Lake Benton-native, Navy Storekeeper 2nd Class Glenn Gerald Cyriack, will be laid to rest Friday nearly 82 years after he was killed aboard the USS Oklahoma during the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
Cyriak, who joined the United States Navy in February of 1939, was assigned to the USS Oklahoma later that year. He was eventually promoted to Store Keeper 2nd Class on September 1, 1941.
"Right after his 17th birthday, he enlisted in the Navy," said David Smith, Cyriak's nephew who lives in Jasper, Minnesota. "He went through basic training and MOS training before he was assigned to the USS Oklahoma."
In total 429 crewmen aboard the USS Oklahoma were killed in the early morning hours of December 7, 1941. As Smith recalls, the news of his uncle's death wasn't immediately known.
"I think my grandparents, my mother, and her siblings were notified in February," he said. "They were notified within a few days, but it wasn't until February that they confirmed he'd been on the Oklahoma and was one of the casualties."
Efforts to identify remains picked up in the early 2000s as DNA technology improved drastically and allowed for a database to be built using DNA of existing family members.
A genealogist with the Department of Defense contacted Smith and one of Smith's cousins in 2011. They agreed to provide DNA samples through mouth swabs.
Nearly 12 years later, Smith, who spent 26 years in the Minnesota Army National Guard, read in the Legion Magazine that more service members killed on the USS Oklahoma had been identified.
"I thought that was strange because we hadn't heard anything [about my uncle]," he said.
Last December, the week of the Pearl Harbor anniversary, Smith's family learned that his uncle Glenn's remains had been identified.
"You run the whole gauntlet of emotions. Obviously it's a gentleman I never knew, but I've got a little bit of a namesake because of my middle name, so maybe I feel a little closer to it. You go from thinking it's not true to tears of joy."
There's also closure, not just for David and his living family members, but for those who've passed on.
"I think about my mom, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. All of those years and the misfortune of losing my uncle Glenn," added Smith.
Friday's procession gets underway at 9:45 a.m. at St. John Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Lake Benton. Cyriack's final resting place will be at the St. John Emmanuel Lutheran Cemetery.
Cyriak's awards and decorations include:
Purple Heart Medal
Combat Action Ribbon
Good Conduct Medal
American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet Clasp)
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (with Bronze Star)
World War II Victory Medal
American Campaign Medal
Efforts to identify remains continued for decades. In 2015, the Department of Defense announced plans to to exhume the remains of up to 388 unaccounted for sailors and Marines associated with the USS Oklahoma.
Since then, 356 have been individually identified.
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