The DPAA has just announced the positive identification of Field Music 1c Warren Gordon Nelson – a member of Company E, Second Battalion, 8th Marines, who until today was listed as missing from the battle of Tarawa.
Nelson, who hailed from Lakota, North Dakota, was just twenty years old when he died on Betio, Tarawa atoll, on 20 November 1943. Buried in the field with several of his comrades, Nelson’s remains were undiscovered by subsequent expeditions to return the remains of the dead to the United States. The grave was pinpointed and excavated by a History Flight team in 2015.
Appropriately, this announcement comes on the very day that Sgt. Fae Verlin Moore, another Marine from E/2/8, will be buried in his hometown of Chadron, NE. (There’s an excellent site dedicated to Sgt. Moore at Return to Beaver Valley, which is highly recommended.)
The DPAA announcement can be found here, or check out the Accounted For page.
Mr. Nelson will be remembered. So young, a sad loss.