An Emporia soldier killed during World War II will return for burial after he was officially accounted for by the federal government almost two months ago.
The Defense Prisoners of War and Missing in Action Accounting Agency says 19-year-old Marine Corps Private Glenn White was accounted for in early June.
White was part of Company A, First Battalion, Sixth Marine Regiment, Second Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, that landed in the Gilbert Islands in November 1943 and encountered intense resistance from the Japanese. The battle on the Tarawa Atoll lasted four days, with White killed on the third day and subsequently buried in what now is called Cemetery 33.
Following the war, the US government centralized all the American remains found on Tarawa at one cemetery for later repatriation, but almost half the known casualties were never found and no recovered remains were linked to White. A nonprofit organization discovered a site believed to be Cemetery 33 in 2009, and excavations of Row D — where White was initially listed as buried — began in 2019. White’s remains were confirmed using dental and anthropological analysis, circumstantial and material evidence, mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome DNA analysis.
Residents requesting funeral information can call the Marine Corps Casualty Office at 866-210-3421 ext. 1.
