WICHITA, Kan. — Nearly 78 years after he died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Navy Seaman 2nd Class Wilbur Clayton Barrett will be laid to rest in his native Kansas.
Barrett's remains were returned to Wichita Thursday. He will be buried in El Dorado on Saturday.
He was an El Dorado native who enlisted in the Navy in May 1940 at age 25.
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The Wichita Eagle reports Barrett’s remains were commingled in mass graves in Hawaii with hundreds of others killed on the battleship Oklahoma during the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Advances in DNA and a renewed push by the military to identify remains led to Barrett being positively identified last June.
Barrett’s great nephew, 72-year-old Joe Binter, said the Navy used DNA from one of his aunts to identify the sailor.
