Tarawa KIA comes home

[dunmore1774]

http://triblive.com/local/allegheny/13490719-74/remains-of-pittsburgh-marine-killed-in-world-war-ii-return-for-burial

 

Remains of Pittsburgh Marine killed in World War II return for burial next week

 

The remains of a U.S. Marine from Pittsburgh who died fighting in the Pacific Theater of World War II and was missing for 70 years will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery next week, officials announced Monday.

Marine Corps Pvt. Edwin W. Jordan was among the forces invading the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll in November 1943, trying to secure a base for further U.S. operations against Japanese forces in the central Pacific, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, a part of the Department of Defense that accounts for missing military personnel.

Jordan was killed in the first day of the battle, Nov. 20, 1943, and was buried on the island with other fallen service members. The 60th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company recovered some soldiers' remains from the island in 1946 and 1947, but Jordan's were not among them and his remains were eventually declared “unrecoverable,” according to the DPAA.

Records said Jordan was 19 when he was killed, but his niece, Nancy Erwin, 53, of Williamstown, W.Va., said he was actually two years younger, having enlisted when he was just 16.

“He lied about his age to get into the service, and my grandfather helped him out a little with that,” Erwin said.

Jordan had grown up on East Street in Pittsburgh's Spring Hill neighborhood with an older brother and younger sister. Both had died by the time their brother's remains were found and identified.

Erwin's father was Jordan's older brother and enlisted in the Navy around the same time Jordan was killed, not knowing that his younger sibling had died in the Pacific.

“The message, the telegraph, missed him by a couple of days,” Erwin said. For many years, the family was upset that Jordan's remains were unaccounted for.

But in July 2017, the DPAA worked with Florida-based nonprofit History Flight to find more soldiers' remains on Betio and send them for laboratory analysis, which identified Jordan's remains in September.

His remains will be re-buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on April 9. At the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, a rosette will be placed next to his name on the “Tablets of the Missing” to show he has been accounted for and now rests in a known gravesite.

Erwin said that she would attend the ceremony in Arlington with several of Jordan's other nieces and nephews.

“I got a phone call I never, ever thought I'd receive,” she said. “I feel so blessed and thankful that he's returning home.”

Matthew Santoni is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724 836 6660,

 

[bobgee]

R.I.P. Pvt. Jordan. Welcome Home. Semper Fi........Bobgee

[Brian Dentino]

Welcome home Pvt. Jordan.....may you rest in Eternal Peace.

[doyler]

Welcome home Marine.....you were not forgotten

 

The History Flight People do wonderful work.Very dedicated individuals.Had the honor of meeting two of them who returned a local Marine from Tarawa.Im curious if they both were recovered at the same time.

[skypilot6670]

Welcome home Marine , thank you for our freedom. Mike

[Hookemhorns88]

Stories like this brings a tear to my eye. So thankful that there are people out there that still care to bring our brave sailors and soldiers home.

 

Welcome home Marine and may you continue to rest in peace.

[Wharfmaster]

Semper Fi, rest in peace.

 

 

 

Wharf

[MWalsh]

Welcome home Marine.....you were not forgotten

 

The History Flight People do wonderful work.Very dedicated individuals.Had the honor of meeting two of them who returned a local Marine from Tarawa.Im curious if they both were recovered at the same time.

 

RD - I wondered too, how many were recovered at the same time. Anyone know how many more might be identified or officially "recovered"?

 

I suspect they have multiple burial sites in play, based on what I have read elsewhere. I kind of suspect that perhaps there are many, many more pending?