[powmia-html] Digest (01/25/2001 18:01) (#2001-4)
Veterans News & Information Service
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(#2001-4) - Topics This Issue:
1) A Belated Homecoming
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Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 17:22:03 -0800
Subject: A Belated Homecoming
Submitted by: Headquarters Marine Corps
Story by Staff Sgt. Keith Milks
HEADQUARTERS, U.S. MARINE CORPS, WASHINGTON, D.C.(January 25, 2001) -- In
August 1945, the United States erupted in joyous celebration as Japan
unconditionally surrendered and World War II came to a close. In the ensuing
months, tens of thousands of American service members came home to a
grateful nation and tearful reunions with their friends and families.
However, the loved ones of more than 78,000 service members did not
experience such reunions. For them, World War II never really ended as their
family members and friends were listed as missing in action.
In Nov. and Dec. 1999, the Army's Central Identification Laboratory (CILHI),
based at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, recovered the remains of 19 Marine Raiders who
died during the August 1942 raid on Makin Atoll.
The recovery brought to a close a search that initially began in 1948 when a
Graves Registration Team searched Makin Atoll for the bodies of the 18
Marines killed and 12 listed as missing from the raid but found nothing.
Fifty years later, while en route to Hawaii from a search in Vietnam, a
two-man survey team from CILHI was forced to divert to Makin due to heavy
rains.
While there, the team interviewed island residents and set the stage for
later search operations. An excavation in May 1999 turned up nothing, but in
November 1999, researchers discovered a mass grave containing human remains,
equipment, and dog tags belonging to some of the Raiders. Bureimoa Tokarei,
who was 16 at the time of the raid, helped bury the Marines and led
investigators to within meters of the burial site.
An exhaustive identification process conducted by CILHI, in conjunction with
various other governmental agencies, led to the identification of 19 Marine
Raiders that were listed as killed or missing nearly six decades earlier.
They were identified as:
Capt. Gerald P. Holtom, Palo Alto, Calif.
Sgt Clyde Thomason, Atlanta, Ga.
Field Musician 1st Class Vernon L. Castle, Stillwater, Okla.
Cpl I.B. Earles, Tulare, Calif.
Cpl Daniel A. Gaston, Galveston, Tex.
Cpl Harris J. Johnson, Little Rock, Iowa
Cpl Kenneth K. Kunkle, Mountain Home, Ark.
Cpl Edward Maciejewski, Chicago, Ill.
Cpl Robert B. Pearson, Lafayette, Calif.
Cpl Mason O. Yarbrough, Sikeston, Mo.
Pfc William A. Gallagher, Wyandotte, Mich.
Pfc Ashley W. Hicks, Waterford, Calif.
Pfc Kenneth M. Montgomery, Eden, Wis.
Pfc Norman W. Mortensen, Camp Douglas, Wis.
Pfc John E. Vandenberg, Kenosha, Wis.
Pvt Carlyle O. Larson, Glenwood, Minn.
Pvt Robert B. Maulding, Vista, Calif.
Pvt Franklin M. Nodland, Marshalltown, Iowa
Pvt. Charles A. Selby, Ontonagon, Mich.
Of the 30 Marines who did not return from the raid on Makin Atoll, 11 have
yet to be found. Nine of the Marines, who were inadvertently left behind
after the raid, were captured by the Japanese and later taken to Kwajalein
Island, where they were executed. The location of the other two Marines
remains a mystery, and search operations for those yet to be found are ongoing.
The repatriated remains are returning to the United States as individual
families make burial arrangements. Cpl. Mason O. Yarbrough's family were the
first to lay their loved one to rest on Dec. 15, 2000, in Sikeston, Mo.
Several of the families have opted for joint interment at Arlington National
Cemetery in Washington, D.C., scheduled for August 2001.
Among those laid to rest at Arlington will be Sgt. Clyde Thomason, killed
during the raid as he became the first enlisted Marine in World War II to
earn the Medal of Honor. His younger brother, Hugh, who followed his elder
sibling into the Marines and served during World War II and Korea, sums up
the general feeling of many of the families.
"He was a fine young man and we are quite gratified to finally be able to
bring him home," says Thomason.
Shirley Anderson, great niece of Cpl. Yarbrough, says that the return of her
great uncle finally brings closure to their family after so many years.
For more information the history of the Marine Raiders, visit
www.usmarineraiders.org, and additional information on this and other
recovery operations is available at www.cilhi.army.mil
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End powmi...@services.vnis.com Digest [01/25/2001 18:01]
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