CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Science made it possible, and faith made him unforgettable. More than 80 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a hero is finally coming home to be laid to rest in the Coastal Bend.
U.S. Navy Storekeeper 3rd Class Roberto Stillman Garcia, was a sailor from Concepcion, Texas. He served aboard the battleship USS California, which was moored at Ford Island, when Japanese aircraft launched a surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
In the early minutes of the assault, the California was struck by two torpedoes and a bomb, sustaining heavy damage. Roughly 100 crew members were killed, including 23-year-old Garcia.
His remains were recovered by Navy personnel between December 1941 and April 1942 and initially interred at temporary cemeteries in Halawa and Nuʻuanu, Hawaii. In 1947, the American Graves Registration Service exhumed those remains and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks in an effort to identify U.S. casualties from the Pacific Theater.
While 42 crew members of the California were identified shortly after the attack, only 39 more could be confirmed by laboratory staff in the years that followed. The unidentified remains, including those believed to be Garcia’s, were reburied at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, also known as the Punchbowl. In 1949, a military board officially classified Garcia's case as “non-recoverable.”
A New Hope
But decades later, a renewed scientific effort brought hope back to Garcia’s family.
In 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) exhumed 25 “Unknowns” from the California and sent the remains to their lab for analysis. Using DNA testing, anthropological evidence and historical research, scientists identified one of those unknowns as Garcia.
“We received swab kits from the Navy, and my sister and I both did them,” said Nickie Valdez, Garcia’s niece. “It was a match.”
Garcia’s family was able to received an official report confirming his identification on August 19.
For Valdez, the discovery brings long-awaited closure to her family.
“My grandmother used to say that my uncle would always come back,” she said. “To be able to witness it today is one of the most important things to honor my grandparents, just to be able to fulfill their dream and to do it with another generation.”
Though Valdez never met her uncle, she says the family never forgot him. “He was very jolly, very happy-go-lucky,” she said. “He was the youngest in the family, spoiled, of course. But they’re happy memories.”
Garcia was awarded the following medals, in order of precedence, for his honorable service: The Purple Heart (Awarded Posthumously), American Defense, American Campaign, Asiatic Pacific Campaign, World War II Victory. He is also memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
Read Roberto Stillman Garcia’s obituary by clicking here.
Garcia’s legacy of service continues through his descendants. His great-nephew, Tony “JR” Bonilla III, a Marine Corps veteran who served on the front lines of combat in Iraq, said he feels a strong bond with the great-uncle he never met.
“It’s that type of spiritual feeling,” Bonilla said. “You feel connected to the person. You want to do the best you can to honor them.”
Garcia’s great-niece, Navy Lt. Allison Ledezma, who is currently stationed in Hawaii, will take part in escorting his remains home to Texas.
Garcia will be laid to rest with full military honors at the Coastal Bend State Veterans Cemetery on Monday, October 21. The ceremony is open to the public. Full details will be provided at a later date. A recitation of The Holy Rosary will be held on Monday, October 20, 2025, at 7:00 p.m., and a Funeral Mass will be held on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, at 11:00 a.m., at Most Precious Blood Catholic Church, 3502 Saratoga Blvd., Corpus Christi, Texas.
“This is going to be a big event for the community,” Bonilla said. “We’ve had some congressmen reach out, and everyone wants to be part of something so honorable.”
As planning for Garcia’s return is underway, stay with KRIS 6 News for more updates on this story.
More Veterans In Focus stories are available here, along with resources for local veterans.
Contact Veterans In Focus reporter Michelle Hofmann at michelle.lorenzo@kristv.com
