Governor Matt Bevin has directed that flags at all state office buildings be lowered to half-staff Saturday in honor of a 25-year old Kentucky serviceman who was killed in action during World War II, but whose remains were only recently identified.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) recently announced that Navy machinist’s Mate 1st Class Ulis C. Steely of Corbin was officially accounted for on October 15, 2018.
On December 7, 1941, officials say Steely was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The battleship sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused to quickly capsize, resulting in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Steely.
According to officials, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu’uana Cemeteries and in September 1947 the remains were disinterred and transferred to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The lab staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time and the unidentified remains were buried in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl in Hawaii. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Steely.
Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS Oklahoma Unknowns from the Punchbowl for analysis and Steely’s remains were identified by scientists by using dental and anthropological analysis.
Steely will be buried Saturday, October 5, at Corinth Cemetery in his hometown of Corbin.
All individuals, businesses, organizations, and government agencies are encouraged to join in this tribute of lowering the flag to honor Steely.
