World War II Honoree

Dan Edward Reagan

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Forester, Arkansas

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Fireman First Class. Inducted into the United States Navy September 9, 1939 at Little Rock, Arkansas, with recruit training at the U.S. Naval Training Station San Diego, California. Upon his graduation from boot camp and Fire Training, he was transferred to the USS Oklahoma Battleship, BB-37 for duty as a Fireman, and based at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. On Sunday Morning, December 7, 1941 the Emperor of Japan and his Naval Aviators launched their well-planned attack on the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor and other military installations on Oahu. The Oklahoma along with her shipmates lay moored on Ford Island was sunk by Japanese aircraft that delivered numerous torpedo hits to the ship’s hull. The Battle of Pearl Harbor took his life succeeding the attack, and interred as an unknown in the Oahu Nuuanu Cemetery, Territory of Hawaii. In remembrance of the brave, his name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at Honolulu Memorial Location: Honolulu, Hawaii. After the cessation of hostilities with Japan, personnel from an American Graves Registration Company disinterred the unknown remains from the Oahu Cemetery, and laid them to rest in Punchbowl Cemetery. In June of 2015, personnel from the Defense Prisoners of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency in Hawaii disinterred an unknown from Punchbowl, and transferred the remains to their Honolulu’s laboratory for analysis, where he was identified. The family of this Seaman requested that he be buried at Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery Location: North Little Rock, Arkansas on April 14, 2020 with Military Honors. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.