'You're home, Claude:' Pearl Harbor sailor laid to rest next to mother in Ventura
Eighty-one years and four days after U.S. Navy sailor Claude Ralph Garcia was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Ventura native was laid to rest Sunday next to his mother.
Garcia’s remains went unidentified for decades following his wartime death, but recent DNA testing was able to link him to family members who had not yet been born when he died. On Sunday, he was buried with full military honors next to his mother, Mercedes Garcia, at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura.
Evelyn Pittsenbarger, Garcia’s niece and at 94 the only surviving relative old enough to have known him, tossed a rose on top of his urn as did his great-nephew, 74-year-old Ric Ruffinelli. Workers then set Garcia's gravestone.
“You’re home, Claude,” Ruffinelli said as he dropped in a red flower.
Garcia was a shipfitter 2nd class aboard USS West Virginia when the battleship was destroyed during the 1941 attack. Garcia had been buried with other unidentified crew members for nearly eight decades when his remains were exhumed in 2017, tested for DNA and compared against samples from the families of missing service members. Garcia’s remains were identified in May.
Newspaper reports from the time of his death indicate Garcia was the first Ventura resident killed in World War II.
Members of Garcia’s family looked on Sunday as their long-missing relative was returned to his mother’s side. Ruffinelli and Pittsenbarger posed for pictures with Garcia's Purple Heart ahead of the ceremony. Sailors from Naval Base Ventura County fired off three volleys of rifle shots before a bugler played "Taps."
“I was surprised the Navy went to this extent after so many years,” Garcia's great-niece Robyn Swanson said.
Veterans traveled from across Southern California to attend the service and stood in a circle around the perimeter of the service as Garcia's family paid their final respects.
Laura Herzog, founder of the nonprofit Honoring Our Fallen, said her organization arranged for former servicemembers to attend Garcia's service in Ventura Sunday. Members of Vietnam Veterans of Ventura County were also on hand to salute Garcia as he was interred.
"This man at 25 years old paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. He's receiving the honors that have been due to him for 81 years. It's breathtaking," said Herzog, whose organization supports families of servicemembers. "It means a lot to me just to know he's home, and he's with his mom."
After Garcia’s headstone was laid in place, Graciano Lupercio, the Navy's casualty officer assigned to Garcia’s family, gave the fallen sailor a final salute. The chief equipmentman then turned to wipe tears from his eyes.
Garcia's remains were identified, he was one of 72,309 servicemen who were unaccounted for from World War II. His unidentified remains had been buried at "Punchbowl" National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. His remains were one of 35 bodies exhumed in 2017 to be tested for DNA and they arrived last week at Los Angeles International Airport.
Ruffinelli said his great-grandmother, who was known to the family as Mama Tortilla, always kept a picture of Garcia on an end table in her living room.
“She would be overjoyed to know he was home and laid to rest next to her,” he said. “It’s just kind of a homecoming.”
Dawn Megli is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at dawn.megli@vcstar.com or @ReporterDawn. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation's Fund to Support Local Journalism.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: WWII veteran buried in Ventura 81 years after Pearl Harbor
