Pearl Harbor sailor coming home for burial in Monticello

MONTICELLO — The remains of a 19-year-old sailor, who died more than eight decades ago aboard the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor, are being returned to his hometown of Monticello for burial Saturday.

"The whole family is happy to have him coming home,“ Jill Brokaw of Monticello said of her husband’s uncle, Seaman 1st Class Donald A. Stott.

“Now we will have some closure and know where he is.”

Stott joined the Navy at age 17 after his dad agreed and signed the enlistment papers. He had been aboard the Oklahoma for a year and a day when Japanese planes and submarines attacked the harbor in Hawaii on a Sunday morning, Dec. 7, 1941.

The Oklahoma capsized, and Stott and 428 of his shipmates died. The “day of infamy” attack killed 2,403 U.S. personnel, including 68 civilians, and destroyed or damaged 19 Navy ships, including eight battleships.

Stott’s nephew, Tom Brokaw Jr. of Monticello, said his uncle’s remains were in Omaha, Neb., earlier this month, awaiting transport by hearse with a Navy escort to Monticello.

Brokaw said he was born four years after Stott died but that Stott has been on his family's minds for years, as they hoped for positive identification of his remains.

The service

Stott's remains will be laid to rest March 25 in Oakwood Cemetery in Monticello, with full military honors provided by the U.S. Navy.

The burial will be preceded by a service at 11 a.m. at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, 226 N. Cedar St. in Monticello, with Pastor David Raemisch officiating. Goettsch Funeral Home of Monticello is assisting the family and Navy.

Stott was born Feb. 27, 1922, in Monticello to Wilbur Stott and Dorothy Pearl (Gaddy) Littlefield Stott. He had two siblings, Raymond Stott and Rose (Littlefield) Brokaw Schaeffer. Those family members have died. His survivors include two nieces, Gerty (Lawrence) O’Leary of Herculaneum, Mo., and Neena (Paul) Petersen of Knoxville, Tenn; and his nephew, Tom (Jill) Brokaw Jr. of Monticello.

Jill Brokaw, 77, said the family could have had Stott's remains buried at a national cemetery, but the family wanted him home in Monticello.

The Brokaws realize Stott's return is newsworthy and say all who want to pay respects are welcome, but they want the service and burial to be respectful.

"We don't want it to be a media circus,“ Jill Brokaw said. ”We would like to keep it low key.“

The Brokaws estimate 70 relatives will attend the service, where a great-great nephew of Stott’s will sing.

Also coming will be Larry and John Behrends of Monticello, who knew Stott when they were boys. Stott lived with the Behrends family for a while during the Depression, Jill Brokaw said.

DNA was key

Jill Brokaw said she worked with the Navy and others for more than 10 years to get Stott’s remains identified and brought home.

She has high praise for the Navy and all it’s done to make that happen. Advanced DNA technology was key in the identification and done by comparing the DNA from Stott's oldest living relative to the DNA of his remains, she said.

His remains were positively identified two years ago.

After Pearl Harbor, Navy personnel recovered the remains of those who were killed from December 1941 to June 1944, with remains interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu cemeteries in Hawaii.

In September 1947, members of the American Graves Registration Service disinterred those remains and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks on Oahu. Initially, laboratory staff could confirm the identities of only 35 men from the USS Oklahoma.

The unidentified remains were buried in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified, including Stott, as non-recoverable.

Given the advances in DNA technology since then, the remains were again exhumed between June and November 2015. Dental and anthropological analysis was used to identify Stott’s remains, along with advanced DNA analysis by scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System.

Stott’s name is among those recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate his remains have been accounted for.

‘Hopeful young man’

Jill Brokaw said she and her husband have a picture of Stott in their home.

"He looks like a hopeful young man," she said. "It makes me sad when I look at it. He never got to live his life."