Navy Ensign Lewis Bailey Pride, Jr., 23, of Madisonville, KY will be buried at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 18, 2016 at Odd Fellows Cemetery in Madisonville.

On December 7, 1941, Pride was assigned to the USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in 429 casualties, including Pride.

From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu'uanu Cemeteries.

In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. Personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Services (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties and from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Pride.

In April 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy memorandum directing the disinterment of unknowns associated with the USS Oklahoma. On June 15, 2015 DPAA personnel began exhuming the remains from the NMCP for analysis.

To identify Pride's remains, scientists from DPAA used circumstantial evidence and laboratory analysis, to include dental comparisons, which matched Pride's records.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war.

* We are asking that anyone wishing to attend to please come to Harris Funeral Home prior to 11 a.m. and join the full military escort procession to the cemetery.*