JPAC in Tarawa: Multimedia

A recovery team excavated five sites as part of a JPAC recovery mission in the Summer of 2010, searching for Marines who fought during The Battle of Tarawa.

Tarawa, a South Pacific atoll, was the site of one the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history. Starting on the morning of November 20, 1943, more than 1,000 American men were killed in roughly 72 hours of fighting with the Japanese. Hundreds of Marines were gunned down in the water trying to make it to shore.

The remains of what is believed to be two U.S. Marines have since been turned over for identification at the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii.

The ultimate goal of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, and of the agencies involved in returning America's heroes home, is to achieve the fullest possible accounting of Americans lost during the nation's past conflicts.

"Until They Are Home"

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• JPAC
• Tarawa
• WWII
• POW
• MIA
• Kiribati
• Pacific
• Military