Sailor who died at Pearl Harbor finally identified as Jacksonville man's uncle

Robert "Scott" Pribble of Jacksonville always wondered what happened to his uncle, who was killed at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. 
 
U.S. Navy Fire Controlman Third Class Robert Pribble was on board the USS Oklahoma when it was struck in the Japanese attack that propelled the United States into World War II. 
 
The USS Oklahoma was capsized by a Japanese torpedo attack. The crew suffered more casualties than any other ship at Pearl Harbor except for the USS Arizona. 
  
Earlier this year, the U.S. government sent Pribble a packet filled with information about his uncle after his remains were finally identified. The remains were finally identified through a DNA match and through dental comparisons.
 
Pribble was one of dozens of sailors aboard the USS Oklahoma who were interred in Hawaii cemeteries.  In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable. 
 
This included Pribble, the government said.

In 2015, the Department of Defense ordered the disinterment of unknown sailors associated with the USS Oklahoma in an attempt to identify the remains. 
 
"It's a nice feeling, knowing that the government is going to this extent to honor its fallen," Scott Pribble said. 
 
Pribble says the government saved everything from the first letter written to his family, which showed his uncle was missing in action, to the handwritten note his grandmother wrote to an admiral.
 
Scott Pribble continued his uncle's U.S. Navy legacy. He joined in 1983 and still works at NAS Jax. 
 
"When I got his records, I found out he was a fire control technician," Pribble said. "We were basically in the same field."
 
Scott Pribble will be flying to Hawaii on Saturday to ensure his uncle finally receives the proper ceremony and burial he deserves.

Cox Media Group