Marine Corps PFC Donald Ross Tolson, killed in World War II, was finally returned to his family and, on December 2, 2017, laid to rest - in American soil - with full military honors.
Donald was the youngest of 3 sons born to Ora Cleveland & Roxy Ann (McKay) Tolson.
Private First Class Tolson was with his brothers in Foxtrot Company, 2nd Battalion of the 8th Marines (F-2/8) 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 20, 1943 (D-Day for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Blackie - just 20 years old - perished. He was reportedly buried in Cemetery 33 - 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 or husband 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, Blackie's parents received the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation.
Left to mourn his passing were his parents and older brothers, Chester & James.
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 Island, but Blackie was declared "non-recoverable".
From February to July 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, through a partnership with History Flight, Inc., returned to Betio to conduct excavations of osseous remains through various advanced investigative techniques. The remains were sent to DPAA for analysis.
PFC Tolson was accounted for on September 27, 2017. To identify his remains, scientists from DPAA used dental, anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, which matched his records, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.
Blackie was finally returned to his family and, on December 2, 2017, laid to rest at Mount Moriah Cemetery (Kansas City, Missouri) with full military honors.
Surviving Donald today are great-niece, Elizabeth Brubaker, and great-nephews, Terry Tolson & Mark Brubaker, and their families; as well as several cousins.
Marine Corps Private First Class Donald Ross Tolson is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing" (56133756, a cenotaph). A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate Blackie is no longer missing.
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Release No: 17-137 (Nov. 29, 2017)
DPAA Recent News & Stories (Oct. 17, 2017)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Donald was the youngest of 3 sons born to Ora Cleveland & Roxy Ann (McKay) Tolson.
Private First Class Tolson was with his brothers in Foxtrot Company, 2nd Battalion of the 8th Marines (F-2/8) 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 20, 1943 (D-Day for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Blackie - just 20 years old - perished. He was reportedly buried in Cemetery 33 - 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 or husband 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, Blackie's parents received the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation.
Left to mourn his passing were his parents and older brothers, Chester & James.
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 Island, but Blackie was declared "non-recoverable".
From February to July 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, through a partnership with History Flight, Inc., returned to Betio to conduct excavations of osseous remains through various advanced investigative techniques. The remains were sent to DPAA for analysis.
PFC Tolson was accounted for on September 27, 2017. To identify his remains, scientists from DPAA used dental, anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, which matched his records, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.
Blackie was finally returned to his family and, on December 2, 2017, laid to rest at Mount Moriah Cemetery (Kansas City, Missouri) with full military honors.
Surviving Donald today are great-niece, Elizabeth Brubaker, and great-nephews, Terry Tolson & Mark Brubaker, and their families; as well as several cousins.
Marine Corps Private First Class Donald Ross Tolson is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing" (56133756, a cenotaph). A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate Blackie is no longer missing.
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Release No: 17-137 (Nov. 29, 2017)
DPAA Recent News & Stories (Oct. 17, 2017)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Marine Corps PFC Donald Ross Tolson, killed in World War II, was finally returned to his family and, on December 2, 2017, laid to rest - in American soil - with full military honors.
Donald was the youngest of 3 sons born to Ora Cleveland & Roxy Ann (McKay) Tolson.
Private First Class Tolson was with his brothers in Foxtrot Company, 2nd Battalion of the 8th Marines (F-2/8) 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 20, 1943 (D-Day for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Blackie - just 20 years old - perished. He was reportedly buried in Cemetery 33 - 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 or husband 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, Blackie's parents received the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation.
Left to mourn his passing were his parents and older brothers, Chester & James.
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 Island, but Blackie was declared "non-recoverable".
From February to July 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, through a partnership with History Flight, Inc., returned to Betio to conduct excavations of osseous remains through various advanced investigative techniques. The remains were sent to DPAA for analysis.
PFC Tolson was accounted for on September 27, 2017. To identify his remains, scientists from DPAA used dental, anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, which matched his records, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.
Blackie was finally returned to his family and, on December 2, 2017, laid to rest at Mount Moriah Cemetery (Kansas City, Missouri) with full military honors.
Surviving Donald today are great-niece, Elizabeth Brubaker, and great-nephews, Terry Tolson & Mark Brubaker, and their families; as well as several cousins.
Marine Corps Private First Class Donald Ross Tolson is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing" (56133756, a cenotaph). A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate Blackie is no longer missing.
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Release No: 17-137 (Nov. 29, 2017)
DPAA Recent News & Stories (Oct. 17, 2017)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Donald was the youngest of 3 sons born to Ora Cleveland & Roxy Ann (McKay) Tolson.
Private First Class Tolson was with his brothers in Foxtrot Company, 2nd Battalion of the 8th Marines (F-2/8) 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 20, 1943 (D-Day for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Blackie - just 20 years old - perished. He was reportedly buried in Cemetery 33 - 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 or husband 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, Blackie's parents received the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation.
Left to mourn his passing were his parents and older brothers, Chester & James.
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 Island, but Blackie was declared "non-recoverable".
From February to July 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, through a partnership with History Flight, Inc., returned to Betio to conduct excavations of osseous remains through various advanced investigative techniques. The remains were sent to DPAA for analysis.
PFC Tolson was accounted for on September 27, 2017. To identify his remains, scientists from DPAA used dental, anthropological and chest radiograph comparison analysis, which matched his records, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.
Blackie was finally returned to his family and, on December 2, 2017, laid to rest at Mount Moriah Cemetery (Kansas City, Missouri) with full military honors.
Surviving Donald today are great-niece, Elizabeth Brubaker, and great-nephews, Terry Tolson & Mark Brubaker, and their families; as well as several cousins.
Marine Corps Private First Class Donald Ross Tolson is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing" (56133756, a cenotaph). A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate Blackie is no longer missing.
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Release No: 17-137 (Nov. 29, 2017)
DPAA Recent News & Stories (Oct. 17, 2017)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
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