A sailor from Alabama killed in the Pearl Harbor attack on Dec. 7, 1941, will be buried with full military honors Wednesday, the U.S. Navy announced.

Chief Carpenter’s Mate Ted Furr, 39, was aboard the USS Oklahoma during the Pearl Harbor attack that killed him and 428 other crew members. The surprise attack killed 2,403 Americans and wounded more than 1,000, leading to U.S. entry into World War II.

Scientists identified Furr’s remains through DNA testing, about 80 years after the attack.

Furr, who was born in Selma and grew up in Chickasaw in Mobile County, Alabama, will be buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu (Punchbowl).

“We have a promise that we’re not going to leave anybody behind, and this is part of the fulfillment of that mission,” Navy spokesperson Gene Hughes told AL.com Tuesday.

Furr’s niece, Nancy Matzdorff, was “surprised and thrilled” when the military informed her of Furr’s identification. She remembers him visiting her family in the summer of 1941 when she was 3 years old, and months before the attack, when Furr bought her an ice cream cone.

Furr was “very well thought of by his family,” Matzdorff said.

“I can’t believe that the Navy has located all the letters and documents they have,” she added. “There is even a love letter from an old girlfriend in San Francisco! I have read every page. And the details of the DNA findings are amazing. I am thrilled to have him finally identified and to be able to attend a proper funeral service at the Punchbowl. He can finally rest in peace. My family is going with me. And my grandson, age 13, will learn a lot about that part of WWII.”

A 2015 military initiative, Project Oklahoma, focused on identifying the remains of hundreds of USS Oklahoma sailors decades after the Pearl Harbor attack. Since then, scientists have identified 356 of the 388 sailors previously unaccounted for, according to the Navy. Families choose the reburial location, with the Navy covering expenses.

“Like all forces in the Department of Defense (DoD), it is especially important to the Navy to honor our Sailors and Marines who paid the ultimate sacrifice in giving their lives for our country,” Navy Capt. Jeff Draude, director of the Navy Casualty Office, noted.

Draude said that 32 USS Oklahoma sailors still remain unaccounted for.

“Being able to recover and identify the remains of these Sailors aids in the closure to these families,” he added.