Reported Burials
1944
Remains Recovered
1946
Unidentified Remains
2021
Unaccounted For
2021
This burial ground was situated almost at the tip of the distinctive Betio “bird’s beak” that marked the boundary between Beach Green and Beach Red One. Japanese defenses in this area consisted of heavy machine guns set into a sturdy sea wall, augmented by anti-boat and anti-aircraft positions and supporting a pair of 14-cm naval rifles.The Third Battalion, 2nd Marines attacked this formidable labyrinth on the morning of 20 November 1943; the assault troops, and the 2nd Amphibian Tractor Battalion which carried them to shore, suffered terrible casualties to secure a foothold. Photographs taken after the battle show the scale of destruction: disabled LVTs, drowned-out tanks, and crater-pocked ground.
Details about the original creation of this cemetery are scarce and somewhat convoluted, as evidenced by a proliferation of names across source documents: for example, each battalion of the 2nd Marines had its own preferred designation for the site. The researcher encounters “Beach Red One Cemetery” (for its proximity to the landing beach of the same name); “2nd Marines Cemetery #3” (distinct from “2nd Marines Cemetery #2” and “2nd Marines Cemetery #1“); and “Cemetery A” or “Beach Green A Cemetery” (distinguished from “Cemetery B” and “Cemetery C”). Even the 2nd Marine Division’s Graves Registration outfit, which ought to have been the final arbiter, used “Cemetery A” and “2nd Marines #3” interchangeably.
Nor do primary sources align on the number of men buried here. The Division’s GRS section listed 39 interments as of January 1944, yet 42 men were eventually memorialized here, and 41 were actually recovered. While no photographs of the original Cemetery A are known to exist, a picture taken in March 1944 shows at least two additional burials which may have taken place after the assault troops left the island.
Conflicts & Discrepancies
Muster rolls for First Battalion, 2nd Marines report PFC Benjamin Bauman (B/1/2nd Marines) and Cpl. Oscar Cole (C/1/2nd Marines) in Row 1, Grave #2. Bauman appears to be correct based on later disinterment reports; Cole was most likely in Cemetery 26 or Cemetery 33.
The “unknown” in B36 may have been PFC Richard Gordon Wright; while GRS places Wright in the West Division Cemetery, other casualty reports indicate he was buried here instead. Wright’s remains have not been identified.
The Marine Graves Registration list omits the names of two battle casualties who may have been buried in this cemetery. Warrant Officer Bernard Shealy of the 2nd Amphibian Tractor Battalion was killed in action on 20 November 1943; his tractor was carrying troops from 3/2nd Marines to Beach Red One. However, while Shealy had a distinctive marker here (similar to his comrade Captain Royster in Cemetery 9) and would be named on the memorial cross of Cemetery 13, Marine Corps records report his burial in East Division Cemetery (Cemetery 33). We do not know which, if either, is correct: Shealy has not yet been identified. The name of Private Warren E. Harding (I/3/2nd Marines) was also added to beautified monument. The Marine Corps did not record any burial information for Harding, and how he came to be included on the memorial is not known – although his company did land and suffer heavy casualties in this area.
The earliest known photograph of this cemetery was taken in March 1944 by LTCDR Charles Kerlee. Kerlee climbed an observation tower to take this shot and captured several interesting details. Two rows of graves are visible – all carefully manicured, but without the borders, fencing, and plain white crosses that defined the “beautification” project elsewhere. Instead, each grave was decorated with a naval shell and a helmet. As will be seen below, “Cemetery 13” was later turned into a large cross memorial, so Kerlee’s picture offers a rarely-documented step of the beautification process.
Also of note are the two graves at the far end of the row, which are not aligned with the rest. One is unreadable, but the other is faintly legible: “McCRAW P K.” Private Paul K. McCraw died on 28 November 1943; he was on a working party filling sandbags when somebody set off a Japanese mine. Muster rolls from McCraw’s 2nd Defense Battalion note that he was “buried in unnumbered plot near scene of death.” However, his name would eventually appear on the Cemetery 13 memorial plaque.
For more information on Private McCraw’s grave and the area around Cemetery 13, read “Identifying A Betio Cemetery.”
Eventually, “Cemetery 13” was condensed into a smaller plot of the cross-on-pedestal variety common on Betio. A path and border were built from cut coconut logs, with chains hung from posts placed at intervals. A large hand-painted plaque was installed at the base of the cross, listing the names of the men buried nearby and explaining that “individual crosses in their memory have been erected in the Main Cemetery.”
The list on the plaque is essentially the same as the one compiled by Marine Corps graves registration – with the addition of McCraw, Shealy, and Harding resulting in 42 names instead of the GRS total of 39.
When the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company arrived at Betio in 1946, Cemetery 13 gained yet another name: “Grave 14.” Work began at this location on 8 April, with simultaneous projects at Cemetery 10 and Cemetery 11. This was the first attempt made to excavate “the Monumental burials,” and the 604th decided to try the same methods employed on the much larger cemeteries to the east – namely, digging long trenches and big holes and hoping for the best.
Frustration quickly set in. “Much difficulty was experienced in finding the remains in this cemetery,” noted 1Lt. Isadore Eisensmith. “Trenches and prospect excavations were dug all around the vicinity but no remains were found.” The unit journal reported finding a single body on 8 April, but after that the Grave 14 crew was “having trouble” in finding any more. They even called up the notoriously rickety bulldozer to scoop out sand, but had no luck.
Finally, someone suggested searching under the monument itself. The soldiers wrapped a heavy chain around the base of the cross, and hauled the entire construction out to the beach. There, beneath the concrete, were the remains they sought. Working through 17 April 1946, the 604th recovered 41 of the 42 bodies reportedly buried in the cemetery. All remains were reinterred in Lone Palm Cemetery.
Laboratory examination in the post-war years confirmed the identities of many Marines known to be buried in Cemetery 13. PFC Stubbs and Sergeant Trimble were originally buried as unknowns.
• Betio X-246 as Pvt. Paul Kenneth McCraw
• Betio X-248 as PFC Arthur Raymond Stubbs
• Betio X-249 as Cpl. Morgan Homer O’Donnell
• Betio X-250 as Sgt. Wallace Otto Trimble
• Betio X-252 as Pvt. Edward Dale Coble
• Betio X-253 as PFC Doyne Andrew Lyles
• Betio X-254 as Pvt. Howard Hirst
• Betio X-255 as PFC Hubert Clarence Johnson
• Betio X-256 as Supply Sgt. Page Warren
• Betio X-257 as Sgt. Ralph Gene Roll
• Betio X-258 as PFC Leo John Wielgus
• Betio X-259 as PFC Reuben Elden Hedger
• Betio X-260 as Sgt. William Robert Gibbons
Most known cases from Cemetery 13 have been resolved. Three men thought to be buried in the vicinity, or reported as such on conflicting records, have not yet been accounted for, while one set of remains recovered by the 604th QMGRC in 1946 has not been identified.
• Warrant Officer Bernard Elmer Shealy
• Private Warren Edward Harding
• Private Richard Gordon Wright
• Betio Unknown X-251 (buried Lone Palm 12 April 1946)
