Ohio County soldier killed in WWII to return home

Over 79 years after his death, Navy Fireman 3rd Class Welborn L. Ashby, of Centertown, is coming home.

Welborn was killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Ashby was assigned to the battleship USS West Virginia, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS West Virginia sustained multiple torpedo hits, but timely counter-flooding measures taken by the crew prevented it from capsizing, and it came to rest on the shallow harbor floor. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 106 crewmen, including Ashby.

In February 1942, the Ashby family received a telegram from the Navy that said they were “unable to locate” their son. A short time later a second telegram informed the family that the Navy “declared Welborn to have lost his life in service of his country as of Dec. 7, 1941.” According to newspaper reports at the time, Ashby was Ohio County’s first victim of the war.

Although his remains were recovered during salvage operations, they could not be individually identified at the time. Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crewmen, representing at least 66 individuals. Those who could not be identified, including Ashby, were interred as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.

From June through October 2017, DPAA, in cooperation with cemetery officials, disinterred 35 caskets, reported to be associated with the USS West Virginia from the Punchbowl and transferred the remains to the DPAA laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.

Due to modern research techniques and the help of DNA supplied by Ashby’s sister Martha and nephew Mark Christian, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency positively identified Welborn’s remains on Nov. 19, 2019. To identify the remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used

mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA analysis.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency officially accounted for Ashby on Nov. 4, 2019.

Ashby’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Paula Kern, daughter of Ashby’s sister Martha, and her husband, Chris, are organizing a memorial and burial for Ashby on Memorial Day in Centertown.

Chris Kern said in a phone interview Monday that his mother-in-law passed away prior to the identification of Ashby’s remains, but would be happy that her brother was finally being brought home. He said it was difficult on the family never having his remains identified.

The family’s original plans to bury Ashby next to his parents in Centertown in 2020 were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Kern, Ashby’s body will be coming from Hawaii, anywhere from two weeks to three days before the service, most likely to the Nashville airport where it will be escorted by the Rolling Thunder motorcycle group to the Bevil Brothers Funeral Home in Beaver Dam.

Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. and funeral services at 1 p.m. at the funeral home followed by burial service at Centertown Cemetery. Kern said plans are to have a resident from Centertown speak about what life was like at the time of the war as well as a Navy admiral and member of the Navy clergy speak at the service.

“(Ashby) wrote one letter home before his death and that will be read during the service as well as the telegraphs sent to the family,” Kern said.

He said the family wants to tell the story and educate those attending about Ashby’s life and service.

The Navy is providing full military honors. Volunteer members of Smoke on Aviation of Louisville will honor Ashby with a “Missing Man Fly-over” after the sounding of Taps.

Ashby was the son of Otis Welborn and Mary Inez (Tichenor) Ashby. He enlisted in the United States Navy on Sept. 24, 1940.

The Navy awarded Ashby the Purple Heart, and in 2015, the highway through Centertown became the Welborn Lee Ashby Memorial Highway and what was once Heritage Park was renamed Welborn Lee Ashby American Legion and Auxilary Heritage Park.