Blake Hall
The three-day Battle of Tarawa in 1943 resulted in the deaths of 990 Marines and 30 sailors. More than 70 years later, the unidentified remains of 36 Marines finally returned to the United States.
To commemorate the sacrifice of unknown soldiers and celebrate their return, a ceremony was held Sunday in Pearl Harbor.
The military worked with a private organization called History Flight to recover remains from remote locations across the Pacific. History Flight is currently working to identify the remains and notify surviving family members. When remains are identified, the Marine Corps will deliver them back to their families for a proper burial.
The Battle of Tarawa was one of the bloodiest confrontations in the Pacific theater. When Marines attempts an amphibious landing onto the island, their boats struck the coral reefs and stalled the assault. Marines were left vulnerable to machine gun fire, and once charging onto the beach they engaged 3,500 Japanese soldiers in close range and hand-to-hand combat. Only 17 Japanese fighters survived.
According to History Flight, about 520 Americans are still unaccounted for from the battle.