Photo by Deb Gau A Navy honor guard carries Glenn Cyriack’s casket to a new grave at St. John’s Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery near Lake Benton on Friday.

LAKE BENTON — It had been a long time since Glenn Cyriack left Lake Benton as a young man enlisting in the Navy.

Cyriack was among the hundreds of U.S. sailors killed in the Dec. 7, 1941, attacks on Pearl Harbor. But on Friday, he was finally laid to rest back in Minnesota, as family and community members gathered in a rural cemetery.

It was a powerful reminder of the military’s promise never to leave anyone behind, said Cyriack’s nephew Dave Smith of Jasper.

“Eighty-one years later, they got the job done,” Smith said.

A funeral service with military honors was held for Cyriack on Friday morning, at St. John’s Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery west of Lake Benton. A crowd of people watched silently as a Navy honor guard carried in a flag-draped casket containing Cyriack’s remains.

“This is, as you know, a different kind of service,” said Pastor Paul Gunderson as he officiated at the funeral. “We are very proud of our servicemen and women, and that is indeed also part of this service.”

Cyriack was born Jan. 28, 1921, in Pipestone. He grew up on the family farm south of Lake Benton, and graduated from high school in Lake Benton in 1938. In 1939, Cyriack enlisted in the Navy and was assigned to the USS Oklahoma. He held the rank of Petty Officer 2nd Class, and served as a Storekeeper 2nd Class.

Cyriack was killed in action aboard the Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Gunderson said Cyriack was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the World War II Victory Medal, and the American Defense Service Medal.

The story of how Cyriack’s body was brought back to Minnesota was one that spanned several years, family members said. Cyriack, along with hundreds of crew members of the USS Oklahoma, had not been identified right away after the Pearl Harbor attacks, and was buried in Hawaii.

In 2011, Cyriack’s family was contacted by a Department of Defense genealogist about providing DNA samples, Smith said.

“She indicated that the Navy was trying to identify sailors from the USS Oklahoma,” he said. Cyriack’s sister June Hansen, of Lexington, Ky., and nephews Smith and Steve Krause of Lake Benton, gave their DNA to help with the identification efforts.

It was years before Cyriack’s family members heard back from the Navy. Krause said they had almost forgotten about it. But in December, June got the call that her brother had been identified.

“That was pretty amazing,” Smith said.

“At the end, you go through a whole gauntlet of emotions,” Smith told the Independent last week.

He said it was good to have closure to Glenn’s story.

Cyriack’s family decided he should be buried at St. John’s Cemetery, where his sister Cora Krause and Ines, his fiancee at the time of his death, were buried.

“We thought that would be the right place,” Smith said.

Friday’s funeral service included honors like a salute fired by a Marine honor guard.

Navy Capt. Peter Muschinske presented Cyriack’s grandnephews, Matt York and Adam Redmon, with the American flag that had been draped over the casket.

On Friday, Cyriack’s family members said they were moved by the efforts to identify Glenn and bring him home to Minnesota.

“What the military has done, and the extent they went to … it’s amazing and wonderful,” Steve Krause said. “This really makes you feel good about America.”