Reported Burials
1943
Memorial Markers
1944
Remains Recovered
1946
Unidentified Remains
2021
Unaccounted For
2021
This cemetery – the first large burial ground established on Betio – was the work of Lieutenant (j.g) Warren W. Willard, a chaplain attached to the 8th Marines). Willard was a veteran of the Solomon Islands campaign; he listed the creation of the first Marine Corps cemetery in the South Pacific among his many accomplishments. When he arrived at Betio on D-plus-One, Willard was immediately placed in charge of burying the dead. The job was plainly more than one man could handle – and the fighting too intense to begin work – so Willard convened a chaplain’s meeting the following morning to share his knowledge and assign tasks. He selected a relatively quiet site near the 2nd Marine Division command post for what he called “US Navy and Marine Corps Cemetery 1.” A bulldozer was procured and “began to excavate three long trenches, in which the bodies could be buried side by side.” Willard remarked on the bravery of the bulldozer crew, who ducked Japanese sniper fire as they worked.
Willard and Lieutenant Francis W. Kelly (the Catholic chaplain of the 2nd Marines) took charge of working parties assigned to the cemetery. While Kelly oversaw graveside operations, Willard took his team to search out bodies in the ruined landscape of Betio. This job, never an easy or pleasant task, was made all the more challenging because many of the dead men had familiar faces.
The two chaplains and their assistants looked for identifiying materials on each man: dog tags, personal belongings like wallets or paperwork, names painted on helmets or stamped on clothing. Some of the dead could still be recognized by physical features, but after two days in the heat of Betio, this was not always possible. One of Willard’s helpers, PhM3c Edward Rosenberg, had a fingerprinting kit and took a few samples. By the end of the day, Willard and Kelly had buried 112 men, of whom 21 lacked any means of identification. The names of several others were later determined to be incorrect, and not associated with battle casualties.
On 23 November, Willard moved on to work on another burial site (which he called “Cemetery 2,” later known as Cemetery 25.) At least seven more graves were added after Willard’s departure, bringing the total number reported by 2nd Marine Division Graves Registration to 119. Garrison troops may have added additional graves later in the year, but none are known by name.
Conflicts & Discrepancies
The unknown in Grave 13 may be Private Lloyd Livingston. Livingston’s USMC casualty card reports this location, however it is not reflected in the GRS report.
Mistaken identity, Grave 21: likely S2c Lloyd Calvin Chisholm of the USS Ashland. Willard provides matching Navy service number 8415556. Chisholm was present at Tarawa but not reported as a casualty; he died in 2006.
Mistaken identity, Grave 26: probably Corporal Richard Lee Close of G/2/2nd Marines, wounded at Tarawa but survived.
Mistaken identity, Grave 107: probably PFC George Daniel Thore of K/3/8th Marines, wounded at Tarawa but survived.
Mistaken identity, Grave 109: possibly Sgt. James Parker Dunn of C/1/8th Marines, wounded at Tarawa but survived.
As one of the biggest burial grounds on Betio, the Central Division Cemetery was transformed into a formal Memorial Cemetery by Captain Erl C. B. Gould’s “reconstruction and beautification” project. Sailors from the garrison force – including Seabees from the 98th Naval Construction Battalion and the 594th Construction Base Maintenance Unit – measured out a plot overlapping the three original rows. As carpenters worked to build regulation white crosses, a Navy clerk checked the names on the original markers against a casualty report from the 2nd Marine Division. An effort was clearly made to replicate the Central Division burial roster (as opposed to Memorial Cemeteries 11 and 33), while the problematic names from Chaplain Willard’s list were replaced by “unknowns.”
However, Memorial Cemetery 26 was laid out in five rows – not three – and at a 45° angle from the original alignment. This choice was made to
orient the memorial with new construction, mostly workshops for Hawkins Field and an access road along Red Beach 2. The plots were also slightly uneven; odd numbered plots had twelve graves per row, while even numbered plots had only eleven. Ultimately, Memorial Cemetery 26 had 115 individual markers – four fewer than the Marine casualty report stipulated.
Cemetery 26 was one of the earliest memorial cemeteries, too. Photographs of the site dated to March 1944 show the new crosses and fencing in place. The general appearance changed a little during the occupation – for example, the addition of paths between the plots.
The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company decided to tackle “Grave 26” early in their mission to consolidate Betio’s many burial grounds. Work began on 18 March 1946, simultaneous with operations on the much larger Memorial Cemetery 33. And, unfortunately, the team assigned to #26 experienced many of the same problems almost at once. Cemetery 33, problems arose almost at once. “We dug under the markers, and again, no remains were found,” complained 1Lt. Isadore Eisensmith in his report of the operation.
Fortunately, Father Francis Kelly was on hand to help. Although Betio had changed considerably since 1943, Kelly could orient himself without difficulty (thanks in part, perhaps, to a helpful historical marker put up by the garrison) and remembered a cemetery of three rows, not five. He suggested digging a test trench across the length of the cemetery – a good idea, as the first remains were found through this method. The diggers also turned up live ammunition, grenades, and even a small Japanese mine. These were gingerly carried across the road and dumped into the sea.
Finding remains was a triumph – and more so than expected: instead of the anticipated 119 remains, the 604th exhumed 123. Deciding who they were, though, proved terribly challenging. “Identification tags were found in some instances,” continued Lt. Eisensmith. “However, the tooth charts taken from the remains did not check with those furnished by [the] Marine Corps for the person whose identification tags were found. It seems that the Marines had traded identification tags for some reason. This was a hindrance in our task of positively identifying the remains located.” He was hardly exaggerating: only eighteen of the bodies from Cemetery 26 were fully identified by the 604th prior to reburial in Lone Palm Cemetery.
On 26 March 1943, “Grave 26” was declared closed. The team was rewarded with an afternoon off; the following morning, they moved over to “Grave 25.”
The 604th QMGRC had an extremely difficult time confirming identities from Cemetery 26. In the years following their expedition, the Central Identification Laboratory Honolulu (CILH) managed to resolve 55 additional cases, including four (McGrath, Hamilton, Krenkle, Schertz, and Bordelon) who were previously buried as unknowns
• Betio X-2 as PFC Cecil Richard Jones
• Betio X-7 as PhM3c Joseph Allen Hale, Jr.
• Betio X-8 as Cpl. James Joseph DePreta
• Betio X-9 as PFC Marvin Pierce Cashion
• Betio X-10 as PFC Oliver Louis Bange
• Betio X-18 as Warrant Officer Leonard Arthur Booker
• Betio X-19 as 1Sgt. Dominick Vanditti
• Betio X-29 as Cpl. John Joseph McGrath
• Betio X-30 as PFC Vincent Edward Traversie
• Betio X-36 as Cpl. Joseph Mike Simonetti
• Betio X-38 as PFC Richard Earl Hamilton
• Betio X-40 as Pvt. Everett Edward Lynn
• Betio X-41 as GySgt. Herbert Stroud
• Betio X-42 as PFC Philip Hayes Krenkle
• Betio X-43 as PFC Walter Joseph Lawick
• Betio X-45 as Pvt. Albert Leroy Parker
• Betio X-56 as 1Lt. William Deane Hawkins
• Betio X-58 as 2Lt. John Nelson Terrell
• Betio X-61 as PFC Jarrell Marcel Armstrong
• Betio X-62 as PFC Roy Boone Taylor
• Betio X-64 as 2Lt. Mark Tomlinson
• Betio X-65 as Capt. James Owen Fox
• Betio X-68 as PFC Eugene Vincent Ruggiero
• Betio X-71 as PFC Zihlman Thomas Minick
• Betio X-72 as 1Lt. Armstead Earl Ross
• Betio X-76 as PFC Marvin Earl Young
• Betio X-78 as PFC Lewis Arthur Campbell
• Betio X-90 as PFC Paul Earl Schertz
• Betio X-96 as PFC Ralph Carson McNeil
• Betio X-97 as Cpl. Donald Albert Karlson
• Betio X-101 as PFC William Charles Feltmeier
• Betio X-102 as Pvt. Joseph Wilson Varnado, Jr.
• Betio X-108 as Cpl. Osbaldo Rivera Paredes
• Betio X-110 as PFC William Ralph Shafer
• Betio X-112 as PFC Lafey Leroy Wales
• Betio X-113 as Cpl. John August Abadie
• Betio X-114 as SSgt. William James Bordelon
• Betio X-122 as PFC Carol Ernest Lundrigan
• Betio X-124 as PFC Arthur Gustav Menger
• Betio X-125 as PhM2c James Dudley Barker
• Betio X-127 as Pvt. Roger William Godin
• Betio X-128 as 2Lt. Augustine Vega Jauregui
• Betio X-129 as PFC Walter John Miller
• Betio X-135 as Cpl. John Joe Martinez
• Betio X-137 as PFC Ralph Vincent Goff
• Betio X-138 as Cpl. William Lane Williamson
• Betio X-139 as Cpl. Allen Kingsley Getz
• Betio X-141 as Pvt. Ezra Owens Guyton
• Betio X-142 as PFC Ottie Brown Sentelle
• Betio X-145 as Cpl. James Herbert Sherrod
• Betio X-146 as Pvt. Harlowe David Salisbury
• Betio X-147 as Pvt. Norman Odell Hunter
• Betio X-148 as PFC Robert Siegfried Philippe
• Betio X-164 as PFC Olan Ard
• Betio X-165 as Cpl. John Francis Scisley
Due to the nature of battlefield burials and post-war recoveries, a significant number of names and remains associated with Cemetery 26 are still unresolved.
• PFC Robert Lee Sanders (Row A, Grave 10)
• PFC Lloyd Lynn Livingston (Row A, Grave 13 – on casualty card)
• Cpl. Russell Melvin Burill (Row A, Grave 16)
• Pvt. Arvil Ray Sharp (Row A, Grave 17)
• PFC Stanley Sylvester Glowacz (Row A, Grave 23)
• Sgt. Osea Alexander Audette (Row B, Grave 34)
• Cpl. John Silas Spence (Row B, Grave 35)
• PFC James Edward Watkins (Row B, Grave 42)
• PFC John Cecil DeLellis (Row B, Grave 50)
• Cpl. Albert Lee Rasmussen (Row B, Grave 58)
• Pvt. James Alan Whitworth (Row C, Grave 108)
• PFC Clarence Kenneth Ary (Row C, Grave 114)
• “V. M. Brown”
An identification tag for V. M. Brown 331647 accompanied remains found in Cemetery 26. However, Vernon Marshall Brown (G/2/2nd Marines) was found “alive and well.” The remains were redesignated as Betio Unknown 278.
• Roger Godin
A wallet with a legible paper bearing the name “Roger W. Godin” accompanied remains found in Cemetery 26. These remains failed the dental check and were redesignated as Betio Unknown 280.
• Betio Unknown X-6 (buried Lone Palm 19 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-21 (buried Lone Palm 20 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-28 (buried Lone Palm 21 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-37 (buried Lone Palm 20 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-55 (buried Lone Palm 21 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-57 (buried Lone Palm 21 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-60 (buried Lone Palm 21 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-66 (buried Lone Palm 21 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-67 (buried Lone Palm 21 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-70 (buried Lone Palm 22 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-74 (buried Lone Palm 22 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-91 (buried Lone Palm 22 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-99 (buried Lone Palm 22 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-111 (buried Lone Palm 25 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-123 (buried Lone Palm 25 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-130 (buried Lone Palm 25 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-131 (buried Lone Palm 25 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-136 (buried Lone Palm 26 March 1946)
• Betio Unknown X-140 (buried Lone Palm 26 March 1946)
In 2014, non-profit group History Flight conducted an archaeological dig on the site of Cemetery 26 and recovered numerous artifacts and human remains. These materials were turned over to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) and resulted in the following identifications:
Starting in 2015, the DPAA ordered the exhumation and reexamination of Tarawa unknowns from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In addition to Charpilloz and Boschetti, the following identifications have been accomplished:
