Welborn Lee "Tiddly" Ashby was a United States Navy sailor who was killed when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He was the first US serviceman from Ohio County, Kentucky who died in World War II. His remains were identified on November 4, 2019.
Background[]
Welborn Ashby was born on October 19, 1917 to Otis and Mary Ashby in Ohio County, Kentucky. The second of five siblings, he enlisted the United States Navy on September 24, 1940. His service number was 2874472. He achieved Fireman Third Class and was assigned to the USS West Virginia.
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 West Virginia was hit with torpedoes, but thanks to the crew taking counter-flooding measures, the ship came to a final rest on the shallow harbor floor and did not capsize. Tiddly was killed in the process, though his exact circumstances are not stated. His remains were located between 1941 and when the USS West Virginia was raised and being repaired in 1942, but not identified. He was declared missing in action while his remains were buried in the Punchbowl at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Overall, 2,335 Americans were killed in the attack, 106, including Tiddly, were on the USS West Virginia. The surprise attack led to 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.
Aftermath[]
Tiddly was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. He was memorialized on Court 5 of the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii and at Centertown Cemetery in Centertown, Kentucky. Additionally, the American Legion in Centertown is named in his honor as Welborn Lee Ashby Post 296.
Before the start of the USS West Virginia Project in mid-2017, about 35 burials of 38 sets of unidentified remains were potentially associated with the USS West Virginia. Because only 25 USS West Virginia personal were listed as unaccounted for, this may suggest that crew members from other ships were killed on the USS West Virginia.
Identification[]
In 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began the USS West Virginia Project which led to the exhumation of the 38 sets of remains which are being reexamined by advanced forensic technology. Due to these advances in forensic technology, the remains of John Russell Melton were identified on February 1, 2021. His identification was announced on January 4, 2022.
Between June and October of 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began the USS West Virginia Project which led to the exhumation of the 38 sets of remains which are being reexamined by advanced forensic technology. Through dental and anthropological analysis, DNA evidence, and circumstantial evidence, the remains of Welborn "Tiddly" Ashby were identified on November 4, 2019. He was buried at his hometown in May 2021.
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