North Charlotte Today

In the midst of war, sometimes the military does what it can to pay last respects to victims of mass casualties.

This was the case after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when thousands of U.S. service members died, often being buried en masse in Hawaii.

Now, on what would have been his 100th birthday, a North Carolina man's remains have come home and were interred again last week.

Seaman First Class Edward Talbert, a native of Stanly County, was stationed on the U.S.S. Oklahoma, one of the battleships that fell on Dec. 7, 1941, the day the Japanese bombed the naval ships at Pearl Harbor. The ship capsized at 8:08 a.m., Hawaiian time, about 12 minutes after the first torpedo struck, according to the National Park Service website.

“That was the ship that rolled over, trapping the sailors underneath,” Talbert’s nephew, Mike Crisco, told WBTV News. “It was a year or so later they were able to get the remains out, and they did that and they buried him there in Hawaii.”

Three sailors on the Oklahoma successfully escaped, swimming 20 feet into the depths, then 35 feet across to the hatch. After getting through that, they had to ascend about 30 feet to the water’s surface. From there, they had another 90 feet to swim to their freedom from the claws of death. Over the next couple of days, 32 men were pulled from the wreckage, according to the National Park Service.

Talbert was the first casualty of World War II from Stanly County.

His remains were located using advanced DNA technology, and then they were shipped to his native area.

Extended family, the Patriot Guard Riders and other members of the community attended a funeral service at Prospect Baptist Church in Albemarle for Talbert on what what have been his 100th birthday.