Minnesota Seaman Killed During Pearl Harbor Buried With Honors After 83 Years

(KNSI) – A Stillwater, Minnesota native will finally be buried in his home state, nearly 83 years after he was killed at Pearl Harbor.

Fire Controlman 3rd Class William Gusie died aboard the USS Oklahoma. He trained at the Great Lakes Navy school and moved up the ranks from Seaman Apprentice until his final post aboard the Oklahoma, which was sunk during the Japanese attack on December 7th, 1941.

Fire controlmen were responsible for maintaining and repairing the systems that manage the guns used on combat ships. During battles, they were responsible for calculating the distance to a target using range finders.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has been working to identify the 388 unaccounted-for service members thought to be aboard the ship when it sank. Unknown remains were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in 1950 and were disinterred in 2015.

By December 2017, 100 sailors had been identified. The group reached the 200th identification on February 26, 2019, and number 300 in January 2021. On the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, the final set of 33 remains was reburied, but Project Oklahoma continued to work to finish its mission. Gusie is the third member of that last group to be identified.

Scientists try to cross match DNA samples from the remains with surviving family members. They crossmatch that with available medical and dental records to confirm identities.

Gusie will be laid to rest in Minneapolis with full military honors in a private ceremony Wednesday.

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