Pacific theater

The Battle of Tarawa

History Flight’s work on Betio honors the service members lost in one of the Pacific theater’s most costly battles.

Recovering what history left behind.

The Battle for Tarawa began on November 20, 1943. The hard-won fight on Betio lasted 76 hours, and many American service members remained unaccounted for after the war.

History Flight has located lost cemetery sites and recovered service members from Tarawa, including men missing for generations.

See recovery stories →

Tarawa recovery profiles

1st LT Hugh Doran Fricks →Second Lieutenant Donald Eugene Underwood →PVT Eugene Parker Miller →Private First Class Anthony Brozyna →CPL Quentin Weldon McCall →Second Lieutenant George McCullen Johnson →PFC Royal Lawrence Waltz →PFC Glenn Franklin White →SGT Donald Deloy Stoddard →1st LT Justin Green Mills →PFC Raymond Warren →PVT Jacob Cruz →PFC John Michael Fahy →PFC John Paul Langan →PFC J. L. Hancock →GySgt ARTHUR BRANSON SUMMERS →SGT George R. Reeser →PFC Frank L. Athon, Jr. →Private Channing R. Whitaker →PHM2c Raymond P. Gilmore →PFC Darwin H. Brown →PVT Ernest E. Tucker →PFC Thomas L. Scurlock, Jr. →PVT Jack Marvin Redman →Captain Richard Vincent →PFC Randolph Allen →PFC Manley Forrest Winkley →Private Herman Fred Sturmer, Jr. →Tarawa Identified →1st Lt. Alexander Bonnyman, Jr. →