Tarawa Cemetery 2

Isolated grave marked with the name of PFC George J. Atkins. Atkins, a member of M/3/2nd Marines, was killed in action on 20 November 1943. No burial information was recorded by his battalion.

This isolated grave was maintained as part of the “reconstruction and beautification” project by Navy garrison forces in 1944. Captain Erl C. B. Gould noted that “Some [isolated] graves are known to be improperly located. In these instances, bodies well identified by name tags, clothing, etc., were buried at varying distances from the sites on the map shown [below].”

The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company did not recover any remains identifiable as PFC Atkins in 1946. The “beautified” grave may have been just a memorial; Atkins is still unaccounted for.