World War II Navy Sailor Joseph Conner’s Remains Returned to Lake Charles After 85 Years

Joseph Ucline Conner, a fireman 1st class aboard the battleship USS Utah, was killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He was one of 58 sailors who perished when the Utah capsized. Decades later, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency exhumed remains from the Utah and, using anthropological and mitochondrial DNA analysis, positively identified Conner’s remains in 2022.

The identified remains arrived at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport on July 30, 2026 and were escorted to Lake Charles, Louisiana, where a funeral service with full military honors will be held. Conner, born June 30, 1915, in Lake Charles, was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, American Defense Service Medal, Asiatic‑Pacific Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal. His brother, William Andrew Conner, was also killed in World War II when the cruiser USS Houston sank in March 1942; his remains have never been recovered.