Jump to content

Return to Tarawa - The Leon Cooper Story


ClaptonIsGod
 Share

Recommended Posts

I saw this program late last night, and I was very touched by it. The fact that so many graves could be unknown, the fact that there are pictures of grave markers of soldiers and they are still listed as MIA this late after the war, and how neglected the beach has been is appalling. It was also fascinating to see the relics they have found, and how much live ammo there is. I really hope that the beach does get cleaned up, and I wonder if there has been any progress on it since the documentary was filmed in 2008. Anyone have an update on it? It was very well done, and sobering. Definitely worth watching.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw an interview on Larry King about this. Where can I see this documentary?

 

Found a website here, they are selling copies of the documentary for $20 apiece. However, I am sure they will be rerunning it on the Military channel sometime soon, so you might want to check your listings.

 

http://90daywonder.net/returntotarawa/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Found a website here, they are selling copies of the documentary for $20 apiece. However, I am sure they will be rerunning it on the Military channel sometime soon, so you might want to check your listings.

 

http://90daywonder.net/returntotarawa/

 

Here is a link where you can watch it. I enjoyed it but find it disturbing that several hundred Marines who died there have never been returned to their families and still listed as MIA. Certainly there were many who died at the shore and washed out to sea before they could be recovered but there are detailed maps of burial plots and even photos of named graves, yet those men have been left there. For the US government to just ignore this is indefensible.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/74507/return-to-tarawa

Link to comment
Share on other sites

jeremiahcable

I watched this on Hulu as well and share Leo's sentiments. Worth watching are the closing credits which show several excellent still images of Tarawa after the battle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is actually a past thread about the topic of Marines being declared "missing" when in fact the military knew all along where their graves on Tarawa were - paved over.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...1&hl=Tarawa

 

I was very skeptical of that matter at first, as my comments in the linked thread show, but have come to change my opinion on the issue 100% now!

 

As to this show that this thread is about... I have seen it I think three times now, it's been on over the course of the last 6 months or so I think.

 

It's just sad that the battle site has turned into a garbage pit basically. But, the place is a gazillion miles from anywhere, and a battle which occured 66 years ago now - ancient history by the standards of today's majority of Americans. I have never heard any follow up to this show but would also love to hear if the gent in the show had any real success long term, or if it was all just lip service he got. Be nice if a few old vets and old Leathernecks in the U.S. Congress would champion the cause - James Murtha in the House and James Webb in the Senate come to mind... The vet in the show was rather rough around the edges, I am not sure if that does his cause much good politically, but he is who he is and I have no doubt he is quite passionate about the cause he is working towards!

 

MW

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kurt Barickman

Yes,sad story to be sure. If people are really intersted in this topic, they should check out Ted Darcy's efforts to recover these remains on Betio. Also, check out Tarawa on the Web and their forum entitled Tarawa Talk. Mike, don't know if you were aware of this or not but a gyrene from Walters (not too far from Wells) was KIA with the 8th Marines on Tarawa and his remains were not recoverable either. I talked with his last remaining sibling about this several years ago. HIs name was Welver Vaughn. Another side story about this is that if present trends continue, the nation of Kirabarti (formerly know as Tarawa) will not longer be above the water line. :w00t:

 

Kurt Barickman

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brian Dentino

I watched this documentary on hulu as well and caught it again the other night on the tv. The film touched me as well. It is great to see this man, Mr. Cooper, is still a hard charger at his age. It is a shame to our military, and our Nation that so many of these brave Marines have gone unaccounted for for all these years. It seems to me personally that our country owes these brave souls more of a fitting tribute, at least headstones marking their final resting places. And to see all the trash! What a shame........

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:lol:

Really good documentary! It also settled the question I had about cursing among WW2 vets.

Mr. Cooper sure can let the F words fly.

 

 

Yeah, I definitely noticed that on the documentary, I guess it is something to get, as he said, "salty language" about, considering how disturbing it is that our government has managed to "forget" about all these soldiers, and continue to list them as MIA when there are pictures of their graves. A shortage of Purple Hearts? :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is actually a past thread about the topic of Marines being declared "missing" when in fact the military knew all along where their graves on Tarawa were - paved over.

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...1&hl=Tarawa

 

I was very skeptical of that matter at first, as my comments in the linked thread show, but have come to change my opinion on the issue 100% now!

 

As to this show that this thread is about... I have seen it I think three times now, it's been on over the course of the last 6 months or so I think.

 

It's just sad that the battle site has turned into a garbage pit basically. But, the place is a gazillion miles from anywhere, and a battle which occured 66 years ago now - ancient history by the standards of today's majority of Americans. I have never heard any follow up to this show but would also love to hear if the gent in the show had any real success long term, or if it was all just lip service he got. Be nice if a few old vets and old Leathernecks in the U.S. Congress would champion the cause - James Murtha in the House and James Webb in the Senate come to mind... The vet in the show was rather rough around the edges, I am not sure if that does his cause much good politically, but he is who he is and I have no doubt he is quite passionate about the cause he is working towards!

 

MW

 

That would be great if some veterans in congress would give their support to cleaning up the place and returning the bodies of the known dead. However, don't look for Murtha do do anything. He is a traitor to the Corps he unfortunately belonged to, and only interested in accusing and convicting Marines in Iraq of murder for killing terrorists just to suit his political agenda.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

normaninvasion
Really good documentary! It also settled the question I had about cursing among WW2 vets.

Mr. Cooper sure can let the F words fly.

 

I remember being a 10 yr old kid around my neighbor, ww2 Navy vet and his buddy, ww2 Marine, boy did I get a lesson on colorful language!! ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
I watched this documentary on hulu as well and caught it again the other night on the tv. The film touched me as well. It is great to see this man, Mr. Cooper, is still a hard charger at his age. It is a shame to our military, and our Nation that so many of these brave Marines have gone unaccounted for for all these years. It seems to me personally that our country owes these brave souls more of a fitting tribute, at least headstones marking their final resting places. And to see all the trash! What a shame........

It's even more amazing that he was in the Navy! I agree with Kurt that I would like to see more interest in this from the Marines. I will say that the organizations currently out in the Pacific collecting and identifying remains is a good starting point. If I remember correctly though, these expeditions receive no US government sponsorship so they are funded solely through the private sector.

 

The other telling point on our society is that this only gets attention when hollywood gets involved. I would like to see some of those who are getting rich on the veterans pay some back. Hats off to gary Sinise and Tom Hanks in this department.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...