MIA Update - September 4, 2020

[boardman]

MIA Update: The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced one burial update for American servicemen who have been missing and unaccounted-for from WWII. Returning home for burial with full military honors is:

-- Marine Corps Reserve Pfc. Thomas F. Johnson, 18, of San Jose, California, as a member of Company B, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, which landed against stiff Japanese resistance on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to secure the island. Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, while the Japanese were virtually annihilated. Johnson died on the fourth day of battle, Nov. 23, 1943. Johnson will be buried in Igo, California. The date has yet to be determined. Read about Johnson https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/2181367/marine-accounted-for-from-world-war-ii-johnson-t/.