The DOD effort is a total disgrace and not only the Marines lost on Betio, but all the WW I&II, Korean & VN MIAs..
If not for the efforts of private groups, like Mark Noah's, nothing would get finished.
Quote:
DOD Overhauls Troubled War Dead Recovery Efforts
Stars and Stripes | May 26, 2014 | by Travis J. Tritten
WASHINGTON -- On Tarawa, bodies of fallen Marines, still wrapped in ponchos or wearing helmets, were just below the island's trash-ridden top soil.
About 10,000 bones, hundreds of pounds of gear and dozens of dog tags were recovered over the past two years on the densely developed Pacific island, generations after a bloody World War II battle there, said Mark Noah, whose private group, History Flight, initiated the search effort.
The remains were so numerous and buried in such shallow ground that in one servicemember's grave site "a local trash pit had been dug right into his chest," Noah said.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...tml?ESRC=eb.nl
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I did some work for Mark converting the Tarawa/Betio graves reregistration cards to digital format. You probably have seen my uncle Jimmy's.
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