Posted on 07/09/2015 8:40:46 AM PDT by oh8eleven
The remains of 36 U.S. Marine heroes of a bloody World War II battle were found on an isolated island in the Pacific more than 70 years after they died, various news outlets report.
He added that the remains, although they nave not been officially identified, almost indubitably include those of 1st Lt. Alexander Bonnyman, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, America’s highest military accolade, for conspicuous gallantry.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Oh, my. Heroes still.
OOH RAH, bring em home. God bless all of you.
Semper Fi Marines from this old, grieving but thankful Army guy.
Wow. There was a TV documentary a few years ago about a Tarawa vet who made it his mission to recover marine dead as the island is now basically an overpopulated mess. It looks like he fulfilled his mission.
I’ve always been befuddled as to why the US government decided to leave these remains at Tarawa.
Thank you for posting this very bittersweet article. I hope they are able to ID each and every man.
Congressional Medal of Honor
http://www.history.army.mil/moh/wwII-a-f.html#BONNYMAN
*BONNYMAN, ALEXANDER, JR.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps Reserves
Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Executive Officer of the 2d Battalion Shore Party, 8th Marines, 2d Marine Division, during the assault against enemy Japanese-held Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands, 20-22 November 1943. Acting on his own initiative when assault troops were pinned down at the far end of Betio Pier by the overwhelming fire of Japanese shore batteries, 1st Lt. Bonnyman repeatedly defied the blasting fury of the enemy bombardment to organize and lead the besieged men over the long, open pier to the beach and then, voluntarily obtaining flame throwers and demolitions, organized his pioneer shore party into assault demolitionists and directed the blowing of several hostile installations before the close of D-day. Determined to effect an opening in the enemy’s strongly organized defense line the following day, he voluntarily crawled approximately 40 yards forward of our lines and placed demolitions in the entrance of a large Japanese emplacement as the initial move in his planned attack against the heavily garrisoned, bombproof installation which was stubbornly resisting despite the destruction early in the action of a large number of Japanese who had been inflicting heavy casualties on our forces and holding up our advance. Withdrawing only to replenish his ammunition, he led his men in a renewed assault, fearlessly exposing himself to the merciless slash of hostile fire as he stormed the formidable bastion, directed the placement of demolition charges in both entrances and seized the top of the bombproof position, flushing more than 100 of the enemy who were instantly cut down, and effecting the annihilation of approximately 150 troops inside the emplacement. Assailed by additional Japanese after he had gained his objective, he made a heroic stand on the edge of the structure, defending his strategic position with indomitable determination in the face of the desperate charge and killing 3 of the enemy before he fell, mortally wounded. By his dauntless fighting spirit, unrelenting aggressiveness and forceful leadership throughout 3 days of unremitting, violent battle, 1st Lt. Bonnyman had inspired his men to heroic effort, enabling them to beat off the counterattack and break the back of hostile resistance in that sector for an immediate gain of 400 yards with no further casualties to our forces in this zone. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
Semper Fi! Do or Die!
Ditto and Amen.
God bless those heroes.
Ditto and Amen.
God bless those heroes.
Ditto and Amen.
God bless those heroes.
Ditto and Amen.
God bless those heroes.
Bring em home and let them rest! My hero’s!
In the military, the job isn't done until the paperwork is done. Even hasty burials require paperwork, recording who, and especially, where. This illustrates why that is so important. Every year or so, Europe gives up the body of a soldier who is found in the Ardennes or some other major battle.
Simple answer? The war moved on.
The Marines were buried in, IIRC, four hasty cemeteries. They were buried in trenches, head to foot and wrapped in their ponchos.
The graves and who were in them was recorded - and the records are still available.
But the area was paved over (one of the grave sites), runway built - and the war moved on.
Friend of mine has an uncle in the grave noted in the story and his remains were next to a positively IDed body. Just waiting on DNA tests to confirm.
If I were to guess, I would assume that because this was the first large scale amphibious assault against a defended position, the whole graves registration/marking "routine" hadn't been learned yet.
Makes sense: I would suppose it was mess mainly because (at that stage of the war) the importance of graves registration hadn't yet been learned.
This story goes back a bit.
This is from 2008.
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