Remains of 36 unidentified Marines from WWII battle return

[Draggingtree]

Marine Corps Times:

Remains of 36 unidentified Marines from WWII battle return

 

11:25 a.m. EDT July 27, 2015

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii — 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, History Flight, recovered the remains from the remote Pacific atoll of Tarawa, the 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 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 hand-to-hand combat.

[Valin]