Navy Sailor Killed In Pearl Harbor Identified As St. Charles Man

ST. CHARLES, IL — The remains of a Navy sailor who died during the attack on Pearl Harbor nearly 80 years ago have been identified as a St. Charles native, a 21-year-old at the time that he died.

Navy Electrician's Mate 3rd Class Leslie P. Delles was aboard the USS Oklahoma when the battleship was hit with Japanese torpedoes, killing 429 of the ship's crewmen during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack that jumpstarted United States' involvement in World War II.

Remains of the crew and some of the other 2,403 people killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor were buried in the Halawa and Nu'uanu cemeteries in Hawaii, none of them identified.

Three years later, officials from the American Graves Registration Service exhumed the remains of the fallen personnel and transported them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks, where medical examiners attempted to identify the servicemen.

With technology from the time, about 35 sailors from the USS Oklahoma were identified, and the remaining men were placed in the Punchbowl, a memorial cemetery in Honolulu, Hawaii.

It wasn't until 2015, when Delles' remains were exhumed again and deemed "recoverable" by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), that the St. Charles man was identified through DNA sampling and anthropological records.

A rosette will finally be placed next to Delles' name on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl to indicate his remains have been accounted for, according to the agency.

The DPAA shared a Chicago Tribune story from the time, which showed that Delles enlisted in the Navy with his twin brother, Lester, when they were 19. Leslie wanted to use the Navy's training to become an electrician, and Lester was interested in aviation mechanics.

Lester was not on the USS Oklahoma during the time of the attack due to special training in San Diego. Living family members of Leslie Delles declined to comment, but indicated they may be present at his formal burial in October in California.