Died at Pearl Harbor after battleship struck by torpedoes
Jack Stumbo had mixed emotions while attending the burial ceremony of his great uncle and World War II veteran, Leonard Geller. For those in attendance, it combined the somberness of a funeral with something of a joyful feeling that Geller would be at rest — finally.
Geller died in service of his country, one of more than 2,400 Americans killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He was stationed on the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island. It suffered multiple torpedo hits, causing the ship to sink and claim the lives of 429 of its crewmen, including 21-year-old Geller.
In January of 2018, his remains were found, and soon after, Stumbo learned of his ancestor and his bravery. This month, he and his family traveled to Hawaii to see Geller honored and his remains laid to rest alongside several of his fellow USS Oklahoma shipmen.
“It felt really surreal,” said Stumbo, of Luling and a student at Hahnville High School. “Knowing he was just 21 when he died … I mean, I’m 17.
“I can’t even conceive of making that sacrifice. It was emotional, knowing he died for his country. And knowing he’s my ancestor, related to me, it felt pretty special.”
Stumbo said his conflicted feelings came from knowing of that sacrifice, but also understanding that Geller was finally laid to rest and no longer in limbo.
“It made me think of the sacrifices the thousands of other people made, who were buried in that cemetery,” Stumbo said. “It felt good to see how much everyone still cared. This happened more than 70 years ago, but they still did all of this for him. It was kind of amazing.”
Three generations of Stumbo’s family were together at the ceremony.
Identifying the remains of those lost in the Pearl Harbor attack has been a long process for many. In September of 1947, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The lab’s staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma.
The AGRS went on to bury the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Geller.
In 2015, the Deputy Secretary of Defense issued a policy memorandum directing the disinterment of the unknown bodies who perished during the battleship attack. That June, personnel began exhuming the remains from the area for analysis. DNA analysis was able to match Geller’s remains with his family.
After Geller’s remains were found, his family had the decision of where to bury him – back in Oklahoma, where he hailed from, at Arlington National Cemetery, or at Pearl Harbor, where he passed. The decision was made to do so alongside his fellow shipmen.
[pullquote]“I thought it was joyful in a lot of ways, for everyone to see he was finally at peace.” — Kristin Stumbo[/pullquote]Kristin Stumbo, Jack’s mother, said there was a strong turnout, in fact more than she’d expected.
“There were 12 family members there, but a lot of locals from VFW, and others who I think had been following the situation from the local paper, I guess … it was a really great ceremony,” she said. “I thought it was joyful in a lot of ways, for everyone to see he was finally at peace.”
Kristin noted an admiral presented her mother-in-law – the closest living relative to Geller, his niece – with the American flag. Taps was played in Geller’s honor, as well as a 21-gun salute. His bones were wrapped in uniform with all of his medals of honor.
“Even for not knowing him directly, it was definitely emotional,” Kristin said.
The family was given letters that were sent from Geller’s mother to her son following the bombing, marked “return to sender.” Though she knew what had happened, Kristin said, “she still had hope.”
Kristin’s mother-in-law, meanwhile, was able to find a bit of peace of her own. She’d heard stories about Geller all her life from her father. While Geller was identified, so many of his fellow soldiers were not – there are more than 72,000 World War II soldiers unaccounted for, and less than half of that number are classified as potential recoveries. Geller was one who was.
“They didn’t know where he was or anything … I think just knowing how much it would have meant to her dad, that (his brother) was finally properly buried, meant so much to her,” Kristin said.
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