PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Editor's Note: The above video originally aired Dec. 7, 2021, on the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
A Virginia sailor who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor more than 80 years ago is returning home to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
The remains of 21-year-old Navy Mess Attendant 1st Class Octavius Mabine were accounted for in November of 2020.
Mabine, a native of Portsmouth, died aboard USS Oklahoma (BB-37) during the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. The Oklahoma capsized after being hit by multiple torpedoes. Mabine was among 429 of the ship's crewmen who died in the attack.
According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), Mabine's remains originally were among scores of the crew that the military could not identify, and he was eventually buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu.
In 2015, the DPAA began exhuming USS Oklahoma crew members from the Punchbowl who had never been identified.
Mabine's name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with other servicemen who are missing from WWII. The DPAA said a rosette will be placed next to his name, indicating that it accounted for him.
His interment in Arlington National Cemetery was scheduled to take place on May 20.