Part 2 of 2 PartsWe are very honored that the Patriot Guard Riders have been invited to the arrival of a World War II Hero who lost his life in the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Seaman 1st Class Wallace Gregory Mitchell, age 19. We are privileged to accompany him from the mortuary to the cemetery for his military honors.
Wallace Mitchell was born in 1921 to George and Isabelle Mitchell in Pasadena, California. The family was originally from Massachusetts and moved out to Los Angeles in the 1920s. On July 12, 1940, he enlisted into the United States Navy from Los Angeles. He was attached as a Seaman First Class to the USS Oklahoma.
At about 7:48 AM on December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service conducted a surprise military strike against the United States at the naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The USS Oklahoma was one of the first ships to be attacked. The ship was torpedoed and capsized. Mitchell was killed during the attack, though his exact circumstances are unknown. His remains were located between 1941 and 1944, but not identified. As a result, he was considered missing in action while his remains were buried in the Punchbowl at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Overall, 2,335 Americans were killed in the attack, four hundred and twenty-nine, including Mitchell, were on the USS Oklahoma. The surprise attack led to US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to declare December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy". The following day, the US Congress declared war on Japan which led to the United States' formal entry into World War II.
In September 1947, the American Graves Registration Service was tasked to identify unknown soldier's remains from the Pacific Theatre. However, they were only able to identify thirty-five of the crewmen from the USS Oklahoma. In October of 1949, the American Graves Registration Service ruled Mitchell, along with many soldiers whose remains were not identified, as unrecoverable.
His name is featured on the USS Oklahoma Memorial and in Court 1 of the Honolulu Memorial of the Courts of the Missing in Honolulu, Hawaii.
In 2015, the Department of Defense and the Defense POW/MIA accounting agency initiated a program to exhume the unidentified sailors of the USS Oklahoma to try and match their DNA against the DNA of family members whose loved ones were never identified. Scientists at the D.P.A.A. used anthropological analysis and scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis to identify the servicemen.
Through these methods, S1c Wallace Gregory Mitchell was identified on December 16, 2020.
S1c Mitchell is survived by his sister and other family members who have never forgotten him and will now be able to properly honor and mourn their Hero.
NOTE: This mission posting is to facilitate your voluntary participation in honoring this American Hero. For those interested, and all PGR members are welcome, we will be accompanying the hero and his family from the mortuary to the cemetery (approx 77 miles). Please see the time table if you would like to participate. For those who would rather go directly to the cemetery, we will meet you there.
NOTE: COVID-19 restrictions may apply, please have masks/face coverings available
NOTE: THIS IS A 77 MILE ACCOMPANY PLEASE ARRIVE FUELED UP
Time table for Friday, 28 MAY 21:
0600 - Stage at O'Connor Mortuary, 25301 Alicia Parkway, Laguna Hills, CA 92653 (13 miles) https://goo.gl/maps/qZnzmj3WsDJNcfoS8
0615 - Mission briefing
0645 - Flag Line for transfer of Hero to coach
0700 - KSU for Ft Rosecrans National Cemetery, 1700 Cabrillo Memorial Dr., San Diego, CA 92106 https://goo.gl/maps/WeQSQJyFDMFsU8Zh6
0900 - Est arrival at cemetery
0930 - Flag Line, Service and Military Honors
RC: Tom Barry
SoCalPGR Ride Captain
admin@armobility.com
714-206-1227
You do not have to be a Veteran or a motorcycle rider to attend this mission. All PGR members are welcome. We encourage those who do not ride to attend in your car. If this will be your first mission go to the initial staging area and you will be briefed there by the R/C (Ride Captain). Dress for motorcycle riding or dress casually if you are driving a cage (car). Please feel free to attend any portion of this mission you can. Please ride/drive safely.
