Marine Corps Reserve PFC Norman Alfred Buan, 27, killed in World War II, was finally returned to his family and, on May 23, 2020, laid to rest in American soil.
Born June 26, 1916 in Radville, Saskatchewan, Canada, Norman was 2nd of five children blessed to the union of Albert Hjalmar and Annie Mabel (nee Oyen) Buan.
At the age of 4, Norman was baptized into the Lutheran faith while the family was still living in Canada. In 1925, the family moved to Long Prairie, Minnesota where Norman was raised on a farm and attended country school in Little Sauk. On November 2, 1930, the 14-year-old was confirmed at Little Sauk Lutheran in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. The following year though tragedy struck Round Prairie Township when Mr Buan died. In 1935, Mrs Buan remarried Albert Hackett and, within by the time Norman reached 19 years of age, he and Edna Clara, Ellsworth Rolland, Oliver Clifford and Gladys Elnora welcomed Grace Ann and Beverly Lu Jane. Aside from Gladys, all of the Buan children were on their own by that time. Norman had graduated high school and continued farming, renting a place of his own.
On November 24, 1942, Norman enlisted in the Marine Corps in Minneapolis, Minnesota and soon after took a long train ride west to San Diego, California where he completed training before shipping out into the Pacific Theater. Private First Class Buan experienced his first taste of combat in the Battle of Guadalcanal. His unit was later sent to Wellington, New Zealand for some R&R and to await orders of their next mission.
Private First Class Buan was with his brothers in Charlie Company, 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marines (C-1/2) 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 of the "Battle of Tarawa"), when Norman - just 27 years old - perished. He was reportedly buried in Red Beach 2 Cemetery on Betio Island - a temporary location 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 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, Norman's mother accepted his awards and decorations, including:
- Purple Heart
- Combat Action Ribbon
- World War II Victory Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation
- Asiatic-Pacific Theater Campaign Medal
- Marine Corp Expeditionary Medal, and
- Gold Star Lapel Button.
Also left to mourn his passing were siblings; Edna Clara (Mrs Ernest Boyer), Ellsworth "Al" Buan, Oliver Clifford Buan and Gladys Elnora (Mrs Walter Zuelow); step-father, Albert Hackett, and half-sisters, Grace (Mrs Robert McNeill) and Beverly LuJane (Mrs Lloyd Thommasen).
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 1946, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company centralized all of the American remains found on Tarawa to Lone Palm Cemetery for later repatriation. However, almost half of the known casualties were never found. No recovered remains could be associated with PFC Buan. On October 13, 1949, a military Board of Review declared Norman "non-recoverable."
On August 22, 2013, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found PFC Buan's surviving family and put them contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Norman's family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered his niece, Dianne Zuellow-Giffin, and half-sister, Gracie McNeill, the opportunity to provide the Family Reference DNA Sample ultimately necessary for Norman's identification.
In 2014, History Flight identified a site correlated with Cemetery 26. Excavations of the site uncovered multiple sets of remains, which were turned over to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC - later the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency) in 2015, where they were subsequently accessioned to the laboratory. In 2019, History Flight, under contract with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, uncovered more remains in the location of Cemetery 26 and turned those over to the DPAA.
On August 27, 2019, the DPAA officially accounted-for PFC Norman Buan and soon after Mrs McNeil received "The Call" from the Marines. To identify his remains, DPAA scientists used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, matching both his half-sister and niece.
Norman was finally returned to his family and, on May 23, 2020, laid to rest at Long Bridge Lutheran Church Cemetery, in Little Sauk, Minnesota.
Marine Corps Private First Class Norman Alfred Buan is memorialized among at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, PFC Buan's name shall remain permanently inscribed on Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing". A rosette was placed on the monument next to his name to indicate Norman has finally been found (56116635).
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Release No: 19-199 (Oct. 3, 2019) - Contributor: SBR (49039178)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note from the memorial maintainer:
I am grateful to Chuck Williams & Hattie Johnson (USMC POW/MIA Section), the Armed Forces DNA Identification Lab, History Flight and the DPAA for their efforts in bringing my Marine home. "It takes a village!"
Born June 26, 1916 in Radville, Saskatchewan, Canada, Norman was 2nd of five children blessed to the union of Albert Hjalmar and Annie Mabel (nee Oyen) Buan.
At the age of 4, Norman was baptized into the Lutheran faith while the family was still living in Canada. In 1925, the family moved to Long Prairie, Minnesota where Norman was raised on a farm and attended country school in Little Sauk. On November 2, 1930, the 14-year-old was confirmed at Little Sauk Lutheran in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. The following year though tragedy struck Round Prairie Township when Mr Buan died. In 1935, Mrs Buan remarried Albert Hackett and, within by the time Norman reached 19 years of age, he and Edna Clara, Ellsworth Rolland, Oliver Clifford and Gladys Elnora welcomed Grace Ann and Beverly Lu Jane. Aside from Gladys, all of the Buan children were on their own by that time. Norman had graduated high school and continued farming, renting a place of his own.
On November 24, 1942, Norman enlisted in the Marine Corps in Minneapolis, Minnesota and soon after took a long train ride west to San Diego, California where he completed training before shipping out into the Pacific Theater. Private First Class Buan experienced his first taste of combat in the Battle of Guadalcanal. His unit was later sent to Wellington, New Zealand for some R&R and to await orders of their next mission.
Private First Class Buan was with his brothers in Charlie Company, 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marines (C-1/2) 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 of the "Battle of Tarawa"), when Norman - just 27 years old - perished. He was reportedly buried in Red Beach 2 Cemetery on Betio Island - a temporary location 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 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, Norman's mother accepted his awards and decorations, including:
- Purple Heart
- Combat Action Ribbon
- World War II Victory Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation
- Asiatic-Pacific Theater Campaign Medal
- Marine Corp Expeditionary Medal, and
- Gold Star Lapel Button.
Also left to mourn his passing were siblings; Edna Clara (Mrs Ernest Boyer), Ellsworth "Al" Buan, Oliver Clifford Buan and Gladys Elnora (Mrs Walter Zuelow); step-father, Albert Hackett, and half-sisters, Grace (Mrs Robert McNeill) and Beverly LuJane (Mrs Lloyd Thommasen).
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 1946, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company centralized all of the American remains found on Tarawa to Lone Palm Cemetery for later repatriation. However, almost half of the known casualties were never found. No recovered remains could be associated with PFC Buan. On October 13, 1949, a military Board of Review declared Norman "non-recoverable."
On August 22, 2013, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found PFC Buan's surviving family and put them contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Norman's family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered his niece, Dianne Zuellow-Giffin, and half-sister, Gracie McNeill, the opportunity to provide the Family Reference DNA Sample ultimately necessary for Norman's identification.
In 2014, History Flight identified a site correlated with Cemetery 26. Excavations of the site uncovered multiple sets of remains, which were turned over to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC - later the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency) in 2015, where they were subsequently accessioned to the laboratory. In 2019, History Flight, under contract with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, uncovered more remains in the location of Cemetery 26 and turned those over to the DPAA.
On August 27, 2019, the DPAA officially accounted-for PFC Norman Buan and soon after Mrs McNeil received "The Call" from the Marines. To identify his remains, DPAA scientists used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, matching both his half-sister and niece.
Norman was finally returned to his family and, on May 23, 2020, laid to rest at Long Bridge Lutheran Church Cemetery, in Little Sauk, Minnesota.
Marine Corps Private First Class Norman Alfred Buan is memorialized among at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, PFC Buan's name shall remain permanently inscribed on Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing". A rosette was placed on the monument next to his name to indicate Norman has finally been found (56116635).
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Release No: 19-199 (Oct. 3, 2019) - Contributor: SBR (49039178)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note from the memorial maintainer:
I am grateful to Chuck Williams & Hattie Johnson (USMC POW/MIA Section), the Armed Forces DNA Identification Lab, History Flight and the DPAA for their efforts in bringing my Marine home. "It takes a village!"
Marine Corps Reserve PFC Norman Alfred Buan, 27, killed in World War II, was finally returned to his family and, on May 23, 2020, laid to rest in American soil.
Born June 26, 1916 in Radville, Saskatchewan, Canada, Norman was 2nd of five children blessed to the union of Albert Hjalmar and Annie Mabel (nee Oyen) Buan.
At the age of 4, Norman was baptized into the Lutheran faith while the family was still living in Canada. In 1925, the family moved to Long Prairie, Minnesota where Norman was raised on a farm and attended country school in Little Sauk. On November 2, 1930, the 14-year-old was confirmed at Little Sauk Lutheran in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. The following year though tragedy struck Round Prairie Township when Mr Buan died. In 1935, Mrs Buan remarried Albert Hackett and, within by the time Norman reached 19 years of age, he and Edna Clara, Ellsworth Rolland, Oliver Clifford and Gladys Elnora welcomed Grace Ann and Beverly Lu Jane. Aside from Gladys, all of the Buan children were on their own by that time. Norman had graduated high school and continued farming, renting a place of his own.
On November 24, 1942, Norman enlisted in the Marine Corps in Minneapolis, Minnesota and soon after took a long train ride west to San Diego, California where he completed training before shipping out into the Pacific Theater. Private First Class Buan experienced his first taste of combat in the Battle of Guadalcanal. His unit was later sent to Wellington, New Zealand for some R&R and to await orders of their next mission.
Private First Class Buan was with his brothers in Charlie Company, 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marines (C-1/2) 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 of the "Battle of Tarawa"), when Norman - just 27 years old - perished. He was reportedly buried in Red Beach 2 Cemetery on Betio Island - a temporary location 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 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, Norman's mother accepted his awards and decorations, including:
- Purple Heart
- Combat Action Ribbon
- World War II Victory Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation
- Asiatic-Pacific Theater Campaign Medal
- Marine Corp Expeditionary Medal, and
- Gold Star Lapel Button.
Also left to mourn his passing were siblings; Edna Clara (Mrs Ernest Boyer), Ellsworth "Al" Buan, Oliver Clifford Buan and Gladys Elnora (Mrs Walter Zuelow); step-father, Albert Hackett, and half-sisters, Grace (Mrs Robert McNeill) and Beverly LuJane (Mrs Lloyd Thommasen).
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 1946, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company centralized all of the American remains found on Tarawa to Lone Palm Cemetery for later repatriation. However, almost half of the known casualties were never found. No recovered remains could be associated with PFC Buan. On October 13, 1949, a military Board of Review declared Norman "non-recoverable."
On August 22, 2013, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found PFC Buan's surviving family and put them contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Norman's family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered his niece, Dianne Zuellow-Giffin, and half-sister, Gracie McNeill, the opportunity to provide the Family Reference DNA Sample ultimately necessary for Norman's identification.
In 2014, History Flight identified a site correlated with Cemetery 26. Excavations of the site uncovered multiple sets of remains, which were turned over to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC - later the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency) in 2015, where they were subsequently accessioned to the laboratory. In 2019, History Flight, under contract with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, uncovered more remains in the location of Cemetery 26 and turned those over to the DPAA.
On August 27, 2019, the DPAA officially accounted-for PFC Norman Buan and soon after Mrs McNeil received "The Call" from the Marines. To identify his remains, DPAA scientists used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, matching both his half-sister and niece.
Norman was finally returned to his family and, on May 23, 2020, laid to rest at Long Bridge Lutheran Church Cemetery, in Little Sauk, Minnesota.
Marine Corps Private First Class Norman Alfred Buan is memorialized among at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, PFC Buan's name shall remain permanently inscribed on Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing". A rosette was placed on the monument next to his name to indicate Norman has finally been found (56116635).
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Release No: 19-199 (Oct. 3, 2019) - Contributor: SBR (49039178)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note from the memorial maintainer:
I am grateful to Chuck Williams & Hattie Johnson (USMC POW/MIA Section), the Armed Forces DNA Identification Lab, History Flight and the DPAA for their efforts in bringing my Marine home. "It takes a village!"
Born June 26, 1916 in Radville, Saskatchewan, Canada, Norman was 2nd of five children blessed to the union of Albert Hjalmar and Annie Mabel (nee Oyen) Buan.
At the age of 4, Norman was baptized into the Lutheran faith while the family was still living in Canada. In 1925, the family moved to Long Prairie, Minnesota where Norman was raised on a farm and attended country school in Little Sauk. On November 2, 1930, the 14-year-old was confirmed at Little Sauk Lutheran in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. The following year though tragedy struck Round Prairie Township when Mr Buan died. In 1935, Mrs Buan remarried Albert Hackett and, within by the time Norman reached 19 years of age, he and Edna Clara, Ellsworth Rolland, Oliver Clifford and Gladys Elnora welcomed Grace Ann and Beverly Lu Jane. Aside from Gladys, all of the Buan children were on their own by that time. Norman had graduated high school and continued farming, renting a place of his own.
On November 24, 1942, Norman enlisted in the Marine Corps in Minneapolis, Minnesota and soon after took a long train ride west to San Diego, California where he completed training before shipping out into the Pacific Theater. Private First Class Buan experienced his first taste of combat in the Battle of Guadalcanal. His unit was later sent to Wellington, New Zealand for some R&R and to await orders of their next mission.
Private First Class Buan was with his brothers in Charlie Company, 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marines (C-1/2) 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 of the "Battle of Tarawa"), when Norman - just 27 years old - perished. He was reportedly buried in Red Beach 2 Cemetery on Betio Island - a temporary location 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 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, Norman's mother accepted his awards and decorations, including:
- Purple Heart
- Combat Action Ribbon
- World War II Victory Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation
- Asiatic-Pacific Theater Campaign Medal
- Marine Corp Expeditionary Medal, and
- Gold Star Lapel Button.
Also left to mourn his passing were siblings; Edna Clara (Mrs Ernest Boyer), Ellsworth "Al" Buan, Oliver Clifford Buan and Gladys Elnora (Mrs Walter Zuelow); step-father, Albert Hackett, and half-sisters, Grace (Mrs Robert McNeill) and Beverly LuJane (Mrs Lloyd Thommasen).
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 1946, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company centralized all of the American remains found on Tarawa to Lone Palm Cemetery for later repatriation. However, almost half of the known casualties were never found. No recovered remains could be associated with PFC Buan. On October 13, 1949, a military Board of Review declared Norman "non-recoverable."
On August 22, 2013, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found PFC Buan's surviving family and put them contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Norman's family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered his niece, Dianne Zuellow-Giffin, and half-sister, Gracie McNeill, the opportunity to provide the Family Reference DNA Sample ultimately necessary for Norman's identification.
In 2014, History Flight identified a site correlated with Cemetery 26. Excavations of the site uncovered multiple sets of remains, which were turned over to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC - later the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency) in 2015, where they were subsequently accessioned to the laboratory. In 2019, History Flight, under contract with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, uncovered more remains in the location of Cemetery 26 and turned those over to the DPAA.
On August 27, 2019, the DPAA officially accounted-for PFC Norman Buan and soon after Mrs McNeil received "The Call" from the Marines. To identify his remains, DPAA scientists used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, matching both his half-sister and niece.
Norman was finally returned to his family and, on May 23, 2020, laid to rest at Long Bridge Lutheran Church Cemetery, in Little Sauk, Minnesota.
Marine Corps Private First Class Norman Alfred Buan is memorialized among at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. Although he has now been recovered and identified, PFC Buan's name shall remain permanently inscribed on Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing". A rosette was placed on the monument next to his name to indicate Norman has finally been found (56116635).
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Release No: 19-199 (Oct. 3, 2019) - Contributor: SBR (49039178)
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note from the memorial maintainer:
I am grateful to Chuck Williams & Hattie Johnson (USMC POW/MIA Section), the Armed Forces DNA Identification Lab, History Flight and the DPAA for their efforts in bringing my Marine home. "It takes a village!"
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
