Town Finds Way To Honor Navy Seaman Lloyd Timm, Killed In Pearl Harbor, After Pandemic Delays Funeral
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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- On this Memorial Day weekend, a Minnesota community is remembering a United States Navy seaman who has not been able to be laid to rest due to COVID-19.
It took close to eight decades for the remains of Lloyd Timm to be identified after he was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. He was supposed to be buried Monday, but the ceremony was postponed due to restrictions on gatherings.
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Timm was among 429 crewmen that perished on the USS Oklahoma, but only 35 bodies were able to be identified at the time.
Lloyd Ness, who is named after his uncle, lives in Woodbury.
"He's a really big a big influence on my entire life," Ness said. "There was really no reason they would be able to determine who he was from that mass crypt of bodies."
But new technology used DNA from Ness, along with other family members, to finally identify the remains of the fallen 19-year-old.
Timm's family planned to bury him in his hometown of Kellogg on Memorial Day, but the burial is on hold.
"We all feel that the safest thing to do is wait for this virus to pass, you know, or become under control before we bring all these people into this situation," Ness said.
Instead, people living in Kellogg have lined the main street with flags in honor and memory of service members for Memorial Day. They will lead to where Timm will eventually be buried.
It's where his family and community always wanted him: Home.
"It has really grounded me and made me realize how fortunate I have been, you know, and how little my problems are," Ness said.
Timm will be buried at the Greenfield Cemetery, just outside of Kellogg. The family has not set a date for the new burial.
More than 72,000 people are still unaccounted for from World War II.
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