Free Republic

Clay Bonnyman Evans knew all there was to know about his grandfather though the two had never met until that moment under several feet of crushed coral rock on a remote island in the Pacific. Evans was polite when requesting the anthropology brush he would use to sweep some of the dust from his grandfather’s remains when they were found in May on the Tawara Atoll. “My whole life I grew up with that medal on the wall and the citation,” Evans said, holding back tears. “He’s always been my hero.” Evans, referring to the Medal of Honor his grandfather...

Clay Bonnyman Evans knew all there was to know about his grandfather though the two had never met until that moment under several feet of crushed coral rock on a remote island in the Pacific. Evans was polite when requesting the anthropology brush he would use to sweep some of the dust from his grandfather’s remains when they were found in May on the Tawara Atoll. “My whole life I grew up with that medal on the wall and the citation,” Evans said, holding back tears. “He’s always been my hero.”

Clay Bonnyman Evans was 5,000 miles from home, deep in a pit on the Pacific island of Betio, when he heard the words his family had awaited for so long. "It's gold," announced Kristen Baker. With a brush, the archaeologist gently swept the sand off an unmistakable shape: a human skeleton — with a mouth full of gilded fillings. "It's gold." Two words to end a 71-year wait. Two words to solve a mystery that had vexed Evans's family for four generations. Two words to give a long-lost war hero the happy ending he deserved. First Lt. Alexander "Sandy" Bonnyman...