The Forgotten Dead On Tarawa

[yanacek]

I wanted to comment on the Drifter's article at this thread: http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66296

What this 80-year old Marine is saying is true. Tarawa is an absolute disaster. What he doesn't make clear concerns the Marines he indicates are still on the island. These are not MIAs. These are men who were buried in graves in the cemeteries whose remains were never brought back to the states! I don't think many people know about this but it is true. I have an Aussie buddy who was on Tarawa in March 2008 and did an extensive survey of the cemetery areas. He plans to return in a few months with Ground Penetrating Radar to pinpoint the lost graves, and then will notify JPAC. I put together a short webpage on this issue. Check it out--photos included. There is also a link to the shocking US Army Report concerning the recovery operations after the war. My webpage is at: http://www.yanacek.net/tarawa.htm

I would be great to get some of our Marines to support this effort to bring our long lost Brothers home. If you would like to help, contact Mark Noah via e-mail at: ablubum@aol.com

FYI, my Aussie buddy assisted a few years back locating the Marine Raiders buried on Makin Island. He travels the Pacific at his own expense looking for relics and locating MIAs.

Semper Fi,
Yanacek

[Zulu 36]

The fact that there are probably still dead Marines buried on Tarawa is not new news. I've read several histories of the battle that stated the burials of many Marines were hasty and haphazard. While the Corps was able to recover most of the buried Marines, they knew more were somewhere.

Does that make it any different? No. The US government should help recover the remains, especially if our Aussie friend can locate them.

There were many lessons learned on Tarawa, and designating official cemeteries on new battlefields early on was one of them.

[yanacek]

The fact that there are probably still dead Marines buried on Tarawa is not new news. I've read several histories of the battle that stated the burials of many Marines were hasty and haphazard. While the Corps was able to recover most of the buried Marines, they knew more were somewhere.

The "forgotten dead" I am referring to were not those buried in field-expedient graves. Rather, these were Marines who were identified and buried in one of the cemeteries on Betio and adjoining islands in the atoll.

These burials were carefully recorded by the 2ndMarDiv Chaplains. When the US Army Graves Registrations folks recovered the remains in 1946, they were plagued with equipment problems and were unable to locate documented graves in a known area. They even admit that they were unable to recover the remains of 300+ men who were listed as buried in the cemeteries. In all fairness to them, they probably did the best job they could have done at the time as there were many other battlefields requiring their efforts.

I think it is totally unacceptable to just turn a blind eye to these guys and their families. Please take a minute to write to Mark Noah at the above e-mail address to offer encouragement for this project. Let him know that as Marines, we are committed to the cause of never leaving or Brothers behind.

Semper Fi,
Yanacek

[249gunner]

A man can only die when he is forgotten.

[Jim Oliver]

Hey!

Let's get together and go and get these guys.

I would volunteer in a flash to go and do this.

Do they take volunteers?

I'm not being a smarta--. I mean it.

I know not everyone is financially able to do this. And, I'm not wealthy but I am retired and would love to go and bring our guys homw.

Anyone know how I can get to help with this?

[yanacek]

Jim,

I'm not sure if they take volunteers but you could always ask. Tarawa is a very remote place and requires quite a bit of money just to get there. Then once you get there it is very hot and the island is dirty and crowded. Right now, the plan calls for my buddy to come up with solid evidence of the graves, then notify JPAC. JPAC will be the ones who must eventually act to perform the task of recovering the actual remains.

At this point, I think all most people can do is to lend some moral support by e-mailing Mark Noah and asking him to add you to his mailing list to provide any updates. Then, once evidence of the missing graves is verified, an e-mail to our Government to go there and bring these guys home would be of great assistance. You could also make others aware of these efforts.

Contact Mark Noah via e-mail at: ablubum@aol.com

Semper Fi,
Robert

[Eric Hood]

Lest we forget these men.
Semper Fi,
Eric

[yanacek]

Here's a recent follow-up on the forgotten dead of Tarawa. The Military Channel is airing a special on 24 April 2009 at 10PM ET. Here is the release: <br />
<br />
Military Channel Presents RETURN TO TARAWA,...

[jetdawgg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GG3W_N14yc

[dcwid]

This is a travitry. We need to do all we can to find the Tarawa dead.

[Limburg]

My Grand father is one of the lost still holding guard on Tarawa.
PFC William "Bud" H Limburg. Died during the first of it on 11/20.
My father was born 3/1/43 almost 4 months after "Bud" gave his all. It has haunted my Dad all his life to know he never met his father. Now that lost feeling has been past on to me, it is haunting to know to be from a person so great as to lay down his life with the greatest generation, but never get to even have a place to pay homage.

We have found his name at the Hawaiian memorial, but no remains were ever returned to US soil. My Father has searched 68 years for any information, now i will too join in the voice to have these heroes returned home or to at least make known their sacrifice. Few outside of the Marines even have heard of Tarawa.

Thank you all for this fine site and the many thoughts and honor to these groups of men.

[USNAviator]

My Grand father is one of the lost still holding guard on Tarawa.
PFC William "Bud" H Limburg. Died during the first of it on 11/20.
My father was born 3/1/43 almost 4 months after "Bud" gave his all. It has haunted my Dad all his life to know he never met his father. Now that lost feeling has been past on to me, it is haunting to know to be from a person so great as to lay down his life with the greatest generation, but never get to even have a place to pay homage.

We have found his name at the Hawaiian memorial, but no remains were ever returned to US soil. My Father has searched 68 years for any information, now i will too join in the voice to have these heroes returned home or to at least make known their sacrifice. Few outside of the Marines even have heard of Tarawa.

Thank you all for this fine site and the many thoughts and honor to these groups of men.


Here's a site with a list of those known to be buried at sea during Tarawa. My uncle was seriously wounded during the battle but fortunately survived

It may take some time to go through the list because it's chronological. Some of the bodies did not have dog tags so identification was impossible. Some are described by " 0045 – Unknown- Initial on ring WM"

Good luck I sincerely hope your family can finally get some closure

http://tarawatheaftermath.com/News-BetioCemetary.html

[Limburg]

Thanks bro. I really appreciate it!

[RS Foundation]

There are currently 514 MIA's from the Battle of Tarawa for which our founder did extensive research to help find and return home while a member of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) in Hawaii. If you are a family member of one of these missing heroes, please feel free to contact our charitable foundation for more information.


www.ChiefRickStone.com (wlmailhtml:{0DC40771-2105-49CE-9F1F-F4745C4634CD}mid://00000073/!x-usc:http://www.chiefrickstone.com/)

[noman]

Limburg memorials
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GSfn=William&GSmn=H&GSln=Limburg&GSbyrel=in&GSby=1922&GSdyrel=in&GSdy=1943&GScntry=0&GSst=0&GSgrid=&df=all&GSob=n