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Remains of Sailor Killed in Pearl Harbor Attack Coming Home

Edwin Hopkins was killed at 19 in the Japanese torpedo attack on the USS Oklahoma.

The remains of a sailor killed at Pearl Harbor are coming home to New England.

The New Haven Register reportsthat Third Class Fireman Edwin Hopkins was buried in Halawa Naval Cemetery in Hawaii in 1943.

Hopkins's remains were transferred to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in 1949 and designated as unknown.

From the Register:

[U.S. Sen. Richard] Blumenthal and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., became involved and kept pressure on the Department of Defense after learning Hopkins’ remains had been identified when he was buried as “unknown.” But the family did not find that out until 2008 and Hopkins parents, Frank and Alice, died without answers or being able to formally say goodbye to their son.

The Defense Department ordered an analysis Tuesday of information pertaining to the unknowns, identify them, and disinter the remains for return to their families.

Credit Lucy Nalpathanchil / WNPR
/
WNPR
Tom Gray of Guilford, Connecticut holds a picture of his cousin, Edwin Hopkins, in a file photo.

Hopkins's cousin, Guilford resident Tom Gray, has worked to bring the remains home for burial next to his parents in Keene, New Hampshire. Gray said he is thrilled with the Pentagon's decision.

Gray told WNPR last December that although he never met his cousin, Hopkins's tragic story resonated in his family. "When you grow up with it and you feel the angst in the house when it comes up, it's something that won't go away," he said. 

Hopkins was 19 when he and 408 other sailors were killed in the Japanese torpedo attack on the USS Oklahoma on December 7, 1941.

Ryan King is an intern at WNPR. This report contains information from the Associated Press. 

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