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A witness to history: Kearns man recalls attack on Pearl Harbor

For 70 years now, Carl Wagoner's older brother has been listed as missing in action. Lewis Lowell Wagoner, a tall, dark-haired seaman, was 20 years old and serving aboard the USS Oklahoma on Dec. 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked. The younger Wagoner was just 12 years old. He has never known what happened to the quiet-spoken boy who "always wanted to look out for his younger brothers."

Courtesy Wagoner family

Lewis Lowell Wagoner, a tall, dark-haired seaman, was 20 years old and serving aboard the U.S.S. Oklahoma on Dec. 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He is still missing in action.

"He participated in singing and basketball and was active in school events," said a now 81-year-old Brother Carl Wagoner at his home in the Huckleberry Ward, Syracuse Utah West Stake.

Courtesy Wagoner family

For 70 years, Carl Wagoner's brother has been listed as missing in action. He stands near monument to his brother, Lewis Lowell Wagoner.

His family, which included his parents, nine boys and two girls, were in Whitewater, Kan., when the telegram arrived. "My mother cried," Brother Wagoner recalled. "My parents were quiet and old Missourians who didn't have any education, and they worked all their lives."

As the years passed, they didn't talk much about Lewis. He was soon listed among 381 "unknowns" from the Oklahoma – known as the "Okie" to her crew. In 1949, those unknown heroes of the "Day of Infamy" were interred at the Punchbowl National Cemetery overlooking Pearl Harbor.

Courtesy Wagoner family

Grave of unknowns after Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.

The years passed, and Brother Wagoner served in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Valley Forge, an aircraft carrier. In a Cold War atmosphere, he trained as a gunner on dive bombers. He married his girlfriend, Marian Cook, joined the Church and reared five children.

Then in 2003, Brother Wagoner heard from the USS Oklahoma Survivors and Family Association that ongoing efforts with DNA identification were being made for remains buried at the Punchbowl.

Photo courtesy U.S. Navy

USS Oklahoma before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Lewis Lowell Wagoner, a tall, dark-haired seaman, was 20 years old and serving aboard the USS Oklahoma on Dec. 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

Brother Wagoner and his surviving brother, Merle, sent their DNA samples. (According to naval records in Brother Wagoner's possession, some bodies in the 1940s were thought identifiable but were not certified. DNA science was unknown at the time.)

Today, Brother Wagoner and his brother still wait. A bedroom in Brother Wagoner's home tells a story of a family sacrificing for their country. Near Lewis' picture are photos of two other brothers, William and Roy, who served in the U.S. Army and Marines, respectively.

William lost his eyesight to shrapnel in Europe. The other was never quite the same after fighting on beaches in the Pacific. Three other brothers also served in the military.

In early March of this year, Brother Wagoner, his wife and other family members traveled to Oahu for a family vacation. Now slim and gray-haired, he stood over a grave at the Punchbowl thought by the survivor's association to perhaps hold the remains of his brother. He hopes that soon DNA identification can be made.

And after all this time, the tears came. "Just knowing that they've found his remains and being able to go there after all these years."