On November 14, 2017, Marine Corps CPL Anthony George Guerriero, 22, killed in World War II, was finally laid to rest - in American soil - with full military honors.
Born on January 22, 1921, in Boston, Anthony was the 6th of nine children blessed to the union of Dominico & Olympia (nee LoVuolo) Guerriero. Mr Guerriero was an Italian immigrant and shoemaker by trade; his wife a Boston native and first-generation Italian-American.
On January 23, 1940, 19-year-old Tony traveled to the Headquarters Eastern Recruiting Division 407 New Custom House in Philadelphia and enlisted in the Marine Corps. His first stop after that was the Marine Barracks Recruit Depot at Parris Island, South Carolina. As a Private, Tony went through the Sea School Detachment at Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia. He spent a the next couple of years as part of Marine Detachments on the USS Portland and aboard the USS Quincy in such places as Bahia, Brazil and Hvalfjordur, Iceland. In July of 1942, Anthony was sent through the The Training Center at Marine Barracks, Quantico in Virginia as a member of Company "C".
Eventually, Tony would ship out into Pacific Theater. With his brothers in 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, he first saw combat in the Solomon Islands. Following the Battle of Guadalcanal, Anthony would be sent to New Zealand for some R&R and there they would prepare for their next mission.
Corporal Guerriero was with his brothers in Bravo Company, 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marines (B-1/2) when they landed on Betio as part of Operation: GALVANIC. The mission of the 2nd Marine Division was to secure the island in order to control the Japanese airstrip in the Tarawa Atoll; thereby preventing the Japanese Imperial forces from getting closer to the United States, and enabling US forces to get closer to mainland Japan. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history.
It was November 21, 1943 (D+1 for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Anthony - just 22 years old - perished. He was reportedly recovered and buried in East Division Cemetery, later known as Cemetery 33, on Betio Island - a temporary location until the Fallen could be recovered and returned to their families.
Having a loved one away from home during the holidays is always trying; however, having a son off fighting in the war left the whole family on edge. The fact that this battle took place just before Thanksgiving meant that most of the families, who had unknowingly earned their Gold Star, would receive their heart-wrenching telegrams on Christmas Eve – some Christmas Day or even New Years Day.
For his service and sacrifice, Anthony's parents accepted the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation. Along with his parents, left to mourn his passing were Tony's siblings, Saveria "Sally" Graziano (1908-2000), Marie DeLuca, Doris De Pietro, Lucille "Lucy" Vercelli, John Guerriero, Francis Guerriero and Dominic (Tommy) Guerriero.
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. The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but Anthony's remains were not identified. All of the remains found on Tarawa were sent to the Schofield Barracks Central Identification Laboratory for identification in 1947. By 1949, the remains that had not been identified were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP, known as "the Punchbowl"), in Honolulu.
In November 2013, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of CPL Guerriero and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Tony's family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered Mrs Toni Rogers the opportunity to provide the Family Reference DNA Sample ultimately necessary for her Uncle Tony's identification.
In 2016, History Flight, now an external provider of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, excavated a site identified as Cemetery 33. Remains recovered during excavations were turned over to the DPAA for analysis.
Also in 2016, DPAA received permission to disinter the unknown remains from Tarawa from the NMCP. In October 2016, Department of Veterans Affairs disinterred Tarawa Unknown X-049 from the Punchbowl and sent the remains to the laboratory for analysis. DPAA analysts determined that one of the Tarawa unknowns was associated with remains recovered from Cemetery 33 by History Flight and consolidated the remains into a single accession. DPAA analysts subsequently identified the remains as those of CPL Guerriero.
On July 14, 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency officially announced that CPL Guerriero had been accounted for. To identify Tony's remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, which matched his niece Toni, dental and anthropological analysis, which matched his records; as well as circumstantial evidence.
Anthony George Guerriero was finally returned to his family and, on November 14, 2017, laid to rest at at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
Marine Corps Private First Class Anthony George Guerriero is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, Anthony's name shall remain permanently inscribed among Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing" (99614023). A rosette has been placed next to his name to indicate Tony is no longer missing.
SOURCES
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Personnel Profile
DPAA: News Release (09.Nov.2017)
DPAA: Recent News and Stories (14.Jul.2017)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note from the memorial maintainer:
I am grateful to Chuck Williams & Hattie Johnson (USMC POW/MIA Section), the Armed Forces DNA Identification Lab, the DVA and the DPAA for their efforts in bringing my Marine home.
"It takes a village!"
Born on January 22, 1921, in Boston, Anthony was the 6th of nine children blessed to the union of Dominico & Olympia (nee LoVuolo) Guerriero. Mr Guerriero was an Italian immigrant and shoemaker by trade; his wife a Boston native and first-generation Italian-American.
On January 23, 1940, 19-year-old Tony traveled to the Headquarters Eastern Recruiting Division 407 New Custom House in Philadelphia and enlisted in the Marine Corps. His first stop after that was the Marine Barracks Recruit Depot at Parris Island, South Carolina. As a Private, Tony went through the Sea School Detachment at Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia. He spent a the next couple of years as part of Marine Detachments on the USS Portland and aboard the USS Quincy in such places as Bahia, Brazil and Hvalfjordur, Iceland. In July of 1942, Anthony was sent through the The Training Center at Marine Barracks, Quantico in Virginia as a member of Company "C".
Eventually, Tony would ship out into Pacific Theater. With his brothers in 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, he first saw combat in the Solomon Islands. Following the Battle of Guadalcanal, Anthony would be sent to New Zealand for some R&R and there they would prepare for their next mission.
Corporal Guerriero was with his brothers in Bravo Company, 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marines (B-1/2) when they landed on Betio as part of Operation: GALVANIC. The mission of the 2nd Marine Division was to secure the island in order to control the Japanese airstrip in the Tarawa Atoll; thereby preventing the Japanese Imperial forces from getting closer to the United States, and enabling US forces to get closer to mainland Japan. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history.
It was November 21, 1943 (D+1 for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Anthony - just 22 years old - perished. He was reportedly recovered and buried in East Division Cemetery, later known as Cemetery 33, on Betio Island - a temporary location until the Fallen could be recovered and returned to their families.
Having a loved one away from home during the holidays is always trying; however, having a son off fighting in the war left the whole family on edge. The fact that this battle took place just before Thanksgiving meant that most of the families, who had unknowingly earned their Gold Star, would receive their heart-wrenching telegrams on Christmas Eve – some Christmas Day or even New Years Day.
For his service and sacrifice, Anthony's parents accepted the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation. Along with his parents, left to mourn his passing were Tony's siblings, Saveria "Sally" Graziano (1908-2000), Marie DeLuca, Doris De Pietro, Lucille "Lucy" Vercelli, John Guerriero, Francis Guerriero and Dominic (Tommy) Guerriero.
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. The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but Anthony's remains were not identified. All of the remains found on Tarawa were sent to the Schofield Barracks Central Identification Laboratory for identification in 1947. By 1949, the remains that had not been identified were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP, known as "the Punchbowl"), in Honolulu.
In November 2013, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of CPL Guerriero and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Tony's family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered Mrs Toni Rogers the opportunity to provide the Family Reference DNA Sample ultimately necessary for her Uncle Tony's identification.
In 2016, History Flight, now an external provider of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, excavated a site identified as Cemetery 33. Remains recovered during excavations were turned over to the DPAA for analysis.
Also in 2016, DPAA received permission to disinter the unknown remains from Tarawa from the NMCP. In October 2016, Department of Veterans Affairs disinterred Tarawa Unknown X-049 from the Punchbowl and sent the remains to the laboratory for analysis. DPAA analysts determined that one of the Tarawa unknowns was associated with remains recovered from Cemetery 33 by History Flight and consolidated the remains into a single accession. DPAA analysts subsequently identified the remains as those of CPL Guerriero.
On July 14, 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency officially announced that CPL Guerriero had been accounted for. To identify Tony's remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, which matched his niece Toni, dental and anthropological analysis, which matched his records; as well as circumstantial evidence.
Anthony George Guerriero was finally returned to his family and, on November 14, 2017, laid to rest at at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
Marine Corps Private First Class Anthony George Guerriero is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, Anthony's name shall remain permanently inscribed among Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing" (99614023). A rosette has been placed next to his name to indicate Tony is no longer missing.
SOURCES
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Personnel Profile
DPAA: News Release (09.Nov.2017)
DPAA: Recent News and Stories (14.Jul.2017)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note from the memorial maintainer:
I am grateful to Chuck Williams & Hattie Johnson (USMC POW/MIA Section), the Armed Forces DNA Identification Lab, the DVA and the DPAA for their efforts in bringing my Marine home.
"It takes a village!"
On November 14, 2017, Marine Corps CPL Anthony George Guerriero, 22, killed in World War II, was finally laid to rest - in American soil - with full military honors.
Born on January 22, 1921, in Boston, Anthony was the 6th of nine children blessed to the union of Dominico & Olympia (nee LoVuolo) Guerriero. Mr Guerriero was an Italian immigrant and shoemaker by trade; his wife a Boston native and first-generation Italian-American.
On January 23, 1940, 19-year-old Tony traveled to the Headquarters Eastern Recruiting Division 407 New Custom House in Philadelphia and enlisted in the Marine Corps. His first stop after that was the Marine Barracks Recruit Depot at Parris Island, South Carolina. As a Private, Tony went through the Sea School Detachment at Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia. He spent a the next couple of years as part of Marine Detachments on the USS Portland and aboard the USS Quincy in such places as Bahia, Brazil and Hvalfjordur, Iceland. In July of 1942, Anthony was sent through the The Training Center at Marine Barracks, Quantico in Virginia as a member of Company "C".
Eventually, Tony would ship out into Pacific Theater. With his brothers in 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, he first saw combat in the Solomon Islands. Following the Battle of Guadalcanal, Anthony would be sent to New Zealand for some R&R and there they would prepare for their next mission.
Corporal Guerriero was with his brothers in Bravo Company, 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marines (B-1/2) when they landed on Betio as part of Operation: GALVANIC. The mission of the 2nd Marine Division was to secure the island in order to control the Japanese airstrip in the Tarawa Atoll; thereby preventing the Japanese Imperial forces from getting closer to the United States, and enabling US forces to get closer to mainland Japan. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history.
It was November 21, 1943 (D+1 for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Anthony - just 22 years old - perished. He was reportedly recovered and buried in East Division Cemetery, later known as Cemetery 33, on Betio Island - a temporary location until the Fallen could be recovered and returned to their families.
Having a loved one away from home during the holidays is always trying; however, having a son off fighting in the war left the whole family on edge. The fact that this battle took place just before Thanksgiving meant that most of the families, who had unknowingly earned their Gold Star, would receive their heart-wrenching telegrams on Christmas Eve – some Christmas Day or even New Years Day.
For his service and sacrifice, Anthony's parents accepted the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation. Along with his parents, left to mourn his passing were Tony's siblings, Saveria "Sally" Graziano (1908-2000), Marie DeLuca, Doris De Pietro, Lucille "Lucy" Vercelli, John Guerriero, Francis Guerriero and Dominic (Tommy) Guerriero.
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. The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but Anthony's remains were not identified. All of the remains found on Tarawa were sent to the Schofield Barracks Central Identification Laboratory for identification in 1947. By 1949, the remains that had not been identified were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP, known as "the Punchbowl"), in Honolulu.
In November 2013, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of CPL Guerriero and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Tony's family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered Mrs Toni Rogers the opportunity to provide the Family Reference DNA Sample ultimately necessary for her Uncle Tony's identification.
In 2016, History Flight, now an external provider of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, excavated a site identified as Cemetery 33. Remains recovered during excavations were turned over to the DPAA for analysis.
Also in 2016, DPAA received permission to disinter the unknown remains from Tarawa from the NMCP. In October 2016, Department of Veterans Affairs disinterred Tarawa Unknown X-049 from the Punchbowl and sent the remains to the laboratory for analysis. DPAA analysts determined that one of the Tarawa unknowns was associated with remains recovered from Cemetery 33 by History Flight and consolidated the remains into a single accession. DPAA analysts subsequently identified the remains as those of CPL Guerriero.
On July 14, 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency officially announced that CPL Guerriero had been accounted for. To identify Tony's remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, which matched his niece Toni, dental and anthropological analysis, which matched his records; as well as circumstantial evidence.
Anthony George Guerriero was finally returned to his family and, on November 14, 2017, laid to rest at at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
Marine Corps Private First Class Anthony George Guerriero is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, Anthony's name shall remain permanently inscribed among Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing" (99614023). A rosette has been placed next to his name to indicate Tony is no longer missing.
SOURCES
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Personnel Profile
DPAA: News Release (09.Nov.2017)
DPAA: Recent News and Stories (14.Jul.2017)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note from the memorial maintainer:
I am grateful to Chuck Williams & Hattie Johnson (USMC POW/MIA Section), the Armed Forces DNA Identification Lab, the DVA and the DPAA for their efforts in bringing my Marine home.
"It takes a village!"
Born on January 22, 1921, in Boston, Anthony was the 6th of nine children blessed to the union of Dominico & Olympia (nee LoVuolo) Guerriero. Mr Guerriero was an Italian immigrant and shoemaker by trade; his wife a Boston native and first-generation Italian-American.
On January 23, 1940, 19-year-old Tony traveled to the Headquarters Eastern Recruiting Division 407 New Custom House in Philadelphia and enlisted in the Marine Corps. His first stop after that was the Marine Barracks Recruit Depot at Parris Island, South Carolina. As a Private, Tony went through the Sea School Detachment at Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia. He spent a the next couple of years as part of Marine Detachments on the USS Portland and aboard the USS Quincy in such places as Bahia, Brazil and Hvalfjordur, Iceland. In July of 1942, Anthony was sent through the The Training Center at Marine Barracks, Quantico in Virginia as a member of Company "C".
Eventually, Tony would ship out into Pacific Theater. With his brothers in 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, he first saw combat in the Solomon Islands. Following the Battle of Guadalcanal, Anthony would be sent to New Zealand for some R&R and there they would prepare for their next mission.
Corporal Guerriero was with his brothers in Bravo Company, 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marines (B-1/2) when they landed on Betio as part of Operation: GALVANIC. The mission of the 2nd Marine Division was to secure the island in order to control the Japanese airstrip in the Tarawa Atoll; thereby preventing the Japanese Imperial forces from getting closer to the United States, and enabling US forces to get closer to mainland Japan. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history.
It was November 21, 1943 (D+1 for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Anthony - just 22 years old - perished. He was reportedly recovered and buried in East Division Cemetery, later known as Cemetery 33, on Betio Island - a temporary location until the Fallen could be recovered and returned to their families.
Having a loved one away from home during the holidays is always trying; however, having a son off fighting in the war left the whole family on edge. The fact that this battle took place just before Thanksgiving meant that most of the families, who had unknowingly earned their Gold Star, would receive their heart-wrenching telegrams on Christmas Eve – some Christmas Day or even New Years Day.
For his service and sacrifice, Anthony's parents accepted the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation. Along with his parents, left to mourn his passing were Tony's siblings, Saveria "Sally" Graziano (1908-2000), Marie DeLuca, Doris De Pietro, Lucille "Lucy" Vercelli, John Guerriero, Francis Guerriero and Dominic (Tommy) Guerriero.
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. The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but Anthony's remains were not identified. All of the remains found on Tarawa were sent to the Schofield Barracks Central Identification Laboratory for identification in 1947. By 1949, the remains that had not been identified were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP, known as "the Punchbowl"), in Honolulu.
In November 2013, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of CPL Guerriero and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Tony's family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered Mrs Toni Rogers the opportunity to provide the Family Reference DNA Sample ultimately necessary for her Uncle Tony's identification.
In 2016, History Flight, now an external provider of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, excavated a site identified as Cemetery 33. Remains recovered during excavations were turned over to the DPAA for analysis.
Also in 2016, DPAA received permission to disinter the unknown remains from Tarawa from the NMCP. In October 2016, Department of Veterans Affairs disinterred Tarawa Unknown X-049 from the Punchbowl and sent the remains to the laboratory for analysis. DPAA analysts determined that one of the Tarawa unknowns was associated with remains recovered from Cemetery 33 by History Flight and consolidated the remains into a single accession. DPAA analysts subsequently identified the remains as those of CPL Guerriero.
On July 14, 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency officially announced that CPL Guerriero had been accounted for. To identify Tony's remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial (mtDNA) DNA analysis, which matched his niece Toni, dental and anthropological analysis, which matched his records; as well as circumstantial evidence.
Anthony George Guerriero was finally returned to his family and, on November 14, 2017, laid to rest at at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
Marine Corps Private First Class Anthony George Guerriero is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, Anthony's name shall remain permanently inscribed among Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing" (99614023). A rosette has been placed next to his name to indicate Tony is no longer missing.
SOURCES
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Personnel Profile
DPAA: News Release (09.Nov.2017)
DPAA: Recent News and Stories (14.Jul.2017)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note from the memorial maintainer:
I am grateful to Chuck Williams & Hattie Johnson (USMC POW/MIA Section), the Armed Forces DNA Identification Lab, the DVA and the DPAA for their efforts in bringing my Marine home.
"It takes a village!"
Inscription
ANTHONY / GEORGE / GUERRIERO
CPL / US MARINE CORPS / WORLD WAR II
JAN 22 1921 / NOV 21 1943
PURPLE HEART
ALWAYS IN / OUR HEARTS
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
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