A U.S. Navy destroyer will once again bear the name of a World War II Marine hero with connections to Buffalo.
The Navy said Tuesday an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to be built at Bath Iron Works in Maine is scheduled to enter service in 2022 as the USS Basilone.
A previous destroyer named for Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone was decommissioned in 1977. Basilone was awarded the medal in 1943 for ferocious combat against the Japanese on the island of Guadalcanal in 1942.
A native of Buffalo who was raised in Raritan, NJ, Basilone returned to the United States to help sell war bonds. He went back into combat and died during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945.
He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.
