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Porter Leigh Rich was a United States Navy sailor who was killed on the USS Oklahoma when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. is remains were recovered between December 1941 and June 1944. They were identified on August 28, 2017.

Background[]

Porter Rich was born on March 24, 1914 in Van Lake Preston, South Dakota to Louis and Ora Rich. He was their third child out of four and their first son. After graduating from high school in 1931, he moved to California, where he worked at a fruit ranch, got married, and had a daughter. In 1933, one of his sisters had passed away.

In the fall of 1935, Porter joined the United States Navy and reenlisted in the fall of 1939. During his service, he was assigned to the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38), the USS Texas (BB-35), and the USS Oklahoma (BB-37). By the time of his death, Rich was a Petty Officer, Specialty Water Tender, 2nd Class. Interestingly, in a letter home six months prior to the Pearl Harbor attack, he predicted a similar attack would occur.

Pearl Harbor Attack[]

At about 7:48 AM on December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service conducted a surprise military strike against the United States at the naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The USS Oklahoma was one of the first ships to be attacked. The ship was torpedoed and capsized, killing Porter in the process.

Overall, 2,335 Americans were killed in the attack; 429, including Porter, were on the USS Oklahoma. The surprise attack led US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to declare December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy". The following day, the US Congress declared war on Japan, which led to the United States' formal entry into World War II.

Rich is the first person to be killed in World War II that is from Kingsbury County, South Dakota.

Aftermath[]

Porter was the first person to be killed in World War II from Kingsbury County, South Dakota. A memorial service was held in his memory at the Congregational Church in Kingsbury County. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and was memorialized at the Honolulu Memorial and Row 3 of the USS Oklahoma Memorial.

Between December 1941 and June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the USS Oklahoma personnel, who were subsequently buried at the Halawa and Nu'uanu Cemeteries. In September 1947, the American Graves Registration Service was tasked with identifying the remains from the Pacific Theatre. However, they were only able to identify 35 of the crewmen. In October 1949, the AGRS ruled Porter and the remaining crewmen as unrecoverable, and the unidentified remains were buried in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Identification[]

In 2015, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began the USS Oklahoma Project, whose goal was to individually identify the USS Oklahoma crewmen. The unidentified remains were exhumed between June and November 2015 for analysis. DPAA scientists and scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used dental and anthropological analysis and autosomal DNA (auSTR) and mtDNA analysis, respectively. By the time of the project's closing on the 80th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, 361 of the missing 394 sailors and Marines were individually identified, with all the Marines being identified.

Thanks to these advancements in forensic technology, Porter Leigh Rich's remains were identified on August 28, 2017. His identification was announced on August 27, 2018. He was buried at the Lake Preston Cemetery in his hometown on March 31, 2018. Hundreds of veterans, sailors, and community members attended the ceremony on April 2, 2018.

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