Sioux City native killed at Pearl Harbor will finally return home

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — A Sioux City native killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor more than 80 years ago will finally be laid to rest in his hometown next month.

Harry Nichols, 21, was a Storekeeper, third class onboard the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was sunk by the Japanese on December 7th, 1941.

His remains went unidentified for decades and were buried in a mass grave with hundreds of other sailors in Pearl Harbor.

His remains, along with those of more than 300 others, were exhumed in 2015 and sent to Omaha's Offutt Air Force Base for DNA analysis.

While Nichols' remains were identified in 2019, planning for a full military funeral was delayed by the pandemic.

Nichols is now scheduled to be laid to rest on May 13th in Memorial Park Cemetery in Sioux City, with a visitation from 4:00 - 8:00 p.m. the night before at Christy Smith Funeral Home's Morningside Chapel.