NEW LONDON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The remains of three New London brothers who were killed in the World War II attack on Pearl Harbor will be laid to rest in their hometown.
The funeral for the Barber brothers will be Sept. 11, 2021.
- For family and funeral information, contact the Navy Service Casualty office at (800) 443-9298.
In June, the U.S. military announced the remains of Navy Fireman 1st Class Malcolm J. Barber, 22, Navy Fireman 1st Class LeRoy K. Barber, 21, and Navy Fireman 2nd Class Randolph H. Barber, 19, were accounted for .
The brothers were assigned to the USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack. The ship sustained multiple torpedo hits, causing it to capsize, killing 429 crewmen.
According to a Wisconsin Veterans Museum blog post, Malcolm and Randolph Barber joined the Navy after LeRoy wrote them from the Great Lakes Naval Training Station to urge them to join. In a break from Navy protocol, the brothers were assigned to the same ship. While the brothers were happy with the assignments, the museum says their father wrote the Navy a few weeks before the Pearl Harbor attack, asking that they be assigned to separate ships.
The brothers were a few of more than 400 aboard the USS Oklahoma buried at the Punchbowl in Hawaii.
Between 1941 and 1944, Navy personnel recovered the crew members’ remains. Those remains were interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries in Hawaii.
According to officials fewer than 35 sailors’ remains are still unidentified from USS Oklahoma.
In 2015, the USS Oklahoma unknowns were exhumed for analysis.
The Barber brothers’ names are recorded at the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl. The list will indicate that they have been accounted for.
The Navy ship USS Barber, launched in 1943, was named in the brothers’ honor.
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