The USS Glennon on her delivery trip to New York Navy Yard, a day before being placed in commission, Oct. 7, 1942. (National Archives via Naval History and Heritage Command)

WASHINGTON — A World War II sailor presumed lost at sea when his ship hit a mine off the coast of Normandy, France, during D-Day operations will be commemorated at a family funeral with full military honors after his remains were positively identified more than 80 years after his death.

Jerome Mullaney, an 18-year-old Navy seaman 2nd class, will be buried Wednesday in his hometown of Scranton, Pa., by relatives he never knew. They include Mary Louise Brambilla, his niece and closest surviving family member. Rear Adm. David Faehnle, commandant of Naval District Washington, will serve as flag officer at the funeral.

There are 72,000 service members who remain unaccounted for from World War II, but the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency does not provide a specific number for those lost solely at sea during that conflict.

The number is down by just 7,000 from when the war ended on Sept. 2, 1945, according to the Defense Department.

“At the end of the war, about 79,000 Americans were unaccounted for worldwide. This number included those buried with honor as unknowns, officially buried at sea, lost at sea and missing in action,” according to the department.

But Mullaney’s remains were preserved after the ship’s stern was salvaged in the 1950s and matched decades later by advanced DNA analysis. Mullaney’s remains are now being returned to his family for burial in the same Scranton cemetery where his parents were laid to rest.

“This will bring closure for our family. He will finally be coming home,” said Brambilla, who visited the beaches of Normandy to pay homage to her late uncle.

Brambilla said she and her husband, Raymond, never lost hope his remains would be found.

“They’ve done a magnificent job over the years identifying service members,” Raymond Brambilla said about the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. “They never gave up.”

Mullaney was aboard the USS Glennon, a naval destroyer that participated in the invasion of France on June 6, 1944. The ship was part of an armada and provided support for landing forces for D-Day operations, according to his obituary.

Jerome Mullaney, an 18-year-old Navy seaman 2nd class who served aboard a destroyer during D-Day operations off the coast of Normandy, France, will be buried with military honors in Pennsylvania, 80 years after his ship struck a land mine that jettisoned the sailor overboard. Mullaney’s remains were officially accounted for in March. (U.S. Navy)

Mullaney was just six months into his first deployment when he was thrown overboard by an underwater mine explosion that occurred two days after Allied forces invaded Normandy, his family said. The destroyer was patrolling for German submarines and torpedo boats.

A barrage of German artillery then sunk the vessel, and its stern lodged on the sea floor, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. More than two dozen sailors lost their lives.

The USS Glennon was Mulaney’s first assignment after he completed training as a radio operator, his family said. Mullaney also helped with lookouts and on the gun crew.

Mullaney — who was born in 1926 and came from a large Irish-German family — was eager to follow in the footsteps of his three older brothers, who enlisted and served in World War II, Brambilla said.

But at 17, Mullaney had to get his parents’ permission to enlist in the Naval Reserve, and they only reluctantly agreed, Brambilla said.

Navy officials traveled to Mullaney’s home and informed his mother that her son was dead but his body could not be found. He was awarded a Purple Heart and other medals for his service.

Mullaney’s mother had taped her four sons’ photos to the window of her home after they joined the military, Mary Louise Brambilla said. She removed all of the pictures except for Mullaney’s, which she refused to take down.

Yet more than a decade after the war ended, a salvage operation of the shipwreck by local townspeople in France led to the preservation of some unidentified human remains.

Pieces of the USS Glennon were brought ashore at St. Marie du Mont. Human remains were among the recovered pieces of the ship, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

The Navy was notified but could not identify the individuals. The practical science for extracting and analyzing DNA for military identifications was not available until the 1990s but has since become standard procedure, according to the Defense Department.

“New techniques continue to improve the process, including identifying older remains that were previously unidentifiable,” according to the department.

But the human remains were kept and interred at the Ardennes American Cemetery in Belgium — classified as “unknowns” from the war.

Mullaney’s family meanwhile continued to hold out hope that he would be located, recovered and brought home.

“Our family has given so much. We expected to see Jerome’s remains returned for a proper funeral,” Mary Louise Brambilla said.

In 2022, the Defense Department and American Battle Monument Commission exhumed the remains from the Ardennes American Cemetery. DNA collected was analyzed by the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System’s DNA Identification Laboratory at Dover Air Force Base, Del., according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

“While DPAA was still working on Seaman Mullaney’s case, the Navy Casualty Office made contact with his family and they gave DNA ‘family reference samples,’ ” according to the agency.

Mary Louise Brambilla said the samples taken were from two of her female first cousins.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced on March 10 that Mullaney was officially accounted for after missing in action since 1944.

“Our forensic anthropologists and forensic odontologists also examined his skeletal remains and teeth, which were two other lines of evidence that contributed to his identification,” the agency said.

The agency in fiscal 2025, which ends Sept. 30, has positively identified 211 service members from various conflicts. About 150 of the remains are from World War II, the agency said.

“These were all recovered from a mix of investigation and recovery missions and disinterment of ‘unknowns’ from one of the many American military cemeteries overseas and in Hawaii,” the agency said.

“The POW/MIA agency never gives up. We are indebted to them,” Raymond Brambilla said.

An honor guard will escort Mullaney’s remains from the airport to the cemetery, his family said. His nine brothers and sisters are all deceased.

“I had four uncles who went all out for military service during World War II, and they served in difficult places,” Mary Louise Brambilla said. “They were giving back to this country for all the good things we have.”