Tarawa Cemetery 38
"Isolated Grave 38"
0
Remains Recovered
1946
0
Remains Recovered
2014
0
Unaccounted For
2021
Cemetery 38 was the isolated grave of Private Jack Marvin Redman.
Redman, a twenty-year-old from Watseka, Illinois, was shot in the head and killed on 23 November 1943. He was serving with HQ Company, Third Battalion, 6th Marines at the time of his death; his unit reported “the exact location of grave [is] unknown.” However, Redman’s body was found and buried in a marked grave that was seen shortly after the battle by correspondent Robert Sherrod.
There is the lone grave of “Pvt. J. M. Redman, Killed In Action, 11-23-43.” His helmet hangs on the cross, a bullet hole through the center of it.
Cemetery 38 was not located by the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company, and Private Redman was declared non-recoverable in 1949.
In 2013, personnel from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) arrived on Betio in response to reports of potential WWII-era remains. They conducted an archeological dig at the site of Cemetery 38 and received additional remains from a local. Laboratory analysis identified the remains as those of Private Redman, and he was officially accounted for on 21 November 2014.
