More Marines Coming Home

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Jan 1, 2001 | by John Elvin

The remains of 19 U.S. Marines killed in action on Japanese-occupied Butaritari Island early in World War !1 have been discovered and sent home for burial. The Marines, members of the 2nd Raider Battalion, had been listed as missing since 1942. Their remains were discovered in a mass burial site on the island. Identification and notification of next of kin has taken about a year. The U.S. Army's Central Identification Lab in Hawaii located the grave site with the help of local inhabitants and conducted identification using both historical records and modern DNA technology.

The 2nd Raiders hit Butaritari, also known as Makin Atoll, on Aug. 17, 1942, and were ferried in by submarine to a point where they launched rubber boats for the actual landing. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's son, Capt. James Roosevelt, was second in command of the operation. More than 88,000 service members from World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Cold War remain listed as missing in action.