American and Arkansas flags will fly at half-staff from sunrise to sunset Saturday to honor an Arkansan who was killed in the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Friday that she ordered flags to be at half-staff in remembrance of Royle Bradford Luker, a fireman third class in the U.S. Navy and a North Little Rock native, who was killed while aboard the USS West Virginia, which was bombed and torpedoed by the Japanese during the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
Sanders proclaimed that Saturday would be a day “of remembrance” for Luker and invited “all Arkansans to honor his legacy and reflect upon the cost of freedom he so bravely bore.”
For more than 80 years, Luker’s remains were considered missing or unknown until “advancements in forensic science provided the breakthrough that brought clarity, closure, and the opportunity for Royle to be returned home to Arkansas,” Sanders stated in her proclamation.
Luker, who was 17 years old when he died, will be buried Saturday at New Bethel Cemetery in Plainview. Services will begin at 2 p.m.
Tony Holt
Tony Holt, an award-winning journalist and podcast host, is the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s politics editor. He’s been with the paper since 2023.
