09/25/2026
๐ง๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐ช๐๐ข ๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐
On September 23, 2026, a sailor killed at Pearl Harbor is finally coming home to Indiana.
His name is ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ.
He had been gone since December 7, 1941.
Boyer was only 22 years old when he served aboard the battleship USS West Virginia, moored along Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor. That Sunday morning, Japanese aircraft struck the American fleet without warning.
The West Virginia was hit repeatedly by torpedoes and bombs. The battleship suffered catastrophic damage and settled onto the shallow harbor floor. Counter-flooding prevented her from capsizing, but 106 members of her crew were killed.
Fred Boyer was one of them.
๐ง๐๐ ๐จ๐ก๐๐ก๐ข๐ช๐ก๐ฆ ๐ข๐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ช๐๐ฆ๐ง ๐ฉ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ก๐๐
As the shattered battleship was salvaged, Navy personnel recovered the remains of men who had died aboard her. They were initially buried at Halawa Naval Cemetery on Oahu.
After the war, the American Graves Registration Service worked to identify them.
Forty-two individuals were identified.
Others could not be.
Those unidentified remains, including Boyerโs, were eventually buried as Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, better known as the Punchbowl.
His name survived.
His grave did not.
For decades, his family knew where he had died and what ship he had served aboard, but there was no identified resting place to bring him home from.
๐ง๐๐๐ฅ๐ง๐ฌ-๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐จ๐ก๐๐ก๐ข๐ช๐ก๐ฆ
In 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency began another attempt.
Working with cemetery officials, DPAA disinterred 35 Unknowns believed to be associated with USS West Virginia and transferred the remains to its laboratory.
This time, investigators had tools the teams of the 1940s could never have imagined.
Modern forensic anthropology, dental comparison, genetic testing and the accumulated historical record could be brought together to answer questions that had remained unresolved for generations.
On June 11, 2024, DPAA identified the remains of ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ.
More than 82 years after Pearl Harbor, the Unknown had his name again.
๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐๐ก๐ ๐ง๐ข ๐ช๐๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ ๐๐๐
Boyer is scheduled to arrive at Indianapolis International Airport at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23.
From there, the procession is expected to travel north on State Road 19 toward Tipton. Residents have been encouraged to stand along the route as the sailor passes through the community he left so many decades ago.
It is difficult to compress that span of time into a number.
Pearl Harbor happened before most Americans alive today were born.
Parents became grandparents. Children became great-grandparents. Entire generations lived their lives while Fred Boyer remained among the Unknowns.
And now a road through Indiana is being prepared for his return.
๐๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐๐ก๐ง๐ฆ
The final chapter is scheduled for September 30.
At Kempton Cemetery, Fred Boyer will be laid to rest with U.S. Navy military honors.
He will be buried beside his parents.
That detail may be the smallest fact in the official record, but it may also be the one that says the most.
A 22-year-old sailor left Indiana before America had entered the war.
He died on one of the most consequential mornings in American history.
His remains crossed from a wrecked battleship to a temporary cemetery, then to an Unknown grave at the Punchbowl, then into a modern forensic laboratory.
Nearly 85 years after Pearl Harbor, the journey ends where journeys like his were always supposed to end.
๐๐ ๐ต๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ.
๐๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐.
๐ช๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ป๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ.
