LASALLE – On Dec. 7, 1941, Japan launched an attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. 22-year-old Adolf J. Loebach of Peru was a Navy Fire Controlman 3rd Class on board the USS Oklahoma who was killed after the ship capsized from torpedo hits. Over 400 men lost their lives on that ship, and over 2,400 in the raid which set the United States on a path to declare war against Japan.
The USS Oklahoma was moored at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, and in the years that followed Navy personnel recovered remains from the ship, however 35 could not be identified by the best of their abilities in the 1940’s. Between June and November 2015, unidentified remains were examined again, and Loebach will be laid to rest in LaSalle on December 19th. According to the defense department, more than 400,000 died during World War II, and there are 72,635 still unaccounted for.
