Marine Corps SGT David Blaine Bozarth, Jr, 22, killed in World War II, was buried at sea.
Sergeant Bozarth was with his unit when they landed on Betio as part of Operation: GALVANIC. The mission of the 2nd Marine Division was to secure the island in order to control the Japanese airstrip in the Tarawa Atoll; thereby preventing the Japanese Imperial forces from getting closer to the United States, and enabling US forces to get closer to mainland Japan. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history.
It was November 21, 1943 (D+1 for the “Battle of Tarawa”), when young David - just 22 years old - perished. He reportedly died of wounds aboard a medical ship and was ceremonially buried at sea.
Having a loved one away from home during the holidays is always trying; however, having a son or husband off fighting in the war left the whole family on edge. The fact that this battle took place just before Thanksgiving meant that most of the families, who had unknowingly earned their Gold Star, would receive their heart-wrenching telegrams on Christmas Eve – some Christmas Day or even New Years Day.
For his service and sacrifice, David’s parents accepted his Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation.
Despite the heavy casualties suffered by U.S. forces, military success in the battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
His family had a memorial marker placed in the Tower Heights Cemetery, in West Frankfort, Illinois. A place to sit and remember their family's hero who sacrificed all (107946294, a cenotaph).
Marine Corps Sergeant David Blaine Bozarth, Jr is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing".
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Sergeant Bozarth was with his unit when they landed on Betio as part of Operation: GALVANIC. The mission of the 2nd Marine Division was to secure the island in order to control the Japanese airstrip in the Tarawa Atoll; thereby preventing the Japanese Imperial forces from getting closer to the United States, and enabling US forces to get closer to mainland Japan. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history.
It was November 21, 1943 (D+1 for the “Battle of Tarawa”), when young David - just 22 years old - perished. He reportedly died of wounds aboard a medical ship and was ceremonially buried at sea.
Having a loved one away from home during the holidays is always trying; however, having a son or husband off fighting in the war left the whole family on edge. The fact that this battle took place just before Thanksgiving meant that most of the families, who had unknowingly earned their Gold Star, would receive their heart-wrenching telegrams on Christmas Eve – some Christmas Day or even New Years Day.
For his service and sacrifice, David’s parents accepted his Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation.
Despite the heavy casualties suffered by U.S. forces, military success in the battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
His family had a memorial marker placed in the Tower Heights Cemetery, in West Frankfort, Illinois. A place to sit and remember their family's hero who sacrificed all (107946294, a cenotaph).
Marine Corps Sergeant David Blaine Bozarth, Jr is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing".
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Marine Corps SGT David Blaine Bozarth, Jr, 22, killed in World War II, was buried at sea.
Sergeant Bozarth was with his unit when they landed on Betio as part of Operation: GALVANIC. The mission of the 2nd Marine Division was to secure the island in order to control the Japanese airstrip in the Tarawa Atoll; thereby preventing the Japanese Imperial forces from getting closer to the United States, and enabling US forces to get closer to mainland Japan. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history.
It was November 21, 1943 (D+1 for the “Battle of Tarawa”), when young David - just 22 years old - perished. He reportedly died of wounds aboard a medical ship and was ceremonially buried at sea.
Having a loved one away from home during the holidays is always trying; however, having a son or husband off fighting in the war left the whole family on edge. The fact that this battle took place just before Thanksgiving meant that most of the families, who had unknowingly earned their Gold Star, would receive their heart-wrenching telegrams on Christmas Eve – some Christmas Day or even New Years Day.
For his service and sacrifice, David’s parents accepted his Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation.
Despite the heavy casualties suffered by U.S. forces, military success in the battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
His family had a memorial marker placed in the Tower Heights Cemetery, in West Frankfort, Illinois. A place to sit and remember their family's hero who sacrificed all (107946294, a cenotaph).
Marine Corps Sergeant David Blaine Bozarth, Jr is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing".
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Sergeant Bozarth was with his unit when they landed on Betio as part of Operation: GALVANIC. The mission of the 2nd Marine Division was to secure the island in order to control the Japanese airstrip in the Tarawa Atoll; thereby preventing the Japanese Imperial forces from getting closer to the United States, and enabling US forces to get closer to mainland Japan. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history.
It was November 21, 1943 (D+1 for the “Battle of Tarawa”), when young David - just 22 years old - perished. He reportedly died of wounds aboard a medical ship and was ceremonially buried at sea.
Having a loved one away from home during the holidays is always trying; however, having a son or husband off fighting in the war left the whole family on edge. The fact that this battle took place just before Thanksgiving meant that most of the families, who had unknowingly earned their Gold Star, would receive their heart-wrenching telegrams on Christmas Eve – some Christmas Day or even New Years Day.
For his service and sacrifice, David’s parents accepted his Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation.
Despite the heavy casualties suffered by U.S. forces, military success in the battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.
His family had a memorial marker placed in the Tower Heights Cemetery, in West Frankfort, Illinois. A place to sit and remember their family's hero who sacrificed all (107946294, a cenotaph).
Marine Corps Sergeant David Blaine Bozarth, Jr is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing".
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Inscription
BOZARTH DAVID B JR
SERGEANT • USMC • MISSOURI
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