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.
They do measure up...of course they do...The soldiers, saliors and airmen of today (and of course marines), measure up to those that served in all our past wars and battles. But in the general population, the men today do not measure up. I served...did my time on a tank in Germany and left after four years. Served in the only time period when no wars or battles were fought. Lucky I suppose.
Was in town getting an oil change and talking with the manager. Having a very hard time getting help. One lad of about 30 was forced by his mom to go find a job. Only lasted a day because checking tire pressure was too physically demanding.
Others demanded 22 bucks and hour with benefits and health care. Another wanted to leave everyday at three and maybe come in late as he is a “gamer” on the video games. But again, mom wanted him to get out of the house and go find a job...
I work fairs in five different states. I am a vet and a conservative trogdalyte. But I wear a pony tail, listen to the Grateful Dead and do tie dye for a living. I am an old fat man.. and the young men of today, for the most part are effeminate pansies shrieking at the least thing....There are exceptions...of course.
My wife says she fears for our nation as these youth of today will gladly trade in their freedoms for some “communist” comforts. I am afraid I agree.
To the poster that says they have penciled in the Funeral in Bountiful, Utah...Please, give a salute to this young man for me...His sacrifice enabled me to have something of a life. You know my father served, my grandfather served...I never thought twice about it...Luckily, due to age, I didn’t have to serve in Vietnam, having narrowly escaped that one....
There is no reason for them to “step up”.
I know plenty of 25-30 year olds. Some have served, some not.
If there were a reason, they would go.. if there were a draft that was not like the Viet Nam shit show, they would go.
“..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?...”
My response wasn’t so much about comparing soldiers of then versus now. It was more about how civilian society has changed.
I don’t have a good answer to your question. I suspect it would probably have to be answered based on an case-by-case individual basis. But I can tell you this: my father lied about his age (he was 17) so he could enlist in the USMC and ended up on the front lines during the invasion of Okinawa....and lived to tell about it. He was wounded 3 times (non-life threatening). He insisted, and they allowed him, to keep on fighting.
He recently passed on, but I can assure you that he wasn’t too keen on what modern American society had become.
Has any generation honestly thought that the next group could hold their jock straps? Think about the guys home from Iwo Jima or Bastogne listening to how tough it was in France during the first war.
I think that’s just the nature of things.
But I understand your point and it’s valid.
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