News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Finally Home

Date: August 18, 2001

"Fallen Marines Find Resting Place

Thirteen World War II Marines are being laid to rest at Washington's Arlington National Cemetery in a long-awaited homecoming more than half a century after their deaths.

The bodies of the Marines, members of the 2nd Raider Battalion killed during a 1942 raid on the Japanese-held Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, had remained on the South Pacific battlefield for 59 years.

Friday brings to a close a search for the remains initiated in 1998 by the relatives of the men and other World War II veterans. Attempts to recover the remains of the fallen Marines in 1949 were unsuccessful.

The Battle of Makin was featured in the 1943 film Gung Ho starring Randolph Scott, Noah Beery Jr. and Robert Mitchum. Among the 13 Raiders being laid to final rest is Vernon Castle, whose sister Vivian Yoder, traveled with her husband in a motor home from Hemet, Calif., to say goodbye.

"It will really provide closure after all of these years," said Yoder, 78. "But there is something about military funerals that is always hard to take."

Nineteen Marines were killed in the two-day battle on Makin, now known as Butaritari, but only six were returned to their families for burial. The remaining 13 bodies were left on a small coral reef island after the raid. They were recovered and identified two years ago when searches found an island resident who had helped bury the bodies as a young boy.

Those remains were flown Thursday from Hawaii to Andrews Air Force Base, where they were met by relatives and U.S. Marine Raider Association members.

Young Marines carried the flag-draped caskets to hearses bound for Arlington.

"They're finally home, which is where I want to be when I die," said 81-year-old Capt. Joe Griffith, the battalion's only living officer. "They were good men and volunteers who did something over and above the call of duty by attempting to further the progress of engagement."

Mary Baldwin of Spokane, Wash., said her husband, Robert, who died in December, served with the men. "Marines always take care of their own," she said. "It is extremely important for the men to be brought home and honored."

Among the 13 was Sgt. Clyde Thomason, posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor during the war. "