Posted on 08/14/2016 11:19:31 AM PDT by heterosupremacist
In 1942, Pfc. George Traver had already enlisted in the Marines when he received a pocket knife sent to him by his mother who was back home in Chatham, New York.
Little did he know how significant a role that knife would play over 70 years later in identifying his remains, which were found in a mass grave on the South Pacific island of Tarawa.
The dramatic discovery was made in May of last year by History Flight, a Florida-based organization dedicated to locating the remains of America’s fallen soldiers from previous wars.
‘When we got the report back from the recovery team one of the artifacts that they found on him was a knife’, Traver’s nephew who shares his namesake told WNYT television, an Albany-area station.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
full title :
The war hero finally coming home: Remains of US Marine killed in bloody WWII battle 74 years ago is finally identified with the help of his pocket knife
'Sorry we've let it become such a mess.
My grandpa may have driven the landing craft that took him there. d:^)
I once had a supervisor who drove a landing craft in the Pacific. He once admitted that he got lost with a boat full of Marines. Fortunately for him a destroyer came along and gave him co-ordinates and directions.
He was one of the finest men I have ever known.
Back around 2010 a zippo was found at a crash.site helped to ascertain if the owner was KIA or MIA in SE Asia.
Post 35 ~ Back around 2010 a zippo was found at a crash site helped to ascertain if the owner was KIA or MIA in SE Asia. ~
Yikes! The Science of Forensics boggles my feeble mind - Pray for the Fallen Heroes.
Go, Trump, GO!
oops - post #5!
I know a person who drove a landing craft too. The stories he told my son and one evening were amazing. Very Brave man!
The Tarawa landings were in November 1943.
Had a friend who was a corpsman on Tarawa. Had some stories that would give you gray hair.
He received the CMH and can be seen at 9:53 of this video. He was killed moments later.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4q4NZH-eVM
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