Keith Tipsword Has Returned Home At Last

Keith Tipsword arrived home at long last Thursday around 2 p.m., more than 80 years after his death in the attack on Pearl Habor.

The Effingham County native was killed December 7, 1941 in Hawaii when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor during World War II. He was a Navy Machinist's Mate 1st Class aboard the USS West Virginia. He, along with over a hundred crewmen on the West Virginia, was killed with over 2,000 servicemen. His ship was moored at Ford Island when the attack came on a Sunday morning. The West Virginia sustained multiple torpedo hits, but timely counter-flooding measures taken by the crew prevented it from capsizing and it came to rest on the shallow harbor floor.

With the advent of DNA testing, he was identified when his sisters, Betty Fae Yocum of Greenup and Dalyne Sapp of Effingham, submitted DNA samples several years ago. Nothing was heard until recently when the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced that Tipsword was now accounted for on July 12.

U.S. Navy representatives met with the family of our own Greg Sapp and a funeral was planned for Tipsword. He arrived in St. Louis today and made his way back home.

"It was amazing all the way along the route from St. Louis and at the airport, the respect that was paid to my uncle," said Greg Sapp.

The Patriot Guard Riders accompanied the hearse as it made it's way to Effingham and lined up and saluted a fallen comrade, as Tipsword was moved from the hearse into Johnson Funeral Home.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday, November 15 at 11 a.m. at Johnson Funeral Home with visitation prior to serivce from 10 to 11 a.m. Burial will be in Moccasin Cemetery, rural Beecher City.