By Canadian Press

Pearl Harbor sailor laid to rest in home state of Maine more than 80 years later

Jul 18, 2023 | 4:47 PM

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A naval aviator killed during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor was laid to rest more than 80 years later in his home state on Tuesday.

Ensign Stanley W. Allen received a funeral with full military honors at Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Augusta, with several family members in attendence.

He was 25 when he died, and his remains were previously buried with unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Ensign Allen, who was trained to fly a spotter float plane from the USS Oklahoma, was among 429 sailors who died on the battleship, which rolled over with many trapped inside on Dec. 7, 1941.

Allen was among 388 service members whose remains went unidentified before a 2015 program in which bodies were disinterred for DNA analysis. Since then, more than 350 have been identified.

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The Bowdoin College graduate enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserves in 1940 in Boston before training at Naval Air Station Pensacola and getting assigned to Observation Squadron One.

During the attack, the Oklahoma was one of the first ships hit, and many crew members were sleeping below deck with little chance of escape. The ship sank after being struck by several torpedoes.

The Associated Press