After spending more than 80 years in an unmarked grave, the remains of a World War II Navy Fireman will finally be reunited with family.
Robert Glenn Shove, a second class fireman, died at 21 as a prisoner of war at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in the Philippines, according to the Navy’s POW/MIA office.
He was buried in a common grave at the camp with no identifying information besides a number: X-850.
His nephew, Michael O’Brien, 73, of Medford, didn’t even know he existed.
“He was a number for almost 80 years, and now he’s back to being a person,“ said O’Brien, Shove’s oldest living relative.
Raised in Depression-era Iowa, Shove came from a family of 10 children and joined the Navy as a teenager, “probably just to get out of Iowa,” said O’Brien, whose mother was Shove’s sister.
“It’s really kind of miraculous to me,” O’Brien said. “In some of the pictures, I actually see my mother’s resemblance ... especially in his naval picture.”
Shove was stationed on the USS Canopus. Shove and his crewmates were captured at the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines shortly after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. He spent nearly two years at the Cabanatuan Camp before he died of pulmonary tuberculosis, according to military records.
“Today is the 83rd anniversary of his passing,” Ed Poole, another of Shove’s nephews, said Tuesday, Oct. 27.
A military man himself, Poole said he remembers learning about Shove through his uncle Lee Remer — Shove’s brother — who donated DNA more than a decade ago with the hope that his brother would one day be found.
Being reunited with Shove’s remains feels “surreal,” said Poole, 63, who is originally from Westfield.
“I wish it had happened when my uncles and my father and my aunts … started this process,” Poole said.
A few months ago, O’Brien and Poole met with naval officers at O’Brien’s home to learn more about Shove and to discuss what to do with his remains.
They ultimately decided that he should be laid to rest in Iowa, near family.
Shove will be buried Nov. 7 will full military honors in Sioux City, Iowa. His remains are being flown from Hawaii, where identification work took place, O’Brien said.
Poole said he’ll be waiting for Shove on the tarmac. He’ll be carrying an American flag with 48 stars, made specifically for the burial, and symbolic of how the flag looked when Shove served.
Family from across the country are traveling for the ceremony. Poole and his girlfriend are flying from his home in Portland, Ore., and O‘Brien and his wife are taking a road trip from Medford.
“It’s gonna be kind of a family reunion,” O’Brien said.
While the two never met their uncle, they said they’re touched by the work that went into identifying him. At his burial, they’ll both meet some more family members for the first time.
“All these people are gathering for a gentleman that they never knew, but they still want to honor him,” said Poole.
Madyline Swearing can be reached at madyline.swearing@globe.com.