Remains of Pearl Harbor sailor return home 80 years later
Radio operator Floyd Wells, 24, was killed on December 7, 1941, when a Japanese bomb hit the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. In all, 1,177 crewmen on the ship died.
Wells was offered a college scholarship but chose a career in the Navy after graduating from high school in North Dakota. This week, almost 80 years after he went missing, Wells has finally come home.
Two years ago, the Wells family submitted DNA samples to the Defense Department to help identify his remains. In June, the match was confirmed.
"We have peace and I know that Floyd has peace. So, I go away with that, with peace in my heart and thankfulness," said Darlene Erichsen, Wells' niece.
More than 72,000 American WWII veterans remain unaccounted for. But they are not forgotten — not by their families and not by a grateful nation.