KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The remains of an East Tennessee sailor killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor will finally be laid to rest in his hometown this summer, nearly 80 years after his death.
Navy Fireman 1st Class Paul E. Saylor, 21, of Johnson City, was aboard the USS Oklahoma on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese forces attacked the naval base plunging the United States into World War II.
The USS Oklahoma moored at Ford Island sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Saylor.
Saylor’s remains were among 46 that were interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu after they could not be identified following a disinterment in September 1947.
FILE – In this Dec. 7, 1941 file photo, smoke rises from the battleship USS Arizona as it sinks during a Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The coronavirus pandemic is preventing Pearl Harbor survivors from attending an annual ceremony to remember those killed in the 1941 attack. The National Park Service and Navy also are closing the ceremony to the public and livestreaming it instead. (AP Photo, File) 
Original caption: Burning and damaged ships at Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7 1941. Photo courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. 
A morning patrol boat goes past the USS Arizona Memorial before a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor at Kilo Pier on December 07, 2016 in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo by Craig T. Kojima – Pool/Getty Images) 
Between June and November 2015 the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency exhumed the remains of the 46 unidentified USS Oklahoma sailors. Saylor’s remains were able to be identified using DNA analysis in November.
Saylor’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl, the nickname given to the extinct volcano crater where the National Memorial Cemetery is located, on Oahu. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Saylor will be buried on Aug. 20 in Johnson City.
