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

Speicher's remains arrived on a private charter jet at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station around 3 p.m. Thursday. About ten 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.

On Friday, Speicher's casket will first be taken to the Memorial Wall outside Jacksonville Memorial High School. The hearse will drive by locations associated with 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.

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