Remains of sailor killed in Pearl Harbor to be returned home to Minnesota
(KMSP) - Sailors from Navy Operational Support Center Minneapolis will honor a Minnesota sailor who was killed in action aboard the USS Oklahoma on Dec. 7, 1941.
Navy Fireman 3rd Class Kenneth L. Holm of Clarkfield, Minnesota was assigned to USS Oklahoma when he was 29 years old. The ship was moored at Fort Island, Pearl Harbor during the attack.
Holm’s remains had been unidentified for more than 74 years, buried in a plot at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy memorandum directing “the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS Oklahoma,” according to a release.
In June 2015, personnel from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began exhuming the remains for analysis, and Holm’s remains were identified.
The remains will be flown to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Tuesday, with a full-honors military funeral planned for 2 p.m. Wednesday at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.