Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Cohen Young | Oscar Team Leader, Marine Capt. Ernest Nordman (center) of the Joint POW/MIA...... read more read more
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TARAWA, Republic of Kiribati – Tarawa! What’s Tarawa or rather…where is Tarawa is what one might ask when the name of the capital city of the Republic of Kiribati is mentioned. I can tell you that U.S. Marines know about Tarawa and that they can educate you on it’s history or their history, which is tied to it deeply.
“As a Marine, the Battle of Tarawa is spoken highly of because it was our first amphibious assault,” said JPAC Oscar Team Leader, Marine Capt. Ernest Nordman. “Tarawa has a special meaning to me and every Marine should want to come here to be involved in something like this.
Tarawa was the site of the famed Battle of Tarawa during WWII and with that knowledge alone; one would know there is a lot of history to it. Six thousand Japanese and American men lost their lives here on a strip of land no bigger than the landmass of Washington, D.C. With that, there are remains of U.S. Marines here that need to be taken back to U.S. soil so that they may be repatriated and identified to bring closure to their families and honored for their service and country for which they gave their lives.
The JPAC team’s mission as always is to recover remains of fallen U.S. military members and this particular mission may be a little more special to this group of JPAC service members because with the exception of two soldiers and one sailor, the team is comprised of U.S. Marines and they are bringing their fallen brothers home. If a person spends a lot of time around Marines, that person will learn that it doesn’t matter when you served, where you served, or how old you were or when you retired, but you are always a Marine and Semper Fi rings true through their hearts and brain forever.
“For me as a Marine to be here in Tarawa and be looking for my fallen brothers of the past considering what happened here is just amazing,” said Anchorage, Alaska native, Marine Staff Sgt. Kurt Witt, an Explosive Ordinance Technician assigned to the Oscar Team of JPAC.
“It sends chills up my spine to stand down on the beach and think what they had to go through and reach this point where we are standing; it’s an amazing accomplishment and it took a lot or heart,” added Witt. “They were some real warriors; I can only hope to be half the Marine they were.”
| Date Taken: | 08.13.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 08.13.2010 04:24 |
| Story ID: | 54508 |
| Location: | TARAWA, KI |
| Web Views: | 171 |
| Downloads: | 7 |
This work, Marines Search for Brothers in Tarawa, by SMSgt Cohen Young, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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