Posted on 10/31/2019 12:36:19 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
A Utah Marine who died during World War II was accounted for in September, the U.S. Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Wednesday, almost 76 years after he was killed in battle.
Pfc. Robert J. Hatch, of Woods Cross, was 21 years old when he was killed on Nov. 22, 1943, fighting the Japanese on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, according to a news release.
It was the third day of the battle for the island. About 1,000 Marines and sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded in the battle, according to the release.
In 1946, all the American remains found on Tarawa were centralized, but almost half the known casualties were never found. Hatch was declared “non-recoverable” in 1949.
The nonprofit organization History Flight, Inc., identified multiple sets of remains at an island cemetery in 2014 and turned them over to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Using “dental, anthropological, and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as well as material evidence,” the agency identified Hatch’s remains, the release says.
He will be buried on Dec. 14 in Bountiful.
Hatch’s brother, Clyde, died in Guam in 1944.
More than 400,000 Americans died fighting in World War II, and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency says 72,648 of them are still unaccounted for.
Welcome home
LIke Saving Private Ryan..
The sacrifices made back then by those Brave Souls have been lost on today’s Society.
There is absolutely no appreciation of where we would be if Men like this didn’t answer the call.
This young Marine, Andy Biggio, is documenting the sacrifices of WWII service members. He has travelled all over the country to interview them, and have him sign The Rifle. He has taken vets for trips to Normandy, Italy, and Amsterdam. He also runs the Boston Wounded Vets run.
He is amazing. Next up, he’s taking some back to Belgium.
See here
https://www.instagram.com/therifle_/?igshid=uvmukr14roat
And here
https://www.gofundme.com/f/back-to-the-bulge-75-years-later
Over the last decade, History Flight has deployed search and recovery teams all over the world to locate missing servicemen. History Flight deploys cutting-edge, multi-disciplinary remote-sensing methodologies to find the loss sites of American Servicemen still missing.
The relentless search continues for WWII MIAs on several fronts – and although Tarawa has been a major focus, we have also been responsible for several recoveries in Europe. The biggest recovery, by far, has been unprecedented success in the central Pacific nation of Kiribati, where the Battle of Tarawa was fought on the island of Betio in November 1943. More than 1,000 US Marines and Sailors were killed during the 76-hour battle, and more than 2,000 more were wounded. The dead were buried in several battlefield cemeteries on the island as the surviving fighting force moved on westward.
The burial date is on my calendar. I’m only 20 minutes North of Bountiful.
“...The sacrifices made back then by those Brave Souls have been lost on today’s Society.
There is absolutely no appreciation of where we would be if Men like this didn’t answer the call....”
Amen, Bro. Truer words never spoken. What passes for “society” here today would have made those boys just shake their heads. I know, my dad was one of em.
That’s a long time to wait to come home.
RIP, soldier.
Welcome home, RIP Marine. Thank you.
My Dad, who served in CBI Theater of War, lost his best friend on Tarawa.
Not all of the Baby Boomers. My Dad had many WW II friends who me and my brothers grew up knowing, from private to a few generals. We respected and appreciated them.
I can imagine this kid was 19 years-old, the war started, and he simply said: “my brothers and I are going to do our part.” Probably the same with all the young men in town. No questions asked.
Welcome Home
Soldier.
I hope you’re able to attend. It’s sad to read about the WWII soldiers being buried with nobody there at the service.
The soldiers that invaded Iraq the first time, the second time, and the troops that still fight in Afghanistan don’t match up?
MOST of the dozens of men I know from that era were drafted. They answered the call, but how does a draftee match up to a volunteer on their fifth or sixth deployment?
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