By Krista Finstad Hanson

For the Times

with assistance from Deborah Krauss Smith

The USS Oklahoma was stationed at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941 when the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service launched an attack. An estimated 3 torpedoes hit the ship and she capsized to the port side. 429 crew members died. Some survivors swam to the neighboring ship the USS Maryland and continued fighting. 32 crew members were rescued from the hull of the ship.

Green County Seaman Second Class David Joseph Riley served on the USS Oklahoma and was one of the casualties.

David Joseph Riley was born February 18, 1916 in Green Bay, Brown County, Wisconsin to George and Ethel Riley. 

From the 1920 US Census, the Riley family lived in Suamico, Brown County, Wisconsin. The household included father George, mother Ethel, and son David. They owned their own home and father George was a fisherman working on his own account.

For reasons unknown, David Riley became a ward of the Children’s Home Society of Wisconsin in Madison, and was placed in foster care with the Elmer Asmus family of Juda, Wisconsin when he was 11.

From the 1930 US Census, David Riley was living in Sylvester in Green County and was the foster son in the household of Elmer and Della Asmus. They owned their farm, and Elmer was a farmer.

David J. Riley enlisted for service in the US Navy in May of 1940 and completed training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station before being sent to Bremerton, Washington in August 1940 where he was assigned to the USS Oklahoma.

From the December 24, 1941 The Capital Times article titled “David Riley of Juda, Missing in Action in Hawaii,” the article stated “The navy department has informed Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Asmus here that their foster son, David Riley, 24, was missing in action following the capsizing of the Battleship Oklahoma in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7... The last letter received from him was dated Nov. 28.”

From the July 22, 1943 The Capital Times article titled “1,186 Names on Green County Roll of Honor,” the article included the list of the names of those men in service as well as those who had died. That list included “Second class seaman David J. Riley, foster son of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Asmus, Juda, killed in action on the U. S. S. Oklahoma …”

From the January 17, 1947 Monroe Evening Times article titled “Honor Pearl Harbor Victim, Legion Renames Its Post Zilmer-Riley,” the article stated “Honoring David Riley, Monroe, who was killed at Pearl Harbor in World war II, members of the American Legion voted unanimously last night at their regular meeting in Turner hall to change the name of the post from Glen Zilmer post No. 84 to Zilmer-Riley post No. 84…Riley, whose name was added to the post designation in recognition of veterans of World war II…made his home with Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Asmus, Juda, attended Juda High School and later was employed in Monroe by Karlen’s bakery and the Moose café...”

From a similar article appearing in the January 25, 1947 Monroe Evening Times, additional information was that Riley “had served with Co. K for some time previous.” (Note: This local unit was part of the National Guard and was also called up for service during World War II.)

Seaman 2C David Joseph Riley’s remains were originally determined to be unrecoverable.

Riley was memorialized at the USS Oklahoma Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Honolulu County, Hawaii and at the Honolulu Memorial, aka Courts of the Missing. A memorial was also engraved on his foster parents’ gravestone in Mount Vernon Cemetery in Juda.

On February 24, 2021 Riley’s remains were identified through a project of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency using DNA.

A December 23, 2022 Monroe Times article titled “Identified and homebound, 81 years later,” by Adam Krebs, told of the remarkable story of the persistence of the family of Elmer and Della Asmus to bring the recently identified remains of their foster son David Riley home to Wisconsin for burial.

The article stated that Riley’s “unidentified body was laid at rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Honolulu, Hawaii,” and that “on Feb. 24, 2021, the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified his remains.” Riley’s remains are “scheduled to return home, with final burial to take place in Juda on May 27, 2023, the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.”

Thank you, Seaman Second Class David Joseph Riley, for your service to and ultimate sacrifice for this country. We honor you and remember you.