USS Oklahoma Causality Laid To Rest After 78 Years

Seaman First Class Wesley Jordan was finally laid to rest on May 24, 2019, in Barnes City, Iowa. Wesley was killed during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, while serving aboard the USS Oklahoma.

Barnes City, Iowa – Wesley Jordan, having grown up in What Cheer, Iowa, joined the United States Navy on May 4, 1938, serving aboard the USS Oklahoma Battleship.

On December 7, 1941, Jordan and 428 of his shipmates lost their lives when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, where the USS Oklahoma was moored that Sunday morning.

The USS Oklahoma was attacked by Imperial Japanese warplanes, and was eventually capsized when up to six torpedos struck her.

Jordan was among those missing from the USS Oklahoma, remaining that way for 78 years.

Wesley Vernie Jordan was born May 6, 1918, to William Ferris Jordan and Ola (Brader) Jordan. He was married to Leta Tish on July 14, 1940.

Graveside services were held on Friday afternoon, beginning shortly after 1 pm, at the Barnes City Cemetery.

The Patriot Guard Riders led a procession from the Holland-Coble Funeral Home in Montezuma to the cemetery in Barnes City.

The family of Wesley Jordan received his memorial flag during a military funeral on Friday afternoon.

According to Jordan’s niece Sharon Renfrow, Jordan grew up in What Cheer, and she never met him before his death.

Until the family was asked to donate DNA in the process of identifying Jordan, the family always knew that his ship had been struck that fateful day, “but other than that, we really didn’t know much about anything, and they notified us when they started trying to identify the remains of all the service people.”

“We wanted him to be brought back here to his family,” said great-niece Teresa Lewis.

“I felt a lot of honor myself, just to be a part of it. To be a part of history. To know that someone who was related to me served our country,” added Lewis.

“This is a great honor to be a part of honoring him,” Lewis added.

“I think it’s important people appreciate the sacrifices that people do make for us and for our country and for all of the freedoms we are allowed. I think people tend to forget that,” Renfrow added in closing.

On August 27, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified the remains of Seaman First Class Wesley Vernie Jordan.

His remains had been recovered from the ship after the attack, but could not be identified at the time, and were buried as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In 2015, advances in forensic techniques prompted the reexamination of unknown remains associated with the Oklahoma, and SEA1 Jordan was eventually identified from among them.

Seaman First Class Jordan is memorialized on the Courts of the missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.