MARKESAN, Wis. (AP) — U.S. and state flags are flying at half-staff across Wisconsin to honor a Markesan man who was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The remains of Navy Hospital Apprentice 1st Class Keefe Connolly will be buried with military honors at a Markesan cemetery Monday.
Connolly died aboard the USS Oklahoma after it was struck by Japanese aircraft at Ford Island, Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941.
The Navy recovered the remains of the 429 crewmen who died on the Oklahoma, and interred those unidentified at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu after the war.
In February of this year, Connolly was identified by investigators with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency who exhumed the unidentified remains from the attack in 2015.
“I want to thank all the folks who have worked to ensure Navy Hospital Apprentice 1st Class Connolly was able to return home after all these years so he can be laid to rest in his home state,” Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement ordering the flags lowered. “We are thankful for his service and his sacrifice, and we hope this final journey brings peace to his memory.”
After his death, Connolly received the Purple Heart, a military honor awarded to those killed or wounded in combat.
