Recovery profile

PVT Ernest E. Tucker

Name PVT Ernest Eugene Tucker Branch: USMCR Unit: A Company 1 st Marine Battalion, 2 nd Marine Regiment Location of Recovery: Betio, Tarawa, Gilbert Islands (Modern Day Kiribati) Date of Loss: November 20, 1943 Status: ACCOUNTED FOR April 29, 1982 Circumstances: On April 29, 1982, the Central Identification Lab-Hawaii (CILHI, now DPAA) accounted for Private Ernest Eugene Tucker, missing from World War II.

History Flight recovery record

Marine Corps from North Carolina, served with Company A, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division.

On November 20, 1943, he was killed during the amphibious assault on Betio Island, as part of the Battle of Tarawa.

He was buried in a Marine cemetery on Betio, but his remains were not recovered after the war.

In 1979, a construction company operating in Betio located human remains and in 1980, a CILHI investigative team excavated this site and recovered remains that were later identified as those of Private Tucker.

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