Oklahoma man helps identify uncle who died at Pearl Harbor

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. (AP) - As a boy, Woody Wicker was often reminded that his name was special.

“My Granny would always say, ’You’ve got to live for two people - you and your Uncle Gene,’” he said.

Killed in action in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Wicker’s uncle, Eugene Woodrow Wicker of Coweta, had died a couple of years before he was born. As a show of respect, his mom and dad had named him after the World War II veteran.

If Wicker’s late parents and grandmother could see how he’s paying his respects now, no doubt they would be proud.

The Broken Arrow resident learned recently that his uncle - whose remains were buried at a Pearl Harbor cemetery with other unidentified sailors - has been identified thanks to a DNA sample he provided.

More than 75 years after his death, Seaman 1st Class Eugene Wicker of the USS Oklahoma, who had been classified as missing in action, has finally been accounted for, Tulsa World reported.

A 20-year-old Navy radio operator, Eugene Wicker died during the Japanese attack, when the USS Oklahoma was torpedoed and sunk.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which is working to identify the remains of USS Oklahoma sailors and Marines, was able to successfully identify Wicker’s recently.

Woody Wicker, whose full name is Woody Eugene Wicker, is awaiting the agency’s final go-ahead on the next step. Then, he said, plans will be made for his uncle’s burial at Fort Gibson National Cemetery, with full military honors, sometime this year.

Although he never knew his Uncle Gene, Wicker - a retired Broken Arrow postmaster who now drives a school bus for special needs children - has always felt a connection to him.

He remembers well the photo of him hanging on the wall in his grandmother’s living room. Alongside it is his uncle’s Purple Heart, Presidential Citation and a condolence letter to his grandmother from the mayor.

“Eugene was her baby son,” he said, adding that his uncle, his father’s brother, was the youngest of his grandmother’s seven children.

The community tried to honor his memory, too. At Coweta High School, his alma mater, his photo was displayed for many years in a glass case.

After graduating from Coweta, Wicker had wanted to go to college, his nephew said. He’d been inspired by his wood shop teacher and wanted to teach woodworking, too.

But it was during the Depression, and he didn’t have enough money. So he went into the Navy.

“He thought he’d do that and save up his money for college,” Woody Wicker said.

Sadly, it wasn’t to be.

On the morning of Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, Wicker was on board his ship at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when the Japanese launched their sneak attack on the U.S. naval base.

On duty in the radio room, it was Wicker who alerted the rest of the crew to report to their battle stations.

There wasn’t much anyone could do, though. The USS Oklahoma took multiple torpedo hits in the first 10 minutes and began to capsize.

Wicker was one of 429 crew members to go down with the ship.

With the country at war, the USS Oklahoma wouldn’t be raised for a couple of years. When the bodies were finally recovered, those who could not be identified were buried together at Pearl Harbor.

The names of the missing were recorded there on the Courts of the Missing, Wicker’s among them.

Despite the name, Woody Wicker’s parents didn’t want him to be like his late uncle in every way.

When he decided he was going to join the Navy, in fact, his mother flat out told him no.

“She said Army, Air Force, Marines - anything but the Navy,” Wicker recalled. “She was afraid of history repeating itself.”

So Wicker joined the Army.

Since the first real efforts began about 25 years ago, Wicker has been active in the cause of honoring the USS Oklahoma and its crew. He’s been to Pearl Harbor a number of times, including in 2007 for the dedication of the USS Oklahoma memorial on Ford Island.

Of the sailors and Marines who died on the USS Oklahoma, about 100 have been identified through DNA testing, the government reported recently.

They were among 400 sets of remains that were exhumed two years ago from the burial site at Pearl Harbor. Officials said they hope that up to 80 percent of the missing crew members can be identified by 2020.

Wicker first provided DNA back in the 1990s. It yielded no results, and at the time he believed there was “only a small hope” his uncle would ever be identified.

However, when the new effort began, he provided another sample last year.

On Feb. 2, he got the call: Through his DNA, Eugene Wicker had been officially identified.

Eventually, Woody Wicker wants to donate his late uncle’s awards and other items to a planned USS Oklahoma exhibit.

However, at least one memorial to his uncle - Wicker’s name - isn’t going anywhere.

Wicker wouldn’t dream of giving it up.

It’s that name, he added, that makes the recent DNA news extra meaningful to him.

“It felt good,” he said of being the one in the family to finally bring his uncle home.

“It felt really good.”

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Information from: Tulsa World, http://www.tulsaworld.com