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 was the oldest of three sons blessed to the union of Leroy Moyle Nielson and Lula (nee 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 had a memorial marker (263861892) placed within Memory Grove Memorial in Salt Lake City, Utah should he be found and returned home.

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).

SOURCE

Marine Corps POW/MIA Section

DPAA Release No: 15-073 (Nov. 9, 2015)

American Battle Monuments Commission

Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist

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Note from the memorial maintainer:

I am grateful to Chuck Williams & Hattie Johnson (USMC POW/MIA Section), History Flight and the DPAA for their efforts in bringing my Marine home. "It takes a village!"