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.