The remains of a U.S. serviceman who has been unaccounted for since World War II have been identified as an Arkansan.
Marine Corps Pfc. Larry R. Roberts of Damascus, who was 18 at the time he died 73 years ago, is being returned to his family for burial with full military honors, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said in a statement.
Roberts will be buried June 14 in Arlington National Cemetery, just outside Washington, D.C.
In November 1943, Roberts was assigned to Special Weapons Group, 2nd Defense Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, according to the agency.
His group “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,” the statement reads.
Several days of fighting there left about 1,000 Marines and sailors dead and more than 2,000 wounded.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency notes that despite the high number of casualties, the battle proved to be a victory for the U.S. military in the war.
Roberts’ remains as well as those of 34 other Marines were recovered in June 2015. The Arkansan's remains were identified with help from scientists who used DNA analysis determine a match.
The agency said that of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, 73,057 are still unaccounted for as of Wednesday.
Read Thursday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.