Remains of Ventura World War II sailor killed in attack on Pearl Harbor identified
The remains of a Ventura sailor killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor more than 80 years ago have been identified.
Claude Ralph Garcia, who was 25 when he died in the bombing, was positively identified on May 12, according to a release last month from the military's Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the U.S. Navy. He was a shipfitter 2nd class.
The Navy had listed him as missing since the Dec. 7, 1941 air attack by Japanese forces at the military installation on the island of Oahu in Hawaii.
Garcia, described in local news accounts at the time as the first Ventura resident killed in World War II, is one of 72,309 servicemen who were unaccounted for from World War II, according to the DPAA, which is tasked with identifying remains and notifying family of missing service members from conflicts as far back as WWII. Returned remains are buried with full military honors.
Garcia's remains had been buried in a grave at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, often referred to as Punchbowl, along with those of his unidentified crew members. A marker bore the name of their battleship, the USS West Virginia, one of 21 ships sunk or seriously damaged during the assault, which killed 2,403 Americans.
On the USS West Virginia, 106 crewmen died. Two bombs and at least seven torpedoes hit the battleship, according to the DPAA, but the crew took counter-flooding measures that kept it from capsizing.
“He died fighting for his country,” said Manuel Gonzales of the Vietnam Veterans of Ventura County.
In 2017, Garcia's was among 35 caskets exhumed by the DPAA that contained remains of sailors associated with the ship. Identifications are made by agency scientists using DNA samples that are compared to DNA from service members' families.
Volunteers in Hawaii and elsewhere dedicate their time to uncovering life stories of previously unidentified personnel from WWII. Using newspaper accounts from the time, their efforts found Garcia's roots as a sailor from Ventura.
Volunteers found newspaper items showing Garcia was a member of the 1933 graduating class of Ventura High School who attended community college prior to joining the Navy. A February 1943 article in the Ventura County Star-Free Press carried a photo of Garcia and described him as the first casualty from Ventura in the war.
In an undated letter from the time, Garcia's family thanked local officials, including the mayor, several judges, the Ventura Navy Mothers Club and others for their attendance and support during his memorial service. More than 300 people attended the event, according to one story.
Volunteers who work on such cases said they expect his remains will be returned after burial arrangements are made with the family.
A DPAA spokesperson confirmed Thursday Garcia's family has been notified. Authorities have not made their names public.
"At DPAA, it is our sacred duty to find, account for and bring home these service members who made the ultimate sacrifice," said Sgt. 1st Class Sean Everette, a spokesperson for the agency. "When they swore their oath to protect the United States, it became our duty to make sure they were returned to their families if they should fall in battle. They deserve it, and their families deserve it."
The agency has DNA from only 6% of families with missing service members. The agency will send those families a test kit that can be completed at home, which can be requested online at dpaa.mil.
Victoria Talbot is a courts and breaking news reporter with The Star. Reach her at victoria.talbot@vcstar.com or 805-437-0258.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Pearl Harbor sailor's remains identified as Claude Ralph Garcia
