Posted on Jul 27, 2015
The remains of 36 Marines killed in one of World War II's bloodiest battles are back home.
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The military and a private organization have brought home the remains of 36 Marines killed in one of World War II's bloodiest battles.
A group called History Flight recovered the remains from the remote Pacific atoll of Tarawa, the U.S. Marine Corps said. A ceremony was held Sunday in Pearl Harbor to mark their return.
History Flight has started identifying the remains, and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency will complete the effort, the Marines said. The Marines plan to return the remains to their families after they've been identified.
More than 990 U.S. Marines and 30 sailors died during the three-day Battle of Tarawa in 1943. Japanese machine gun fire killed scores of Marines when their boats got stuck on the reef at low tide during the U.S. amphibious assault. Americans who made it to the beach faced brutal hand-to-hand combat.
Only 17 of the 3,500 Japanese troops survived. Of 1,200 Korean slave laborers on the island, just 129 lived.
The U.S. quickly buried the thousands of dead on the tiny atoll. But the graves were soon disturbed as the Navy urgently built a landing strip to prepare for an attack on the next Pacific island on their path to Tokyo.
About 520 U.S. servicemen are still unaccounted for from the battle.
Preliminary work conducted by History Flight indicates the remains of 1st Lt. Alexander J. Bonnyman, Jr., a Marine who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, are among the 36 brought to Hawaii.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, the commandant of the Marines Corps, said in a statement he's pleased to learn of the discovery of the remains at Tarawa, the site of one of the service's most significant battles.
"It was also the first contested landing against a heavily fortified enemy, and a turning point in the development in our amphibious capability. The lessons learned at Tarawa paved the way for our success in the Pacific campaign and eventual end to the war," Dunford said.
History Flight brought attention to the Tarawa missing when its research indicated it had found the graves of 139 U.S. servicemen. The Marathon, Florida-based organization used ground-penetrating radar, reviewed thousands of military documents and interviewed veterans to narrow down possible grave sites.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/07/27/remains-of-36-unidentified-marines-from-wwii-battle-return.html?comp= [login to see] 70&rank=1
A group called History Flight recovered the remains from the remote Pacific atoll of Tarawa, the U.S. Marine Corps said. A ceremony was held Sunday in Pearl Harbor to mark their return.
History Flight has started identifying the remains, and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency will complete the effort, the Marines said. The Marines plan to return the remains to their families after they've been identified.
More than 990 U.S. Marines and 30 sailors died during the three-day Battle of Tarawa in 1943. Japanese machine gun fire killed scores of Marines when their boats got stuck on the reef at low tide during the U.S. amphibious assault. Americans who made it to the beach faced brutal hand-to-hand combat.
Only 17 of the 3,500 Japanese troops survived. Of 1,200 Korean slave laborers on the island, just 129 lived.
The U.S. quickly buried the thousands of dead on the tiny atoll. But the graves were soon disturbed as the Navy urgently built a landing strip to prepare for an attack on the next Pacific island on their path to Tokyo.
About 520 U.S. servicemen are still unaccounted for from the battle.
Preliminary work conducted by History Flight indicates the remains of 1st Lt. Alexander J. Bonnyman, Jr., a Marine who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, are among the 36 brought to Hawaii.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, the commandant of the Marines Corps, said in a statement he's pleased to learn of the discovery of the remains at Tarawa, the site of one of the service's most significant battles.
"It was also the first contested landing against a heavily fortified enemy, and a turning point in the development in our amphibious capability. The lessons learned at Tarawa paved the way for our success in the Pacific campaign and eventual end to the war," Dunford said.
History Flight brought attention to the Tarawa missing when its research indicated it had found the graves of 139 U.S. servicemen. The Marathon, Florida-based organization used ground-penetrating radar, reviewed thousands of military documents and interviewed veterans to narrow down possible grave sites.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/07/27/remains-of-36-unidentified-marines-from-wwii-battle-return.html?comp= [login to see] 70&rank=1
Posted in these groups: 
WWII World War Two
Marine Corps
WWII World War Two Marine Corps
Edited 9 y ago
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 21
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They are finally back home where they belong. May they rest in peace and may their families finally have closure for they truly are the ones that suffered a great loss. Welcome Home Marines and SEMPR FIDELIS my Brothers!
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PO3 Steven Sherrill
GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad Thank you for sharing this story. It is a great thing to honor these men no matter how long it takes to bring them home.
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That is awesome, that they finally get to return to rest on their home soil. The men of this generation are the reason why I chose to serve. I would love to get involved in the locating of missing service members.
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It's has taken time, and it will take more time to get everyone home. We will live up to our tradition of "NO ONE GETS LEFT BEHIND"!!!
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Nice post Gunny. It is great to see these Marines come home even if 72 years later. Semper Fidelis.
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Out standing, it is one of the things as a Marine we are trained to never leave a man behind OOH RAH
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