thedrifter
01-10-09, 04:43 AM
Group wants to bring home remains of 300 missing WW II Marines, sailors
By C. Ron Allen | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
5:33 PM EST, January 9, 2009
The remains of 300 Marines and sailors killed during the World War II Battle of Tarawa are considered missing. A local nonprofit group wants to bring them home.
"It's a sense of patriotism," said Mark Noah, a commercial pilot and founder of History Flight, a Marathon-based nonprofit organization, which helped find 139 Marines in November after a decade of research. "This is an unfinished sense of duty. Many family of missing have contacted us and asked for assistance."
Seven of the still-missing Marines were from Florida; the closest being Fort Pierce.
History Flight has been offering public rides on restored World War II aircrafts to raise money to continue the search for more of the 78,000 people listed as missing in action on Tarawa and other Japanese islands.
The public can pay to take 15- 30- and 60-minute flights on a T-6 Texan plane today, Saturday and Sunday. History Flight also will return on Jan. 17 and 18. The T-6 was used to train fighter pilots at Lantana Airport during the war.
For more information, call 888-743-3311 or visit www.historyflight.com.
Ellie
By C. Ron Allen | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
5:33 PM EST, January 9, 2009
The remains of 300 Marines and sailors killed during the World War II Battle of Tarawa are considered missing. A local nonprofit group wants to bring them home.
"It's a sense of patriotism," said Mark Noah, a commercial pilot and founder of History Flight, a Marathon-based nonprofit organization, which helped find 139 Marines in November after a decade of research. "This is an unfinished sense of duty. Many family of missing have contacted us and asked for assistance."
Seven of the still-missing Marines were from Florida; the closest being Fort Pierce.
History Flight has been offering public rides on restored World War II aircrafts to raise money to continue the search for more of the 78,000 people listed as missing in action on Tarawa and other Japanese islands.
The public can pay to take 15- 30- and 60-minute flights on a T-6 Texan plane today, Saturday and Sunday. History Flight also will return on Jan. 17 and 18. The T-6 was used to train fighter pilots at Lantana Airport during the war.
For more information, call 888-743-3311 or visit www.historyflight.com.
Ellie