Tarawa Cemetery 17
"Isolated Grave 17"
0
Remains Recovered
1946
0
Unidentified Remains
2021
0
Unaccounted For
2021
The graves of 1Lt. William Inlow Sheedy and Private Edwin Harold Vancil, both members of the 2nd Tank Battalion.
Lieutenant Sheedy led the First Platoon of Company C, 2nd Tanks into action on 20 November 1943. His command tank, a medium M4 Sherman named “Chicago,” was disabled when it fell into a shell hole offshore of Red Beach One. Sheedy ordered the crew out of the tank and continued up the beach, only to be felled by a gunshot wound in the abdomen.
When Sheedy’s tanks failed to appear on the beach, Private Edwin Harold Vancil of the battalion’s recon section was dispatched to find the First Platoon. Vancil, previously known as a troublemaker, distinguished himself while leading tanks ashore on foot – he would later receive the Silver Star Medal. He did not return from this last mission.
Sheedy and Vancil were found and buried by members of their own battalion. “This kid [Vancil] had his arm [across] Sheedy’s back and they were shot from a machine gun position across the cove… And we buried them on the beach,” said Lt. Edward Bale. The graves were located in front of a Japanese machine gun bunker and beside a demolished amphibian tractor.
Sheedy
Vancil
Cemetery 17 would have been a well-known spot on Betio, especially after the “beautification” process. Some enterprising historian in the Navy garrison force had interpretive markers installed at various points around the island. The spot where the two tankers died was named “Resistance Point.”
The resistance along this section of the beach was extremely bitter, and the beach was literally lined with dead Marines from the third wave. At least 100 Marines fell at this point.
A photograph taken later in 1944 shows the new sign erected in front of Sheedy and Vancil’s graves. The wrecked LVT has been moved, possibly towed onto the beach for salvage. Interestingly, the markers appear to have moved as well – either swapped, or changed from the head to the foot of each grave.
The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company exhumed Cemetery 17 in 1946. Lieutenant Sheedy’s body was recovered, identified, and reburied in Lone Palm Cemetery, Plot 1 Row 1 Grave 17, on 18 March 1946. Vancil’s remains were not recovered, and he is still missing in action.