Long-lost pilot’s remains returned to home in Florida

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The remains of Navy pilot Michael Scott Speicher returned to his Florida home Thursday, 18 years after his FA-18 Hornet was shot down on the first night of the 1991 Gulf War.

Speicher’s remains arrived at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station around 3 p.m. About 10 minutes later, his coffin was rolled off the plane draped with the U.S. flag. It was to remain at the All Saints Chapel on the base overnight.

Speicher’s widow and his children placed roses on his coffin before it was loaded into a hearse. Several sailors stood at attention and lined the runway as the hearse passed by.

Buddy Harris, who was Speicher’s best friend and who later married his widow, Joanne, accompanied the coffin on the flight from Dover, Del., to Florida.

Today, Speicher’s coffin first will be taken to the Memorial Wall outside Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. The hearse will drive by locations with ties to Speicher’s life. He will be buried at Jacksonville Memory Gardens in a private ceremony.

Speicher was a native of the Kansas City area and moved to Florida when he was a teenager.

He graduated from Florida State University in 1980 with a business administration degree. The school’s $1.2 million Scott Speicher Tennis Complex was dedicated in 1993.

Speicher will be buried in a private family ceremony at Jacksonville Memory Gardens after the motorcade.