linked to the West Virginia, including Rooker’s.
During the attack, over 2,400 Americans lost their lives, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt would soon ask Congress to declare war on Japan.
Roosevelt characterized the day of the attack—December 7, 1941—as “a day that will live in infamy,” marking it as a pivotal moment in American history.
Speaking about the broader implications of the attack, he expressed in his speech that all necessary actions would be taken to protect the country, emphasizing the determination of the American people in response to such aggression.
For his service and sacrifice, Rooker received several military honors, including the Purple Heart and the Navy Presidential Unit Citation, recognizing his extraordinary heroism.
Years later, his story continues to resonate, highlighting the sacrifice made by military personnel throughout history on days like Memorial Day, which serves to honor those who lost their lives serving the nation.
