D-Day, Pearl Harbor Texans’ remains return home 80 years after being KIA

Audio By Carbonatix

(The Center Square) – Two Texas heroes were buried more than 80 years after they were killed in action on two of the most consequential dates in World War II: Pearl Harbor and D-Day.

The remains of U.S. Navy Storekeeper 3rd Class Robert Stillman Garcia, 23, of Conception, Texas, were laid to rest Tuesday at the Coastal Bend State Veterans Cemetery in Corpus Christi.   

Garcia was assigned to the battleship USS California, moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when it was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941, by Japanese aircraft. The unprovoked attack killed more than 2,400 military personnel and civilians, destroyed or damaged nearly 20 U.S. Navy vessels, including eight battleships, and destroyed more than 300 airplanes. The attack launched the United States into World War II.

The USS California was hit by two torpedoes and a bomb, causing it to catch fire and slowly flood. Roughly 102 crew members, including Garcia, were killed.

After the attack, from December 1941 to April 1942, Navy personnel recovered USS California crew remains and interred them in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries. 

In September 1947, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred their remains and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks in an attempt to recover and identify them. Laboratory staff were only able to confirm the identities of 39 crew members. The rest of the unidentified remains were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. 

On Oct. 6, 1949, a military board classified Garcia as non-recoverable. Nearly 70 years later, in 2018, DPAA personnel exhumed 25 unknown USS California crew remains from the Punchbowl for analysis. Dental, anthropological, mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA analysis were used, which eventually led to the identification of Garcia on April 14, 2025, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPPA) announced. 

Earlier this year, Garcia’s great-grandniece, U.S. Navy Lt. Allison Ledesma, received his remains at a ceremony in Hawaii. She later escorted his remains to Texas, first to San Antonio and then to Corpus Christi with full military honors.

“After 84 years, our family can finally bring Robert home,” Garcia’s relatives said. “He represents the courage and sacrifice of all who stood in defense of freedom that day,” KIII TV Corpus Christi reported.

Garcia’s name was recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl. Now, a rosette is placed next to it to indicate that he was found.

On Monday, the remains of U.S. Army Pfc. Nicholas Hartman, 20 of Houston, were buried in Houston National Cemetery.

Hartman was killed on June 6, 1944, while participating in the largest seaborne invasion in history. Known as D-Day, the operation turned the tide of the war, leading to the liberation of western Europe and defeat of the German military and the Third Reich. 

D-Day came with a tremendous cost: 2,501 Americans were killed that day, including Hartman. Overall, the Normandy Invasion cost 135,000 American lives, including 29,000 killed and 106,000 missing. 

On D-Day, Hartman was en route to Omaha Beach, Normandy, France, assigned to 500th Medical Collecting Company, 60th Medical Battalion. He and 200 other service members were onboard Landing Craft Infantry (Large) 92 sailing towards Omaha Beach when they struck an underwater mine. The mine caused the LCI to burst into flames, but heavy German artillery fire caused an explosion to ignite fuel stores, instantly killing everyone in the troop compartment, including Hartman. 

Under heavy enemy fire, it was impossible to search for survivors. Later on, members of the 500th Medical Collecting Company examined the LCI-92 wreckage and found burnt remains of servicemen in the troop compartment. AGRS later removed small amounts of the remains and buried them in the United States Military Cemetery St. Laurent-sur-Mer. 

Beginning in 1946, AGRC analyzed the remains but weren’t able to identify them. They interred them in the Normandy American Cemetery. Seventy-five years later, in June 2021, the Department of Defense and ABMC exhumed comingled remains and transferred them to a laboratory for anthropological, circumstantial and mitochondrial DNA analysis. Hartman’s niece and nephew provided DNA swabs that made the identification possible.  

Hartman’s remains weren’t accounted for until May 2, 2025, DPAA announced. This July, his family was notified that his remains were identified. On Monday, his niece, Phyllis Stuckmeyer, was presented with an American flag during the burial ceremony.  

When he was 16, Hartman delivered the Houston Chronicle in the Ship Channel area to help his mother pay for household expenses, he told the Chronicle at the time. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, swimming, playing ball and going to the movies, according to a Chronicle advertisement, “Know your Chronicle Carrier-Salesman.” His plan was to go into business, but he enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 19.  

Hartman’s name was recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery. Now, a rosette is placed next to it indicating that he was found.