MINGO COUNTY, WV (WOWK) – After 82 years, a sailor from West Virginia who lost his life in Pearl Harbor is finally back home.

World War II Navy Fire Controlman 2nd Class Donald R. McCloud was laid to rest Saturday at the McCloud Family Cemetery in Mingo County, West Virginia. Friends and family were in attendance for the service as well as several sailors and police officers from Logan and across West Virginia.

McCloud was born in Wayne, West Virginia on Nov. 18, 1920, and raised in Monaville. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on April 12, 1938. McCloud was 21 years old when Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941.

His remains were identified in December 2022 after Fred McCloud, Donald’s oldest living relative, underwent a DNA test to identify matching remains. Fred says he was only four years old when Donald died.

Donald was one of the 429 crewmen who were tragically killed on the USS Oklahoma during the Pearl Harbor attack.

McCloud’s body was buried in the Halawa and Nu’uana Cemeteries in Hawaii up until this week. He was listed among 47 service members whose remains were classified as “non-recoverable.”

This week, the Navy flew him back home over the course of this week. He was escorted along several layovers in Dallas and Columbus before a procession drove him from Logan, West Virginia to the McCloud Family Cemetery in Veet, West Virginia.

His military awards and decorations include the Purple Heart Medal, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet Clasp), the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (with Bronze Star), the World War II Victory Medal, and the American Campaign Medal.