The remains of U.S. Navy Musician Second Class Francis E. Dick finally came home this week, more than 77 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor that took his life.
Dick, from Woodland, was 20 years old when the Japanese military attacked the Hawaiian naval base on Dec. 7, 1941, and launched the United States into World War II. He was among the 429 people who died aboard the USS Oklahoma.
Dick’s body returned home on Saturday, Feb. 9, at Portland International Airport to full military honors.
As wind and snow whipped the tarmac, his sister, Carole Green, now 81, approached the casket to pay respect to a brother she hadn’t seen since she was 3 years old.
“I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t have the chance,” Green said. “I heard about him all my life.”
A memorial service was held at Vancouver Funeral Chapel on Wednesday, Feb. 13, a date deliberately chosen for its significance — Dick had been formally declared dead on Feb. 13, 1942.
Few people remain who knew Dick personally when he was alive. Green and her cousin Dorothy Fulbright, who was 6 years old when Dick shipped out, are Dick’s closest surviving relatives.
But the memorial hall was packed with extended family who grew up hearing stories about Francis “Ham” Dick, remembered as a talented dancer and musician.
Other members of the community attended who wanted to honor a fallen serviceman finally coming home, including descendants and relatives of fellow Pearl Harbor veterans and the Patriot Guard Riders.
U.S. Navy Chaplain Lt. Shawn Hazel led the service.
“This is a time to remember all the heroes who never got to go back home,” Hazel said. “He is one of many whose actions and character define how a whole generation is remembered today.”
Dick’s body was laid to rest in a ceremony at the Vancouver Barracks on Wednesday afternoon. His remains were buried next to those of his brother and fellow World War II veteran, Lt. Col. John F. Dick Sr.
The program that helped identify Dick’s remains years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Defense PIO/MIA Military Accounting Agency, is working to reunite all of the USS Oklahoma sailors with their families.
For an in-depth look at that program and how the program’s team helped send Dick back home, pick up the Sunday, Feb. 24 issue of The Columbian.
