By Herman Schwartz-O’Brien

According to a report by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the recently recovered remains of a U.S. Marine from Somerville killed in World War II came home for burial.

Earlier this month, the agency reported that the remains of Marine Pfc. John MacDonald, 19, were accounted for on Aug. 15, 2016 and was returned for burial in Bourne, MA, on June 22.

MacDonald’s company, from the 2nd Marine Division, landed in the Gilbert Islands in November 1943. The agency reported that Mac Donald died on the first day of battle, November 20, 1943, along with approximately 1,000 sailors a Marines.
In its report, the agency stated that the Battle of the Tarawa Atoll was “a huge victory for the U.S. Military.” Those who died during the battle were laid to rest in battlefield cemeteries on the island. MacDonald’s remains were not recovered in during the first attempts at casualty recovery and were designated as non-recoverable.

According to the agency, the non-governmental organization History Flight, Inc. recovered Mac Donald’s remains in 2015, as well as those of 34 other servicemen who fought during the Battle of the Tarawa Atoll.

The agency’s release stated that to identify MacDonald’s remains, scientists from DPAA used laboratory analysis, including anthropological analysis and dental and chest radiograph comparison analysis, which matched MacDonald’s records, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.

The agency further reports that nearly 73,000 soldiers from World War II are still unaccounted for.