Nearly 80 years after he was killed in action, Marine Corps Private Glenn White is coming home this weekend.
After White returns from the Gilbert Islands to Kansas City International shortly after noon Friday, there will be a flag-and-motorcycle escort to Emporia’s Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home before a second escort to Memorial Lawn Cemetery on Saturday morning. On KVOE’s Morning Show this week, American Legion Riders Director Clay Childs encouraged the public to come out and pay their respects.
White was killed during intense fighting on Betio Island in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilberts — over 6,200 miles away from home — back in 1943. He received the Silver Star for his actions on Betio Island after his death.
Lyon County History Center Director Greg Jordan says White’s remains were placed in a mass grave — but the records of all those interred were lost.
White’s remains were confirmed using dental and anthropological analysis, circumstantial and material evidence, mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome DNA analysis.
Friday’s route from KCI to Emporia will use Interstate 35 to the East Sixth Avenue exit and then use Sixth — Highway 50 — to Roberts-Blue-Barnett. The flag-and-motorcycle escort should arrive in town between 3-4 pm but may arrive as soon as 2:30 pm. Saturday’s procession begins at 10:30 am. It will go from Roberts-Blue-Barnett west on Sixth and north on Prairie to Memorial Lawn Cemetery. A missing-man flyover and Marine Corps honors will be part of the service.
