Pearl Harbor casualty finally laid to rest near parents in Batavia
Several hundred people solemnly stood in the sun Monday afternoon at River Hills Memorial Park to pay respects for a sailor they never met who died 76 years ago.
"Thank you for the honor of letting us bring Walter home," a Navy casualty assistance calls officer told Walt Pickens, nephew of Navy Radioman 2nd Class Walter H. Backman.
Backman died in the attack on Pearl Harbor, and after decades in the Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, his remains were reinterred in the military section of the Batavia-area cemetery, not far from where his parents are buried.
The rumble of a Patriot Guard motorcycle escort announced the arrival. Enlisted men and women in dress whites carried the casket, and there was a rifle salute.
"The Navy cares for its own and recognizes the sacrifice (Backman made)" said Stanley Pickens, Backman's nephew. "It's a bit overwhelming, the outpouring of love and concern for us, who never even knew our uncle."
Backman, 22, had quit school after the eighth grade to work on the family's farm near Wilton, North Dakota, and enlisted in the Navy in 1938. His parents moved the family to Aurora after losing the farm in the 1930s.
Walt Pickens' research showed that Backman spent three years aboard the USS Oklahoma. He was on duty in the radio room when the Japanese torpedoed the ship Dec. 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The ship capsized, and 429 people died.
Remains were recovered during the next three years and buried in the military cemetery there, commonly known as the Punchbowl. Just 35 were identified at the time.
The military disinterred unidentified remains in 2015 and began DNA testing. The Pickenses' late mother, Backman's sister, gave a sample.
"I personally never believed this would happen in this case," Walt Pickens said.
They were notified last August of the match and chose Memorial Day for the reinterment because the family has always honored fallen servicemen that day, said Walt's sister, Carolyn Sellers.
"He was beloved by his family. He was his mama's only son. She never got over it," Walt Pickens said.