By NATHAN HAVENNER | Messenger-Inquirer | Published: May 23, 2021 CENTERTOWN, Ky. (Tribune News Service) Navy Fireman 3rd Class Welborn Lee Ashby, a casualty of the Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor attack, will finally be laid to rest among his family in his hometown of Centertown in Ohio County on Memorial Day. Ashby was 24 years old and serving aboard the USS West Virginia during the surprise attack. The ship was struck by multiple enemy torpedoes, and 106 crewmen, including Ashby were killed. He was reported to be the first World War II casualty from Ohio County. Ashby s remains were recovered during salvage operations of the ship but were unable to be identified at the time. He was buried as an unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii. In 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency exhumed 35 caskets from the cemetery containing the remains of USS West Virginia casualties. DNA samples provided by his family led to Ashby s identification in 2019.