“He was Uncle Paul,” Rebecca Schmale said about U.S. Navy Seaman 1st Class Paul E. Newton, the uncle she never knew but whom her mother would speak about, “and when we talked about him, it was that he died too young and did not have an opportunity to experience so many things in life.”
Newton, a 20-year-old sailor from Romney, Indiana, died aboard the battleship USS West Virginia on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor—which prompted the United States to enter World War II. Newton remained unidentified for more than 84 years. Yet due to the efforts of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), he was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery on May 12, 2026.
During the attack, the USS West Virginia took numerous torpedo hits as well as bomb blasts. The damaged ship eventually settled in the shallow waters off Hawaii’s Ford Island, known as “Battleship Row,” where the Navy’s ships docked. By the time the attack ended, 106 of the ship’s crewmen, including Newton, had been killed.
Newton, who was the youngest of eight children, had written to his mother days before the attack, telling her he hoped to be home for Christmas Day. According to Schmale, the letter arrived on Dec. 8.
Newton’s second cousin, Wayne Newton, also lost his life that day while serving on the USS California, across Battleship Row from the West Virginia. The two knew each other, but there is no evidence they connected during their service. Still, Schmale said, “I like to think that they had a beer together in Pearl Harbor.”
Newton’s mother wrote a letter to the Navy asking what happened to her missing son, wondering where his remains were and if he suffered. She also wrote a poem, concluding with the stanza:
He died “In service to his Country,”
Like hundreds more in the West;
And we must pray that God in Heaven,
Will give him eternal rest.
During the days after the Pearl Harbor attack, repair crews salvaging the West Virginia removed the remains of killed crewmen and interred them at the Halawa Naval Cemetery in Hawaii. After the war, members of the American Graves Registration Service worked to identify crew members, but they were unable to identify Newton. His remains were then interred as “unknown” in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
In June 2017, DPAA team members, in cooperation with cemetery officials, disinterred 35 USS West Virginia unknowns and worked to identify them, using anthropological and dental analysis, circumstantial evidence and DNA analysis. A DPAA official contacted Schmale in the summer of 2025. She was surprised and moved that the military was working to return her uncle’s remains after so many years. On Sept. 24, 2025, a DPAA team visited Schmale’s home to share with her the DNA evidence and anthropological data that identified him.
On May 11, 2026, almost 50 family members and friends gathered in Section 57 to say goodbye to a sailor they never knew, but whose service and sacrifice they wanted to honor. Navy Chaplain (Lt. Cmdr.) Doyl McMurry told the mourners, “We're here because he lived, and because he served with distinction.”
Throughout the service, Schmale wiped tears from her eyes. She was overwhelmed with emotion after receiving her uncle’s tri-folded flag from Rear Adm. Susan Joyner. “I knew he was finally laid to rest as a hero and no longer among the unknowns,” she concluded.
Schmale placed a white carnation on her uncle’s casket, and other attendees lined up to place their own. After, she lingered by the casket, now covered with carnations, and gently placed her hand on it. Uncle Paul was finally home.
| Date Taken: |
05.15.2026 |
| Date Posted: |
05.15.2026 13:23 |
| Story ID: |
565411 |
| Location: |
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: |
22 |
| Downloads: |
0 |
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This work, World War II Sailor Killed at Pearl Harbor “Died Too Young”, by Kevin Hymel, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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