During the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Navy Seaman 1st Class James Richard Ward only had a short window of time to decide whether to save himself or help others. Ward made the brave decision to risk his life in order to help his fellow sailors flee. For his bravery, he was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor, and just recently, his remains were located and interred.
Ward was born to parents Howard and Nancy Ward on September 10, 1921, in Springfield, Ohio. Marjorie was the name of his sister. In addition,  ,
According to a 2014 Dayton Daily News article, Ward, who went by the moniker Dick, worked odd jobs for his neighbors to make some extra money when he was younger. He played the trumpet and football, but baseball was his true passion. According to the article, Ward accepted a factory job after graduating from high school in 1939 before securing an out-of-North Carolina minor league baseball contract with the Shelby Colonels. But the gig was over in a month, and he was fired. Before joining the Navy on November 25, 1940, Ward briefly worked at a steel mill.  , ++
Ward was assigned to the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii, after completing basic training. He was able to join the ship’s team because playing baseball was such a popular pastime for service members. Ward was even named top batter because he assisted them in winning the Pacific Fleet championship. In addition to  ,
Unfortunately, Ward would not live to see past the United States ‘ entry into World War II’s opening moments. In addition,  ,
An Important Decision ,
The Japanese attacked Oahu early on December 7, 1941, surprising installations all over the island. The Oklahoma and other Pacific Fleet ships that were moored at Pearl Harbor’s Ford Island took the majority of the attack. Up to nine aerial torpedoes struck the ship in the initial minutes of the attack, shattering more than 250 feet of hull on the port side. The Oklahoma rolled over and sank in less than 20 minutes as a result of the enormous amount of damage. In addition,  ,
Ward and his fellow sailors were in complete darkness when one of the ship’s turrets lost power right away. Ward was the only person in that turret carrying a flashlight, according to the Dayton Daily News. In addition,  ,
Ward remained in his turret when the order to abandon ship was given, using the flashlight to let the rest of the crew see how to escape. Ward did not make it out of the turret, whereas many of them did. He gave up his own life at the age of 20 in order to save the lives of his fellow sailors.  , ++
The Oklahoma lost 429 men in total that day. Days later, 32 men who had been trapped inside the ship’s upside-down hull were freed.  , ++
Official death notices took some time to circulate following the attacks. The Dayton Daily News reports that Ward’s parents did n’t learn of his passing until February 20, 1942.  , ++
Ward’s bravery did n’t go unnoticed despite the chaos of that fateful day. The Medal of Honor, along with a letter from President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Navy Secretary Frank Knox, was sent to his parents in Springfield in March 1942.  , ++
A Protracted Trip Home ,
According to naval historians, one of the greatest projects in the salvage industry was to roll up and raise the capsized Oklahoma in 1943. Navy personnel worked to find the remains of the men who perished inside the ship and bury them in makeshift cemeteries in Hawaii throughout the war.  ,
The American Graves Registration Service was established following the war to carry out a new task: to locate and retrieve our fallen service members from all over the world. The remains of the men from the Oklahoma were removed by GRS members and taken to an Army laboratory, where they were later identified as 35 men. The remaining remains were interred in plots at Honolulu’s Punchbowl National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. By 1949, Ward and other people who had n’t been designated as “nonrecoverable” were classified by a military board.  ,
Before that changed, almost a lifetime had passed.  , ++
In order to conduct tests involving dental, anthropological, and mitochondrial DNA analysis in the hopes of finally identifying the buried unknown men from Oklahoma, investigators—now with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency—exhumed their comeled remains in 2015. The organization compared those results to DNA samples that the 394 families of Oklahomans who had never been identified had given years earlier.  ,
The DPAA declared that Ward’s remains had finally been located on August 19, 2021. His nephew and namesake Richard Ward Hanna chose to bury him last week in Arlington National Cemetery. Hanna, a resident of Gainesville, Florida, claimed that while Ward was growing up, his family did n’t talk about him very much, but he is aware of how highly respected the deceased sailor is in Springfield.  ,
Early in December, Hanna predicted that it would be very emotional. I’ve been asked numerous times,” Does this really give you a sense of closure?” And I would n’t exactly say it’s closure for me. What’s significant, in my opinion, is that he will finally have a permanent resting place that people will be aware of. And receiving a Medal of Honor is an amazing thing.
Along with many other people who went missing during World War II, Ward’s name was listed on the Punchbowl Courts of the Missing after the war. Now, a rosette will be placed next to his name to show that he has been located. In addition,  ,
Ward was not forgotten even though he went missing for all those years. His name was given to the USS J. Richard Ward, an escort destroyer of the Edsall class that was commissioned in 1943 and used throughout World War II. He also received the name Camp Ward at the Farragut Naval Training Station in Idaho, and Ward Field in Pearl Harbor was given that name in 1953. At Ferncliff Cemetery in Springfield, Ohio, there is an “in memory” marker for Ward as well as an American Legion that bears his name.  ,
One of the more than 3,500 Medal of Honor recipients who have won the U.S. military’s highest medal for bravery is highlighted in this article, which is part of a weekly series called” Medal of Honour Monday.”