Family plans funeral after officials identify sailor who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor
SMITHS GROVE, Ky. – A local family is planning the funeral of an 18-year-old sailor who was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 during World War II.
Nearly 80 years later, his remains have been identified.
Navy Seaman 2nd Class Howard Scott Magers was aboard the U.S.S. Oklahoma when Japanese forces attacked the naval base.
“There was 439 people that perished at Pearl Harbor and they were all buried in mass graves. So, they exhumed the bodies and took them to two different laboratories where they began the identification process. Scott ended up in Nebraska and has been there since 2015 as they have been identifying all of these bodies. The last we’ve heard, they have identified 329 so we have 100 more people to identify and I am so in hopes that will happen before the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor,” said family’s spokesperson, Paula Pedigo.
Magers will be officially laid to rest at Merry Oaks United Methodist Church Cemetery in Smiths Grove on May 29th next to his parents.
There is already a headstone in place where he will be laid to rest.
“They could have buried him in Arlington. He could have stayed in Hawaii. They had multiple choices, but their choice was to bring him home because this is where he grew up. This is the community that he loved, the people that he loved and he’s beside his parents and he still has family living here and they will be able to have this proper burial and this proper ceremony for him,” said Pedigo.
Hardy and Sons owner and funeral director, Bill Hardy, says this is the first time he has ever been a part of something like this calling it an honor to be a part of it all.
“It’s very emotional. I don’t care how many times I go to a cemetery and they have the 21-gun salute and you hear the Taps and they present the flag to the next of kin, if you don’t tear up, something’s wrong with you,” said Hardy.
Pedigo says she just wants the world to know and say Howard Scott Magers name.
Just days before the burial, Magers will be flown into the Nashville Airport and escorted by state police to the Hardy and Son’s funeral chapel.
Then on May 29th at 1:30, an expectedly massive funeral procession will be escorted by KSP to his burial site for his funeral at 2.
Anyone living along the route is encouraged to place yellow ribbons and American flags outside of their homes to honor Magers and his family.
The funeral is open to the public.
