CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — For decades, the family of Navy seaman Clyde Clifton McMeans mourned his loss with no real closure.
On December 7, 1941, the young sailor from the Coastal Bend was aboard the USS California during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was just 26-years-old.
And then… he was gone.
Newspaper reports at the time described Clyde’s final moments. He was in a motorboat helping ferry sailors to shore, when a bomb made a direct hit on the boat.
Clyde was reported missing January of 1942 and declared dead just weeks later. He was determined non-recoverable on October 6, 1949.
Waiting for a Miracle
For more than 80 years, his family knew him only through photographs, old stories, and the ache of never bringing him home.
But now, after what feels like a lifetime of waiting, that story is finally changing.
“We’ve loved him forever, without ever knowing him,” said Kathy Herrmann, about the uncle she never got a chance to meet.
She grew up hearing stories about him. Her father, Edward McMeans, Clyde’s brother, served as a medic in World War II, surviving battles from D-Day to the Battle of the Bulge. But his brother never made it home.
“He always talked about Clyde,” Herrmann said. “All of his siblings just wanted Jim to come home.
Clyde was born at Karen’s City, Texas on April 30, 1915. His family moved to South Texas in 1926. Clyde attended school in Agua Dulce from 1928 to 1931 and was graduated from Banquete High School in 1935.
A Glimmer of Hope
In the early 2000s, the Navy asked the family for DNA samples from Clyde’s surviving siblings. They swabbed cheeks and waited.
“Every now and then I would call and ask if they had found him,” Kathy recalled. “And it was always nothing… nothing… nothing.”
Until one day in 2026, a moment changed everything.
“A month ago, I just get this random call that maybe they had found him,” she explained. “We were beyond excited.
A Sailor's Indentity Confirmed
On Tuesday, March 11 representatives with the Navy announced to McMeans' family members that his remains were identified through DNA and forensic analysis conducted by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
Laboratory results showed the remains belonged to a white male between the ages of 23 and 28, standing between about 5 feet 5 inches and 5 feet 10 inches tall, measurements consistent with McMeans, who was 26 years old and about 5 feet 8 inches tall at the time of his death.
DNA extracted from a bone in the arm matched genetic samples provided by McMeans’ siblings. Additional analysis supported the identification through dental records and historical evidence.
Forensic experts also determined the sailor suffered projectile trauma to the chest, injuries consistent with blast damage from the attack.
For relatives, like Herrmann, who had heard stories about McMeans for generations but never knew what happened to him, the identification marked the end of decades of uncertainty.
Following the identification, the family coordinated funeral arrangements with full military honors. It is scheduled for May 1st, the location and times have yet to be announced.
McMean's is expected to be buried at the Coastal Bend State Veterans Cemetery.
An Unexpected Connection
Clyde’s story didn’t stand alone. Less than a year ago, another Pearl Harbor sailor from the Coastal Bend, Roberto Stillman Garcia, was also identified and laid to rest at the Coastal Bend State Veterans Cemetery.
Garcia’s great-grandniece, Nickie Valdez, had just walked through the emotional journey of burying her uncle in October.
So when Herrmann learned about Garcia’s story, she did something simple: she picked up the phone.
“I called looking for Nickie,” Herrmann said.
“It was instant, like I had known her forever,” Valdez added. “I was dying to share everything we went through. We had the same questions, the same thoughts.
Where should he be buried? Should he remain in Hawaii? Arlington? Or come home to Texas.
Kathy thought about the life her uncle came from.
“My grandfather was a sharecropper,” she said. “All the kids worked in the fields. He’s a country boy… let’s bring him home.”
Eventually they decided Clyde McMeans would receive a burial with full military honors at the veterans cemetery, the dignity he had always deserved.
“I know that my uncle Clyde's in heaven with his parents and his siblings, and so they know he's okay. But it gives me joy to know that he's coming home.” Said Herrmann.
Today, the two women who had never met now share an unbreakable bond.
"We’re forever friends," Kathy said. "It’s a God thing."
They often wonder if their uncles knew each other aboard the USS California, both young men from the same small region of Texas, both lost on the same day.
More Veterans In Focus stories are available here, along with resources for local veterans.
Contact Veterans In Focus reporter Pat Simon at pat.simon@kristv.com
