Pearl Harbor sailor enlisted in Texas to finally be laid to rest

Fireman 1st Class Joseph Conner to receive full military honors Aug. 1 following DNA identication

A World War II sailor who enlisted in Houston before losing his life during the attack on Pearl Harbor will be laid to rest with full military honors nearly 84 years after his death.

Fireman 1st Class Joseph Ucline Conner enlisted in the U.S. Navy in Houston on Nov. 8, 1939. Less than two years later, he was among the 58 crew members killed aboard the USS Utah during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. After decades of being listed among the unidentified dead, advances in forensic science have allowed his remains to be identified.

Conner will be buried with full military honors Aug. 1 at Prien Memorial Park, 2220 Country Club Road, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at approximately noon.

Born June 30, 1915, in Lake Charles, Conner grew up in nearby Cameron, Louisiana. After enlisting in Houston, he completed recruit training at Naval Training Station San Diego before reporting aboard the USS Utah in January 1940. He advanced to the rank of Fireman 1st Class, serving in the ship's engineering department until his death.

Originally commissioned as a battleship in 1911, the USS Utah had been converted into a target and anti-aircraft training ship by the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Moored west of Ford Island on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, the ship was struck by two torpedoes within minutes of the attack and quickly rolled onto its side. Despite rescue efforts by fellow sailors, 58 members of the crew were killed.

For his service, Conner was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, American Defense Service Medal with Fleet Clasp, Asiatic- Pacific Campaign Medal with Bronze Star and the World War II Victory Medal.

Following the war, many of the unidentified USS Utah sailors were buried as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. In 2022, the Defense POW/ MIA Accounting Agency exhumed those remains as part of an effort to identify the missing crew members using modern forensic technology, including DNA analysis and dental and anthropological records. Conner's remains were among those positively identified.

The burial comes as the U.S. Navy commemorates its 250th anniversary, marking more than two centuries of service in defense of the nation.