MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A sailor killed serving on board the USS West Virginia during the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor will be laid to rest on the same day a tribute will take place at the ship’s mast.

Ohio native and Navy Fireman 2nd Class William Kubinec will be buried Friday in the Northern California Veterans Cemetery shortly after the start of West Virginia University’s annual Pearl Harbor Day ceremony that will take place in Morgantown.

Kubinec’s relatives are expected to be in attendance for the California ceremony after his remains were identified as part of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency program. Kubinec is remembered as someone who always put others ahead of himself.

Coming from a working family when times were hard, his niece Kathie Svoboda said one year when his family didn’t have a Christmas he asked the principal and was permission to take the school tree home.

“The last day of school before Christmas vacation, he went to the principal if he could take the Christmas tree home to his family, because they didn’t have a Christmas tree,” said Kubinec’s niece Kathie Svoboda discussing her family’s memories of her uncle. “So he carried the tree home so his family could have a Christmas tree,” she said.

Kubinec was killed on the USS West Virginia when the battleship was struck by six torpedoes during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He was among 106 other sailors that died during the attack that resulted in the ship sinking on an even keel, leading to its eventual return to service. As a Navy fireman who worked on the mechanics of the ship even as it was sinking, Kubinec was among many who gave their lives to make sure their fellow seamen could survive, but also to give the ship a chance of still being salvageable.

“From what I understand, the guys working in the engine room controlled flooding, and they sacrificed themselves so it would go straight down,” said Svoboda. “And not list over into ships beside it or into the sailors who were flung into the water from the explosion,” she said.

Kubinec will be buried at the Northern California Veterans Cemetery on Friday starting at 2 p.m.

The annual Pearl Harbor Day ceremony hosted at WVU will take place outside of Oglebay Hall, where the original mast and bell of the USS West Virginia are located. The event will be hosted by the WVU Center for Veteran, Military, and Family Programs, where they will be joined by keynote speaker retired U.S. Army Major George Davis and members of the WVU ROTC.

“He was commissioned as a military intelligence officer, and then he was selected to attend flight school,” said WVU Center for Veteran, Military, and Family Programs Director Penny Lipscomb, listing Davis’ accomplishments. “So he did a couple of tours in Vietnam, and then also he was stationed in the Pentagon for a couple of years and in Korea, where he flew along the DMZ,” she said.

Davis, who is currently the commander for Chapter 45 of the Disabled American Veterans in North Central West Virginia, will have his remarks followed by a traditional 21-gun salute that will be fired by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 548 and Post 9916. The USS West Virginia bell will also be rung to pay tribute to the 106 sailors who died during the attack on Pearl Harbor. For those wishing to pay respects, it will be free to attend and will take place outside of Oglebay Hall rain or shine.

“I think we should all remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, I think it’s not done enough,” Lipscomb said.

The ceremony will take place on Friday starting at 10 a.m.