NEW ORLEANS — Dozens of people gathered at Veterans Cemetery in Slidell Monday morning to honor Ralph McHenry Boudreaux.
Boudreaux was a sailor from New Orleans who lost his life in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. More than 80 years later, he was finally laid to rest.
Boudreaux's niece, Denise Anderson, attended the ceremony.
"Driving up today and seeing so many people, I was quite honored," Anderson said.
Capt. Rich Delgado is a family friend and is now retired from the Navy.
“We put him to rest with proper honors. That’s what the Navy does. That’s what our Dept. of Defense does," Delgado said, "And that’s what our country does.”
Boudreaux was 20 years old when he died aboard the USS Oklahoma.
Boudreaux was responsible for feeding and serving officers in the Messman Branch, a racially segregated part of the US Navy that was later renamed Steward Branch, according to the Navy Office of Community Outreach.
“He was probably in the midst of doing his daily routine. You know, just working, and then to just be caught off guard I mean I can’t even fathom what he went through," Faith Boudreaux, Boudreaux's niece-in-law, said.
For decades, Boudreaux's remains lay thousands of miles away from home.
“He was in a tomb of unknowns in Pearl Harbor called the punchbowl," Delgado said.
Until Boudreaux's nephew went searching for answers, and their DNA matched.
“It is closure for us just to bring him home and doing something that my grandparents and my dad were never able to do," Anderson said.
The family said little is known about Boudreaux, but having him at home strengthens the connection.
The Southeast Louisiana Veterans Cemetery said Boudreaux is the fourth person from the USS Oklahoma to be laid to rest there.
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