All told, History Flight, Inc. teams recovered thirty-six sets of intact remains and seven sets of partial remains, including one skull, from the Cemetery 27 site on Betio, making provisional identifications on twenty-eight. In 2016 History Flight turned over another twenty-five sets of remains found on Tarawa to the DPAA.
History Flight teams continue the search for America’s World War II MIAs, not only on Tarawa, but also in Europe, the Philippines, and other locations. As of 2017, the organization had recovered intact remains of some seventy Tarawa MIAs and partial remains of scores more. To learn more, go to historyflight.org.
As of March 2018, DPAA’s Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii had identified the following men recovered from Cemetery 27 (listed by rank, name, and hometown; all are marines, unless otherwise noted):
1st Lt. Alexander Bonnyman, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2nd Lt. George S. Bussa, F Van Nuys, California
Navy Pharmacist’s Mate 3rd Class Howard P. Brisbane, Birmingham, Alabama
Navy Pharmacist’s Mate 3 Howard P. Brisbane, Birmingham, Alabama
Pfc. Anthony N. Brozyna, Hartford, Connecticut
Pvt. Robert Carter, Jr., Corvallis, Oregon
GySgt. Sidney A. Cook, Hemlock Grove, Ohio
Cpl. Walter G. Critchley, East Norwich, New York
Pvt. Fred E. Freet, Gary, Indiana
Pvt. Dale R. Geddes, Grand Island, Nebraska
Pfc. Ben H. Gore, Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Pvt. Palmer S. Haraldson, Los Angeles
Sgt. James J. Hubert, Duluth, Minnesota
Pfc. James B. Johnson, Poughkeepsie, New York
Pvt. Emmett L. Kines, Grafton, West Virginia
Pvt. John F. Lally, Holyoke, Massachusetts
Pfc. Wilbur C. Mattern, Oelwein, Iowa
Pfc. John W. MacDonald, Boston
Pfc. James F. Mansfield, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Pfc. Elmer L. Mathies, Hereford, Texas.
2nd Lt. Ernest Matthews, Dallas
Sgt. Fae V. Moore, Pine Ridge, South Dakota
Cpl. Roger K. Nielson, Denver, Colorado
USN Pharmacist’s Mate 1st Class Warren G. Nelson, Lakota, North Dakota
Pfc. Charles E. Oetjen, Blue Island, Illinois
Cpl. James D. Otto, A 3/8
[Los] Angeles
Pvt. Frank Penna, Canastota, New York
Pfc. John F. Prince, New York
Pfc. James P. Reilly, New York
Pfc. Larry R. Roberts, Damascus, Arkansas
Pfc. John N. Saini, Healdsburg, California
Pfc. Roland Schaede, Maywood, Illinois
Pfc. James S. Smith, Liberty, Mississippi
Pvt. Donald S. Spayd, Los Angeles
Pfc. George H. Traver, Chatham, New York
Pvt. Harry K. Tye, Gallagher, West Virginia
Pfc. Roland Vosmer, Denver, Colorado
Pfc. James O. Whitehurst, Ashford, Alabama
In addition, as of March 2018, the DPAA had exhumed and identified eighteen Tarawa MIAs previously buried as “unknown” at the Punchbowl outside Honolulu.
Buster, the friendly black Labrador retriever who played a key part of History Flight’s success on Tarawa, died in February 2015 at the age of twelve.
On September 2, 2017, my aunt Alix Bonnyman Prejean, her daughter Andra Prejean, and I buried a few small pieces of material evidence collected from Sandy’s grave—the soles of his boondockers, buttons, a broken belt buckle—and a small piece of bone in an unmarked grave on the property where he operated his copper mine near Santa Rosa, New Mexico.
My mother, aunt, and I always agreed that Sandy should be buried in Knoxville alongside his parents and brother, who had tried so hard to bring his remains home. But like my grandfather, we all love New Mexico, and wanted to commit a small part of him to the Land of Enchantment, his final home on earth.