Oct. 24--
BALTIMORE (AP) _ A sailor killed in the bombing of the USS Cole will be buried in a Civil War battlefield cemetery that has been officially closed since the Korean War.
The National Park Service agreed to make the exception after receiving requests from Vice President Al Gore's office and a number of state legislators on behalf of the family of Fireman Apprentice Patrick Roy, an Antietam National Cemetery official said.
Roy's family lives in Keedysville, near the national cemetery, about 60 miles northwest of Washington, D.C.
"This is our response to a national tragedy that has hit this county very hard," said Antietam superintendent John Howard.
Roy, 19, was among 17 sailors killed Oct. 12 when a suspected terrorist bomb tore into the Navy destroyer as it was refueling in the Yemeni port of Aden.
Roy's remains, along with those of three of his shipmates, were returned to the United States over the weekend. They were the last of the 17 sailors killed in the attack to be brought home.
"I think that it would honor Patrick in many ways, and (Antietam) is close to home, close to us," Roy's mother, Kate Brown, said of an Antietam burial.
More than 5,100 veterans, many of whom died in the one-day battle at Antietam in 1862, are buried in the cemetery.
On Monday, a memorial Mass was held in Seward, Pa., for another of the 17 sailors killed, Chief Petty Officer for Communications Richard Costelow.
Costelow, 35, a 13-year Navy veteran, will be buried with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
"He never discussed the possibility of danger," said George Costelow, his father. "It never entered our minds _ it's peace time, you know? If we'd been at war, we would have been worried all the time."
(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
