BREMERTON, Wash. (Tribune News Service) — After 75 years, the remains of a Navy lieutenant who died during the attack on Pearl Harbor have been identified and will be buried with full military honors at a Bremerton, Wash. cemetery.

Lt. Julian Jordan, a 1925 Naval Academy graduate, served as assistant engineering officer aboard the USS Oklahoma. The 37-year-old Georgian was likely below deck in the engine room on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, said Julian "Jay" Remers, who was named after the grandfather he never knew.

Japanese planes delivered several torpedo hits that caused the ship to quickly capsize. Jordan and 428 shipmates died.

While salvaging the Oklahoma, the Navy recovered the remains of "unknown" sailors and Marines and buried them in two cemeteries. They were disinterred in 1947 and 35 were identified. The other 388 were placed in 61 caskets in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

In 2015, after great improvements in technology, the remains were ordered to be disinterred again for analysis. In nine months, more than 30 men have been identified. Scientists from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory identified Jordan by matching DNA to three cousins and through circumstantial evidence and laboratory analysis, including dental records.

Jordan's family was notified April 27, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency spokeswoman Staff Sgt. Kristen Duus said.

"I am very happy that we finally have identification and can properly bury him as a family," said Remers, a Cheyenne, Wyoming, police officer.

Though Jordan's family hailed from Georgia and his widow, Lucy, and a daughter, Nancy, are buried in Florida, and another daughter, Ann Jordan Remers, lives in Tucson, he'll be laid to rest at Bremerton's Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Why?

"Because we don't go there anymore," Remers said of the Southeast.

He and others do visit sister Laurel Remers Pardee's home in Poulsbo. Jordan also was stationed in Bremerton during the 1930s.

"We have proximity to family and a little bit of personal connection between him and Bremerton," Remers, 53, said. "If we travel, we go to see my sister in Poulsbo, so we have the opportunity to visit the grave on a regular basis."

Jordan's daughter Ann Jordan Remers says it's hard to remember what happened 75 years ago, when she was 8 years old. She can picture a little Bremerton bungalow the family rented one summer on a hill that sloped down to the bay. She also recalls her father going to sea and the family moving a lot.

Pearl Harbor was hard on them.

"It was this long period of waiting to see what had happened and see who survived and who didn't," the 83-year-old said. "I don't think we got the actual notice for 10 days."

She's glad the Oklahoma victims are being identified.

"I'm very pleased that these personnel have been recognized and are being given memorial services all over the country in various little towns and cities," she said. "It seems like a form of justice that they aren't just cast aside and commingled with other remains."

Though he never met his grandfather, Julian Remers admires him.

"He loved his country, he loved the Navy. I'm sure he was proud of his ship, and he died with his crew," he said. "I consider him to be a hero and a patriot and part of the family's legacy of service."

The service will be Sunday at the Kitsap Way funeral home.

No new information is available about two West Sound residents, Petty Officer 3rd Class Bruce Ellsion, of Poulsbo, and Seaman Ralph Keil, of Port Gamble, who were aboard the Oklahoma, Duus said.

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