NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Flags across the state will be lowered to half staff on Friday in honor of a fallen World War II soldier from Tennessee.
U.S. Navy Seaman 2nd Class William Campbell of Elizabethton was serving aboard the USS Oklahoma in Pearl Harbor when it was attacked on December 7, 1941. The battleship sank resulting in the deaths of 429 service members, including Campbell.
For years the vast majority of the men who lost their lives aboard the battleship that day went unidentified. Their remains were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific until June 2015 when identification efforts renewed.
Campbell was finally identified on May 9, 2018.
Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam recognized Campbell for his sacrifice and ordered that the flags across the state be lowered on Friday, October 12, in his honor.
“Although the attack on Pearl Harbor remains a painful wound for our country, William’s return to be laid to rest in the state he called home is a source of comfort,” Haslam said. “We join the Campbell family in remembering this hero and we are grateful he will soon rest under a headstone that bears his name.”
The Campbell family did not wish to release any information on his funeral arrangements.
