BOURNE, Mass. (AP) — A sailor from Connecticut who died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is returning to New England.
Water Tender 1st Class Stephen Pepe, of Bridgeport, is scheduled to be buried Monday at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne.
Pepe was a crew member on the U.S.S. Oklahoma, which sustained multiple torpedo hits during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack. The battleship quickly capsized, taking with it the lives of 429 crewmen.
Pepe’s remains were originally classified as non-identifiable and were buried in Hawaii with the remains of other non-identifiable sailors.
His remains were disinterred in 2015 and through the use of advanced mitochondrial DNA analysis, anthropological analysis, and circumstantial evidence they were positively identified earlier this year.
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