Marine Corps PVT Robert Joseph Griffen, 18, killed in World War II, remains unaccounted-for.
Born October 24, 1925 in Westwego, Louisiana, Robert was blessed to the union of Lawrence Opte and Lydia Marie (nee Rodrigue) Griffin.
Private Griffin was with his brothers in Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment (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 20, 1943 (D-Day for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Robert - just 18 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried in Main Marine Cemetery 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.
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, Robert's parents accepted his awards and decorations, including:
- Purple Heart
- Combat Action Ribbon
- World War II Victory Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation
- Asiatic-Pacific Theater Campaign Medal
- Gold Star Lapel Button.
Also left to mourn his passing were siblings, Mabel Louise (Mrs Leonard Babin), Glorious Rita Mary (Mrs Nelson Perkins), Max Augusta Griffin, Maxine Miller and Wayne Joseph Griffin. His brother Lawrence had been killed in action at Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Arizona.
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 PVT Griffin's remains were not recovered. On February 8, 1949, a military review board declared Robert "non-recoverable".
His family had this memorial marker placed at Our Lady of Prompt Succor Cemetery, in Westwego, Louisiana, in hopes that one day he would be found and returned home. Robert's parents would later be laid to rest next to this marker - its empty ground still offering no closure.
Marine Corps Private Robert Joseph Griffen is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing" (56109306, a cenotaph).
SOURCES
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Personnel Profile
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Born October 24, 1925 in Westwego, Louisiana, Robert was blessed to the union of Lawrence Opte and Lydia Marie (nee Rodrigue) Griffin.
Private Griffin was with his brothers in Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment (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 20, 1943 (D-Day for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Robert - just 18 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried in Main Marine Cemetery 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.
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, Robert's parents accepted his awards and decorations, including:
- Purple Heart
- Combat Action Ribbon
- World War II Victory Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation
- Asiatic-Pacific Theater Campaign Medal
- Gold Star Lapel Button.
Also left to mourn his passing were siblings, Mabel Louise (Mrs Leonard Babin), Glorious Rita Mary (Mrs Nelson Perkins), Max Augusta Griffin, Maxine Miller and Wayne Joseph Griffin. His brother Lawrence had been killed in action at Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Arizona.
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 PVT Griffin's remains were not recovered. On February 8, 1949, a military review board declared Robert "non-recoverable".
His family had this memorial marker placed at Our Lady of Prompt Succor Cemetery, in Westwego, Louisiana, in hopes that one day he would be found and returned home. Robert's parents would later be laid to rest next to this marker - its empty ground still offering no closure.
Marine Corps Private Robert Joseph Griffen is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing" (56109306, a cenotaph).
SOURCES
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Personnel Profile
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Marine Corps PVT Robert Joseph Griffen, 18, killed in World War II, remains unaccounted-for.
Born October 24, 1925 in Westwego, Louisiana, Robert was blessed to the union of Lawrence Opte and Lydia Marie (nee Rodrigue) Griffin.
Private Griffin was with his brothers in Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment (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 20, 1943 (D-Day for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Robert - just 18 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried in Main Marine Cemetery 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.
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, Robert's parents accepted his awards and decorations, including:
- Purple Heart
- Combat Action Ribbon
- World War II Victory Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation
- Asiatic-Pacific Theater Campaign Medal
- Gold Star Lapel Button.
Also left to mourn his passing were siblings, Mabel Louise (Mrs Leonard Babin), Glorious Rita Mary (Mrs Nelson Perkins), Max Augusta Griffin, Maxine Miller and Wayne Joseph Griffin. His brother Lawrence had been killed in action at Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Arizona.
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 PVT Griffin's remains were not recovered. On February 8, 1949, a military review board declared Robert "non-recoverable".
His family had this memorial marker placed at Our Lady of Prompt Succor Cemetery, in Westwego, Louisiana, in hopes that one day he would be found and returned home. Robert's parents would later be laid to rest next to this marker - its empty ground still offering no closure.
Marine Corps Private Robert Joseph Griffen is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing" (56109306, a cenotaph).
SOURCES
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Personnel Profile
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Born October 24, 1925 in Westwego, Louisiana, Robert was blessed to the union of Lawrence Opte and Lydia Marie (nee Rodrigue) Griffin.
Private Griffin was with his brothers in Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment (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 20, 1943 (D-Day for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Robert - just 18 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried in Main Marine Cemetery 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.
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, Robert's parents accepted his awards and decorations, including:
- Purple Heart
- Combat Action Ribbon
- World War II Victory Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation
- Asiatic-Pacific Theater Campaign Medal
- Gold Star Lapel Button.
Also left to mourn his passing were siblings, Mabel Louise (Mrs Leonard Babin), Glorious Rita Mary (Mrs Nelson Perkins), Max Augusta Griffin, Maxine Miller and Wayne Joseph Griffin. His brother Lawrence had been killed in action at Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Arizona.
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 PVT Griffin's remains were not recovered. On February 8, 1949, a military review board declared Robert "non-recoverable".
His family had this memorial marker placed at Our Lady of Prompt Succor Cemetery, in Westwego, Louisiana, in hopes that one day he would be found and returned home. Robert's parents would later be laid to rest next to this marker - its empty ground still offering no closure.
Marine Corps Private Robert Joseph Griffen is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing" (56109306, a cenotaph).
SOURCES
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Personnel Profile
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Inscription
IN MEMORY OF / ROBERT J GRIFFEN
LOUISIANA / PVT US MARINE CORPS / WORLD WAR II PH
OCT 24 1925 ... NOV 20 1943
Gravesite Details
This memorial marker was placed here at the request of PVT Griffin's mother in hopes that one day he would be found and returned home.
Family Members
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