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DonViejo

(60,536 posts)
Mon Jul 27, 2015, 09:53 AM Jul 2015

36 Unidentified Marines Killed In WWII Return Home After 70 Years

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii (AP) — 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.

-snip-

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/history-flight-marines-return-home-tarawa-world-war-two

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36 Unidentified Marines Killed In WWII Return Home After 70 Years (Original Post) DonViejo Jul 2015 OP
Welcome home Marines. Rest in peace now. n/t sarge43 Jul 2015 #1
+ 10000 7962 Jul 2015 #2
Home at last, home at last. GOLGO 13 Jul 2015 #3
Welcome home Marines DashOneBravo Jul 2015 #4
Welcome home, Marines. Javaman Jul 2015 #5
At the Pearly Gates, he will tell. sarge43 Jul 2015 #6
welcome home indeed. onethatcares Jul 2015 #7
I'm an associate member of the Marine Corps League....... mrmpa Jul 2015 #8
Semper fi, Marines. Welcome home Recursion Jul 2015 #9

onethatcares

(16,131 posts)
7. welcome home indeed.
Mon Jul 27, 2015, 04:54 PM
Jul 2015

my son was a member of a crew that brought troops back from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

He told me it was the most somber flight he'd ever made.

I salute those U.S. Marines

and I can't tell you how proud I am of my son.

mrmpa

(4,033 posts)
8. I'm an associate member of the Marine Corps League.......
Mon Jul 27, 2015, 05:00 PM
Jul 2015

a member of our detachment saw duty on Tarawa and received a Silver Star for his actions. Tom died about 2 years ago. If he were alive he would be happy with this news.

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