https://www.dvidshub.net/news/181936/72-years-later-tarawa-marine-begins-journey-home-denver

http://www.marines.mil/News/News-Display/Article/628956/seventy-two-years-later-tarawa-marine-begins-journey-home-to-denver/

https://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi/%253C/www.linkedin.com/in/johnmacomber/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=138858104

CPL Roger Keith Nielson

Learn about sponsoring this memorial… Birth: Nov. 10, 1921

Utah, USA Death: Nov. 20, 1943

Tarawa

Gilbert Islands, Kiribati

Corporal Roger K. Nielson, USMC, has now been accounted-for.

Corporal Nielson was killed during the assault on Red Beach 3 during the first day of the battle on Tarawa Atoll, November 20, 1943.

Cpl. Nielson and other service members were reportedly buried in the 8th Marines Cemetery #2. Eventually, the U.S. Navy designated this location as Cemetery #27 and a memorial plaque inscribed with the names of the men reportedly buried there was erected at the site. While there was a monument honoring the men originally buried in Cemetery #27, no remains were discovered at this location following the end of World War II.

In cooperation with History Flight Inc., a burial trench on Betio Island was unearthed and recovered within were the remains of approximately 35 individuals. The remains were transferred to the custody of DPAA where the results of laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence establish the remains as those of Corporal Roger Keith Nielson.

On November 16, 2015, Marine Corps CPL Roger Keith Nielson, 22, killed in World War II, was finally laid to rest - in American soil - with full military honors.

Born November 10, 1921, in Ephraim, Utah, Roger Keith Nielson was the oldest of three sons blessed to the union of Leroy Moyle Nielson and Lula (Jorgensen) Nielson.

Corporal Nielson was with his brothers in Echo Company, 2nd Battalion of the 8th Marines (E-2/8) when they landed on Betio as part of Operation: GALVANIC. The mission of the 2nd Marine Division was to secure the island in order to control the Japanese airstrip in the Tarawa Atoll; thereby preventing the Japanese Imperial forces from getting closer to the United States, and enabling US forces to get closer to mainland Japan. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in the Corps history.

It was November 20, 1943 (D-Day for the “Battle of Tarawa”), when young Roger - barely 22 years old - perished. He was soon buried on Betio Island - a temporary location chosen by his fellow Marines, the survivors of the battle, until the Fallen could be recovered and returned to their families.

Having a loved one away from home during the holidays is always trying; however, having a son or husband off fighting in the war left the whole family on edge. The fact that this battle took place just before Thanksgiving meant that most of the families, who had unknowingly earned their Gold Star, would receive their heart-wrenching telegrams on Christmas Eve – some Christmas Day or even New Years Day.

For his service and sacrifice, Roger's family accepted his Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation.

Despite the heavy casualties suffered by U.S. forces, military success in the battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military because the Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central Pacific Campaign against Japan.

In the immediate aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S. service members who died in the battle were buried in a number of battlefield cemeteries on the island. In 1946 and 1947, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio Island, but CPL Nielson’s remains were not recovered. On Feb. 10, 1949, a military review board declared Roger "non-recoverable".

Roger's family also placed a memorial marker for Roger within Memory Grove Memorial in Salt Lake City, UT (131574819, a cenotaph).

In June 2015, History Flight notified the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency that they discovered a burial site on Betio Island and recovered the remains of what they believed were U.S. Marines who fought during the battle in November 1943. The remains were turned over to DPAA in July 2015.

In 2015, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of CPL Nielson and provided their contact information to the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section, allowing them Marines to reach out to his brother and coordinate a Family Reference DNA Sample, should it be required for Roger's identification.

On September 24, 2015, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) accounted for Corporal Roger Keith Nielson. To identify his remains, scientists from DPAA used laboratory analysis, to include dental comparisons, which matched Nielson’s records, as well as circumstantial and material evidence.

Roger was finally returned to his baby brother and, on November 16, 2015, laid to rest at Fort Logan National Cemetery, in Denver, Colorado, with full military honors.

Marine Corps Corporal Roger Keith Nielson is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, CPL Nielson’s name shall remain permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing". A rosette has been placed next to his name to verify that Roger is no longer missing (56126983, a cenotaph).