Marine Corps Reserve CPL Paul Holland, killed in World War II, remains unaccounted-for.

Born July 24, 1921, Paul was blessed to the union of Paul August and Anna Rose (nee Goulet) Holland.

Corporal Holland (Service # 00447438) was with his brothers in Charlie Company of the 2nd Tank 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 Paul - just 22 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried in Cemetery #33, Main Marine Cemetery, 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, Paul's parents 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; Hyacinth "Hy"(Mrs William F. Price),
Marie Ellen (Mrs Roy Thomas Stimac), Clarence, Patricia Ann "Pat" (Mrs George Vincent Woeber), Mrs Laura Coyle, William Holland, Gerald Holland and Jerome Holland.

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 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 CPL Holland. In 1949, a Board of Review declared Paul "non-recoverable."

His family had a memorial marker place at Rock Island National Cemetery, in Rock Island, Illinois, in hopes that one day he would be found and returned home (61388786, cenotaph). They also had his name added to their marker placed in Calvary Cemetery, in Rock Island, Illinois (125670614, cenotaph).

Marine Corps Reserve Corporal Paul Holland is memorialized among at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed on Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing".

SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Personnel Profile
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist