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Pacific Historian
139 U.S. WWII bodies found in Pacific - UPI.com
TARAWA, Kiribati, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- A Florida non-profit group says it has found the World War II graves of 139 U.S. Marines and sailors killed in fighting on the tiny Pacific atoll of Tarawa.
The discovery was made by History Flight, of Marathon, Fla., working with the with WFI Research Group of Fall River, Mass., on the island 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported Tuesday.
"This is an incredible find," said Donald Allen, an Ohio author who wrote the book "Tarawa - the Aftermath." "These were somebody's sons, brothers, fathers. It's extraordinarily meaningful to know where they are."
The three-day 1943 battle between U.S. and Japanese forces on Tarawa, now part of Kiribati, was one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific Campaign, claiming the lives of more than 1,600 Americans and 4,500 Japanese defenders, only 17 of whom survived. Many grave markers were lost when air strips were built following the battle, the newspaper said.
The U.S. Army tried to locate the bodies starting in 1946 but only 49 percent of the known victims were found. History Flight officials told the Times it had located eight burial pits on the island and will notify relatives as remains are identified.
