Remains of sailor killed at Pearl Harbor laid to rest in Arlington

A unique memorial service was held in North Texas, Saturday.

Seaman First Class George Anderson Coke Jr. was laid to rest in his hometown of Arlington, more than 75 years after his passing.

Coke Jr. was serving aboard the USS Oklahoma on December 7th, 1941, when Japan launched an aerial attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor. The Oklahoma was torpedoed and sunk by Japanese warplanes. More than 400 sailors gave their lives that day. The 18-year-old Coke Jr. was among them.

His remains were unidentified for years, and kept at the graves of unknown sailors at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, until last year. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has been using DNA technology to identify those unknown sailors. Coke’s family decided to have him returned to Arlington, where the missing son and brother was buried with full military honors, next to his parents.

His cousin, Sherry Coke Dorn, says it was a bitter-sweet day "I was very elated but at the same it's very sobering to hear this news. I so wish his mother had been alive still to know this."

A 21 gun salute signaled Coke Jr.'s return home. Taps, Amazing Grace and the Battle Hymn of the Republic were played as well.