ESCANABA – An Escanaba man is closer to the possibility of finding his brother who was killed at Pearl Harbor in 1941 and bringing him back to the U.P. for burial.

Bob Valley hopes that his brother Lowell is among the 388 sailors and Marines from the USS Oklahoma who were buried as unknowns after the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

“It’s a possibility, yes,” Valley said.

He is not sure how he would react if he gets that phone call that says his brother has been identified.

“I have some inside sources with this whole process. Some of them up in high levels and involved in the identifications. One of the heads of the Armed Forces DNA identification lab in Dover Air Force Base says when they identify my brother he’s coming to the funeral,” said Valley.

The U.S. Military disinterred the bodies last year. Machinist’s Mate 1st Class Vernon Luke, 43, of Green Bay is the first to be reburied in Honolulu. His funeral is today.

Valley has worked for more than eight years to help convince the government to identify the bodies. He says today’s funeral is a welcome step in idenfying all of the bodies from the USS Oklahoma.