A Pittsburgh-area family whose distant relative died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, was at the reinterment this week of the sailor whose remains were unidentified for 80 years until DNA tests and military researchers traced his descendants back to America’s enslavement of African-Americans, a family member said.
The remains of Mess Attendant David Walker, 19, who was killed aboard the battleship USS California during the sneak attack that Sunday morning, were buried Thursday in a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington, D.C.
“It was a very moving ceremony. I was honored to receive the (U.S.) flag,” at the cemetery, said Cheryl Stone, 71, of White Oak, a second cousin to Walker. She was joined by Sterling Stone, 46, of Braddock, a third cousin of Walker.
Walker was a native of Portsmouth, Va., who enlisted in the Navy in August 1940 and was a mess attendant aboard the ship on Dec. 7. Given the timing of the attack around 7:45 a.m., Walker might have been below deck serving breakfast or cleaning up after the meal was served, said Eugene Hughes, public affairs manager for the Navy POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
The California was repeatedly hit by a torpedo and bombs during the attack, filling with water and sinking three days later. Walker was among 98 men were killed in the attack, the Navy said.
Walker was among the sailors whose remains were unidentified and buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, said Sean Everette , a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency spokesman. The Navy had the list of unidentified sailors and when the remains were disinterred, DNA samples were taken.
Cheryl Stone said that she has learned that Walker’s mother had written the Navy about a week after the attack inquiring about her son, but never received a response until about two years later.
“His mom (Edna Walker Law) anguished over his death. She never got over it (death of her son). I think she died of a broken heart,” Stone said.
The remains of 25 unidentified causalities associated with the California were disinterred by March 2018, the Navy said. Military scientists, using a variety of tests, forensic anthropology , dental records, worked to identify the remains. Once the remains were identified, genealogists contracted by the Navy Casualty did research to identify the closest family member, which can be an exhaustive conducted the ancestry search, Hughes said.
“They (genealogists) went all the way back to the time of slavery,” Sterling Stone said.
Stone said she was contacted about the possibility of being a relative of Walkers and gave a DNA sample about three years ago. She initially dismissed attempts by the Navy to contact her about an unknown relative, thinking it was some sort of scam. She even declined to answer some of their calls.
“Even after I took the DNA test, I did not believe there was any connection,” Cheryl Stone said.
That was in part because she had never heard of Walker, who was related to her late mother, who died when Stone was a youngster. She has since learned Walker was an only child who dropped out of high school to enlist in the Navy.
Stone said it was along process before she was confirmed as a relative of Walker’s. She met with Navy representatives at the Pittsburgh International Airport last November.
“That can be a complex process and delays can occur. The pandemic, deaths, health and mental incapacitation have caused several secondary selections in the process,” Hughes said.
The burial ceremony brought closure to the family and brought them closer to knowing the history of their own family, complicated by slavery, they said.
“Finding our family is something we’ve always been trying to do. This filled out the family tree,” said Sterling Stone.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.