On Jun 14, 2017, Marine Corps PFC Larry Roberts, 18, killed in World War II, was finally laid to rest - in American soil - with full military honors.
Born December 31, 1924, in Gove County, Kansas, Larry was blessed to the union of Melvin Roscoe and Loreita Roberts.
In November 1943, PFC Roberts was assigned to Special Weapons Group, 2nd Defense Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, which landed against stiff Japanese resistance on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to secure the island. Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were virtually annihilated.
It was November 25, 1943 (D+6 of the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Larry - just 18 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried on Betio Island - a temporary location chosen by his fellow Marines, the survivors of the battle, until the Fallen could be recovered and returned to their families.
Despite the heavy casualties suffered by U.S. forces, military success in the battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
In the immediate aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S. service members who died in the battle were buried in a number of battlefield cemeteries on the island. In 1946 and 1947, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio, but Roberts' remains were not recovered. On October 11, 1949, a military review board declared Larry remains "non-recoverable".
To identify his remains, scientists from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, which matched a nephew, dental and anthropological analysis, which matched his records, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.
Larry was returned to his family and, on June 14, 2017, laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
Marine Corps Private First Class Larry Ronald Roberts is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, PFC Roberts' name shall remain permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing". A rosette has now been placed next to his name indicating that Larry has finally been found (56120635, cenotaph).
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
DPAA: Recent News & Stories (06.Jan.2017)
DPAA: News Release (07.Jun.2017)
Born December 31, 1924, in Gove County, Kansas, Larry was blessed to the union of Melvin Roscoe and Loreita Roberts.
In November 1943, PFC Roberts was assigned to Special Weapons Group, 2nd Defense Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, which landed against stiff Japanese resistance on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to secure the island. Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were virtually annihilated.
It was November 25, 1943 (D+6 of the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Larry - just 18 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried on Betio Island - a temporary location chosen by his fellow Marines, the survivors of the battle, until the Fallen could be recovered and returned to their families.
Despite the heavy casualties suffered by U.S. forces, military success in the battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
In the immediate aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S. service members who died in the battle were buried in a number of battlefield cemeteries on the island. In 1946 and 1947, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio, but Roberts' remains were not recovered. On October 11, 1949, a military review board declared Larry remains "non-recoverable".
To identify his remains, scientists from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, which matched a nephew, dental and anthropological analysis, which matched his records, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.
Larry was returned to his family and, on June 14, 2017, laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
Marine Corps Private First Class Larry Ronald Roberts is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, PFC Roberts' name shall remain permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing". A rosette has now been placed next to his name indicating that Larry has finally been found (56120635, cenotaph).
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
DPAA: Recent News & Stories (06.Jan.2017)
DPAA: News Release (07.Jun.2017)
On Jun 14, 2017, Marine Corps PFC Larry Roberts, 18, killed in World War II, was finally laid to rest - in American soil - with full military honors.
Born December 31, 1924, in Gove County, Kansas, Larry was blessed to the union of Melvin Roscoe and Loreita Roberts.
In November 1943, PFC Roberts was assigned to Special Weapons Group, 2nd Defense Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, which landed against stiff Japanese resistance on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to secure the island. Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were virtually annihilated.
It was November 25, 1943 (D+6 of the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Larry - just 18 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried on Betio Island - a temporary location chosen by his fellow Marines, the survivors of the battle, until the Fallen could be recovered and returned to their families.
Despite the heavy casualties suffered by U.S. forces, military success in the battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
In the immediate aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S. service members who died in the battle were buried in a number of battlefield cemeteries on the island. In 1946 and 1947, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio, but Roberts' remains were not recovered. On October 11, 1949, a military review board declared Larry remains "non-recoverable".
To identify his remains, scientists from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, which matched a nephew, dental and anthropological analysis, which matched his records, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.
Larry was returned to his family and, on June 14, 2017, laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
Marine Corps Private First Class Larry Ronald Roberts is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, PFC Roberts' name shall remain permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing". A rosette has now been placed next to his name indicating that Larry has finally been found (56120635, cenotaph).
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
DPAA: Recent News & Stories (06.Jan.2017)
DPAA: News Release (07.Jun.2017)
Born December 31, 1924, in Gove County, Kansas, Larry was blessed to the union of Melvin Roscoe and Loreita Roberts.
In November 1943, PFC Roberts was assigned to Special Weapons Group, 2nd Defense Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, which landed against stiff Japanese resistance on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to secure the island. Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were virtually annihilated.
It was November 25, 1943 (D+6 of the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Larry - just 18 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried on Betio Island - a temporary location chosen by his fellow Marines, the survivors of the battle, until the Fallen could be recovered and returned to their families.
Despite the heavy casualties suffered by U.S. forces, military success in the battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
In the immediate aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S. service members who died in the battle were buried in a number of battlefield cemeteries on the island. In 1946 and 1947, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio, but Roberts' remains were not recovered. On October 11, 1949, a military review board declared Larry remains "non-recoverable".
To identify his remains, scientists from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, which matched a nephew, dental and anthropological analysis, which matched his records, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.
Larry was returned to his family and, on June 14, 2017, laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
Marine Corps Private First Class Larry Ronald Roberts is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, PFC Roberts' name shall remain permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing". A rosette has now been placed next to his name indicating that Larry has finally been found (56120635, cenotaph).
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
DPAA: Recent News & Stories (06.Jan.2017)
DPAA: News Release (07.Jun.2017)
Inscription
LARRY RONALD / ROBERTS
PFC / US MARINE CORPS / WORLD WAR II
DEC 31 1924 / NOV 25 1943
PURPLE HEART
