Marine Killed During World War II Accounted For (Goldtrap, C.)
Defense POW / MIA Accounting Agency·Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Marine Corps Cpl. Claire E. Goldtrap, killed during World War II, was accounted for on June 1, 2018.
In November 1943, Goldtrap was assigned to Company A, 2nd Amphibian Tractor Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, which 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.
Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were virtually annihilated. Goldtrap died on the first day of the battle, Nov. 20, 1943, during the first wave of the assault.
DPAA is grateful to the Department for Veterans Affairs for their partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released 7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Goldtrap's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Claire Goldtrap (23971222)
Suggested edit: On April 10, 2019, Marine Corps CPL Claire Eulin Goldtrap, 21, killed during World War II, was finally laid to rest - in American soil - with full military honors.
Born April 10, 1922, in Hobart, Oklahoma, Claire Eulin Goldtrap was the youngest of four children blessed to the union of John H and Lala Blanche (Dougherty) Goldtrap.
Corporal Goldtrap was with his brothers in Alpha Company of the 2nd Amphibian Tractor Battalion 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 Goldie - just 21 years old - perished. He was later 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, Goldie's mother accepted the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation. Also left to mourn his passing were CPL Goldtrap's siblings, Ralph Leon, John Emil and William Dought Goldtrap.
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. The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but CPL Goldtrap's remains were not identified. All of the remains found on Tarawa were sent to the Schofield Barracks Central Identification Laboratory for identification in 1947. By 1949, the remains that had not been identified were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP, also known as "The Punchbowl") in Honolulu.
His family had a memorial marker placed next to his father in the Hobart Rose Cemetery, in Hobart, Oklahoma, in hopes that one day Goldie would be found and returned home. His mother would later be laid to rest next to this marker - its empty ground still offering no closure.
On July 23, 2014, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of CPL Goldtrap and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Claire's family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered Mrs Nanci Price the opportunity to provide the Family Reference DNA Sample ultimately necessary for her cousin's identification.
In October 2016, Department of Veterans Affairs disinterred Tarawa Unknown X-277 from the NMCP and sent the remains to the laboratory for analysis. Records indicate that X-277 was originally buried in Cemetery #11 on Betio as an Unknown. Even though Goldtrap's Casualty Card indicated he was buried in Cemetery #33, Cemetery #11 was located in close proximity to the beach designated "Beach Red 1," where Goldtrap was reported to have disembarked from the USS Thuban to support amphibious operations.
On June 1, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of CPL Goldtrap, and the family received "The Call" from the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section with the good news.
On July 31, 2018, the DPAA officially announced to the world that CPL Claire Eulin Goldtrap was coming home. To identify his remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Goldie was finally returned to his family and, on April 10, 2019, laid to rest at Hobart Rose Cemetery - next to his parents - with full military honors.
Marine Corps Corporal Claire Eulin Goldtrap is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, CPL Goldtrap's name shall remain permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing". A rosette has been placed next to his name to verify that Claire is no longer missing (56131609, a cenotaph).
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Personnel Profile
DPAA Release No: 19-025 (March 5, 2019)
DPAA Recent News & Stories (July 31, 2018)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Defense POW / MIA Accounting Agency·Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Marine Corps Cpl. Claire E. Goldtrap, killed during World War II, was accounted for on June 1, 2018.
In November 1943, Goldtrap was assigned to Company A, 2nd Amphibian Tractor Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, which 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.
Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were virtually annihilated. Goldtrap died on the first day of the battle, Nov. 20, 1943, during the first wave of the assault.
DPAA is grateful to the Department for Veterans Affairs for their partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released 7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Goldtrap's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Claire Goldtrap (23971222)
Suggested edit: On April 10, 2019, Marine Corps CPL Claire Eulin Goldtrap, 21, killed during World War II, was finally laid to rest - in American soil - with full military honors.
Born April 10, 1922, in Hobart, Oklahoma, Claire Eulin Goldtrap was the youngest of four children blessed to the union of John H and Lala Blanche (Dougherty) Goldtrap.
Corporal Goldtrap was with his brothers in Alpha Company of the 2nd Amphibian Tractor Battalion 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 Goldie - just 21 years old - perished. He was later 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, Goldie's mother accepted the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation. Also left to mourn his passing were CPL Goldtrap's siblings, Ralph Leon, John Emil and William Dought Goldtrap.
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. The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but CPL Goldtrap's remains were not identified. All of the remains found on Tarawa were sent to the Schofield Barracks Central Identification Laboratory for identification in 1947. By 1949, the remains that had not been identified were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP, also known as "The Punchbowl") in Honolulu.
His family had a memorial marker placed next to his father in the Hobart Rose Cemetery, in Hobart, Oklahoma, in hopes that one day Goldie would be found and returned home. His mother would later be laid to rest next to this marker - its empty ground still offering no closure.
On July 23, 2014, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of CPL Goldtrap and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Claire's family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered Mrs Nanci Price the opportunity to provide the Family Reference DNA Sample ultimately necessary for her cousin's identification.
In October 2016, Department of Veterans Affairs disinterred Tarawa Unknown X-277 from the NMCP and sent the remains to the laboratory for analysis. Records indicate that X-277 was originally buried in Cemetery #11 on Betio as an Unknown. Even though Goldtrap's Casualty Card indicated he was buried in Cemetery #33, Cemetery #11 was located in close proximity to the beach designated "Beach Red 1," where Goldtrap was reported to have disembarked from the USS Thuban to support amphibious operations.
On June 1, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of CPL Goldtrap, and the family received "The Call" from the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section with the good news.
On July 31, 2018, the DPAA officially announced to the world that CPL Claire Eulin Goldtrap was coming home. To identify his remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Goldie was finally returned to his family and, on April 10, 2019, laid to rest at Hobart Rose Cemetery - next to his parents - with full military honors.
Marine Corps Corporal Claire Eulin Goldtrap is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, CPL Goldtrap's name shall remain permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing". A rosette has been placed next to his name to verify that Claire is no longer missing (56131609, a cenotaph).
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Personnel Profile
DPAA Release No: 19-025 (March 5, 2019)
DPAA Recent News & Stories (July 31, 2018)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Marine Killed During World War II Accounted For (Goldtrap, C.)
Defense POW / MIA Accounting Agency·Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Marine Corps Cpl. Claire E. Goldtrap, killed during World War II, was accounted for on June 1, 2018.
In November 1943, Goldtrap was assigned to Company A, 2nd Amphibian Tractor Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, which 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.
Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were virtually annihilated. Goldtrap died on the first day of the battle, Nov. 20, 1943, during the first wave of the assault.
DPAA is grateful to the Department for Veterans Affairs for their partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released 7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Goldtrap's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Claire Goldtrap (23971222)
Suggested edit: On April 10, 2019, Marine Corps CPL Claire Eulin Goldtrap, 21, killed during World War II, was finally laid to rest - in American soil - with full military honors.
Born April 10, 1922, in Hobart, Oklahoma, Claire Eulin Goldtrap was the youngest of four children blessed to the union of John H and Lala Blanche (Dougherty) Goldtrap.
Corporal Goldtrap was with his brothers in Alpha Company of the 2nd Amphibian Tractor Battalion 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 Goldie - just 21 years old - perished. He was later 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, Goldie's mother accepted the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation. Also left to mourn his passing were CPL Goldtrap's siblings, Ralph Leon, John Emil and William Dought Goldtrap.
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. The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but CPL Goldtrap's remains were not identified. All of the remains found on Tarawa were sent to the Schofield Barracks Central Identification Laboratory for identification in 1947. By 1949, the remains that had not been identified were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP, also known as "The Punchbowl") in Honolulu.
His family had a memorial marker placed next to his father in the Hobart Rose Cemetery, in Hobart, Oklahoma, in hopes that one day Goldie would be found and returned home. His mother would later be laid to rest next to this marker - its empty ground still offering no closure.
On July 23, 2014, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of CPL Goldtrap and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Claire's family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered Mrs Nanci Price the opportunity to provide the Family Reference DNA Sample ultimately necessary for her cousin's identification.
In October 2016, Department of Veterans Affairs disinterred Tarawa Unknown X-277 from the NMCP and sent the remains to the laboratory for analysis. Records indicate that X-277 was originally buried in Cemetery #11 on Betio as an Unknown. Even though Goldtrap's Casualty Card indicated he was buried in Cemetery #33, Cemetery #11 was located in close proximity to the beach designated "Beach Red 1," where Goldtrap was reported to have disembarked from the USS Thuban to support amphibious operations.
On June 1, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of CPL Goldtrap, and the family received "The Call" from the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section with the good news.
On July 31, 2018, the DPAA officially announced to the world that CPL Claire Eulin Goldtrap was coming home. To identify his remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Goldie was finally returned to his family and, on April 10, 2019, laid to rest at Hobart Rose Cemetery - next to his parents - with full military honors.
Marine Corps Corporal Claire Eulin Goldtrap is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, CPL Goldtrap's name shall remain permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing". A rosette has been placed next to his name to verify that Claire is no longer missing (56131609, a cenotaph).
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Personnel Profile
DPAA Release No: 19-025 (March 5, 2019)
DPAA Recent News & Stories (July 31, 2018)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Defense POW / MIA Accounting Agency·Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Marine Corps Cpl. Claire E. Goldtrap, killed during World War II, was accounted for on June 1, 2018.
In November 1943, Goldtrap was assigned to Company A, 2nd Amphibian Tractor Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, which 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.
Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were virtually annihilated. Goldtrap died on the first day of the battle, Nov. 20, 1943, during the first wave of the assault.
DPAA is grateful to the Department for Veterans Affairs for their partnership in this mission.
Interment services are pending; more details will be released 7-10 days prior to scheduled funeral services.
Goldtrap's name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Claire Goldtrap (23971222)
Suggested edit: On April 10, 2019, Marine Corps CPL Claire Eulin Goldtrap, 21, killed during World War II, was finally laid to rest - in American soil - with full military honors.
Born April 10, 1922, in Hobart, Oklahoma, Claire Eulin Goldtrap was the youngest of four children blessed to the union of John H and Lala Blanche (Dougherty) Goldtrap.
Corporal Goldtrap was with his brothers in Alpha Company of the 2nd Amphibian Tractor Battalion 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 Goldie - just 21 years old - perished. He was later 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, Goldie's mother accepted the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation. Also left to mourn his passing were CPL Goldtrap's siblings, Ralph Leon, John Emil and William Dought Goldtrap.
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. The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but CPL Goldtrap's remains were not identified. All of the remains found on Tarawa were sent to the Schofield Barracks Central Identification Laboratory for identification in 1947. By 1949, the remains that had not been identified were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP, also known as "The Punchbowl") in Honolulu.
His family had a memorial marker placed next to his father in the Hobart Rose Cemetery, in Hobart, Oklahoma, in hopes that one day Goldie would be found and returned home. His mother would later be laid to rest next to this marker - its empty ground still offering no closure.
On July 23, 2014, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of CPL Goldtrap and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Claire's family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered Mrs Nanci Price the opportunity to provide the Family Reference DNA Sample ultimately necessary for her cousin's identification.
In October 2016, Department of Veterans Affairs disinterred Tarawa Unknown X-277 from the NMCP and sent the remains to the laboratory for analysis. Records indicate that X-277 was originally buried in Cemetery #11 on Betio as an Unknown. Even though Goldtrap's Casualty Card indicated he was buried in Cemetery #33, Cemetery #11 was located in close proximity to the beach designated "Beach Red 1," where Goldtrap was reported to have disembarked from the USS Thuban to support amphibious operations.
On June 1, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of CPL Goldtrap, and the family received "The Call" from the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section with the good news.
On July 31, 2018, the DPAA officially announced to the world that CPL Claire Eulin Goldtrap was coming home. To identify his remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
Goldie was finally returned to his family and, on April 10, 2019, laid to rest at Hobart Rose Cemetery - next to his parents - with full military honors.
Marine Corps Corporal Claire Eulin Goldtrap is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, CPL Goldtrap's name shall remain permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing". A rosette has been placed next to his name to verify that Claire is no longer missing (56131609, a cenotaph).
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Personnel Profile
DPAA Release No: 19-025 (March 5, 2019)
DPAA Recent News & Stories (July 31, 2018)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
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