Friday marks a week since Fire Controlman 3rd Class Robert Thomas Stout was laid to rest with military honors in Cottonwood cemetery in Northern California. He was, until recently, one of the unknown sailors killed during the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Stout was born in Oklahoma and died at age 21 on the USS Oklahoma — the first battleship to be hit by a Japanese torpedo in 1941. Thanks to DNA technology, he was identified over eight decades later. Stout enlisted in the Navy just two years before the attack.
Retired police Chief Kevin Jones of Susanville, Calif., said his family was deeply grateful for the outpouring of respect for his great-uncle during the long journey home to California.
"We're happy to have my great-uncle back and resting with my great-grandmother," Jones said. "It gives my mom some peace. He's one of the very last relatives my mother has."
Stout was one of a handful of the more than 400 unknowns who were identified by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency located at Pearl Harbor.
The agency is also helping with the identification of remains from the recent Lāhainā wildfire that killed at least 97 people.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Sept. 21, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
