09.30.19

Hoeven Marks Return of Floyd Wells, WWII Navy Member & North Dakota Native, Lost During Attack on Pearl Harbor

Senator Supported Creation of DPAA, Agency Working to Account for POW/MIA Servicemembers

FARGO, N.D. – Senator John Hoeven, a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee, today marked the return of the remains of Floyd Wells, a North Dakota native who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and was lost during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The senator joined Wells’ family, veterans and community members at the Hector International Airport as his remains were brought back to the state from Hawaii, where he had previously been interred as an unidentified servicemember.

“Floyd Wells is a part of our state’s proud heritage of military service,” said Hoeven. “We greatly appreciate the work of the DPAA to identify his remains and bring him home. Doing so ensures that his story is told and his service is properly honored. We join with his family, his fellow veterans and our state’s residents in marking this important day, remembering his sacrifice aboard the U.S.S. Arizona in defense of our nation and looking forward to the continued accounting of all our state and nation’s missing servicemembers.”

Wells was accounted for using DNA and historical evidence gathered by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Hoeven helped advance legislation in 2014 that created the DPAA, and since that time, he has worked to support the agency as it seeks to locate and bring home the remains of missing service personnel and has sought to ensure the resulting information is communicated to families. Wells is among the eight North Dakota servicemembers identified since the DPAA’s creation.

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