PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Editor's Note: The above video originally aired Dec. 7, 2021, on the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
A Virginia sailor who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor more than 80 years ago is returning home to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
The remains of 19-year-old Navy Mess Attendant 3rd Class David Walker were accounted for on November 27, 2023.
Walker, who attended I.C. Norcom High School and whose family lived in Portsmouth according to newspaper accounts from the time, died aboard USS California (BB-44) during the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. The California was struck by multiple torpedoes and bombs in the early minutes of the attack, causing it to catch fire and slowly flood.
Walker was one of 103 crew members who died as a result of the attack.
According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), Walker's unidentified remains were among many that were recovered in the days and months following the Pearl Harbor attack, and he was eventually buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In 2018, the DPAA exhumed the 25 USS California crew members from the Punchbowl who had never been identified. Walker's remains were eventually identified using anthropological and dental analysis, along with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Walker's name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with other servicemen who are missing from WWII. The DPAA said a rosette will be placed next to his name, indicating that he is now accounted for.
He will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on Sept. 5, 2024.