ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The remains of a Texas sailor who died in the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor are returning home.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The remains of a Texas sailor who died in the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor are returning home.
The Star-Telegram reports George Anderson Coke Jr.’s remains were recently identified after his family provided DNA samples for testing. Before then, his remains had been buried in a mass grave in Hawaii alongside other crewmen.
The Arlington man went into service in early 1941 and served aboard the USS Oklahoma. Nearly 430 crewmen were killed after Japanese warplanes launched torpedoes at the ship on Dec. 7, 1941.
In 2015, the Defense Department announced it would be exhuming the bodies of unidentified USS Oklahoma crew members and trying to identify them.
Coke will have a public memorial service with full military honors on Saturday. He’ll be buried in Parkdale Cemetery.