The Tarawa Project Part I a Multidisciplinary Approach to Resolve Commingled Human Remains from the Battle of Tarawa

Forensic Anthropology Vol. 2, No. 2: 87–95 DOI: 10.5744/fa.2019.1004 CASE REPORT The Tarawa Project Part I A Multidisciplinary Approach to Resolve Commingled Human Remains from the Battle of Tarawa a* a a,b a c Rebecca J. Taylor ● Audrey L. Scott ● Anthony J. Koehl ● Willa R. Trask ● Heli Maijanen ABSTRACT: As part of the U.S. Navy’s campaign against the Japanese during World War II, the Battle of Tarawa in November 1943 resulted in over 1,100 U.S. and over 6,000 Japanese and Korean conscript casualties on and around Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, Republic of Kiribati. Casualties were buried in isolated and mass graves, which were negatively affected by the wartime renovations of the island, resulting in only ~47% of the remains being recovered in the late 1940s. The nature of the wartime burials, multiple postwar disinterments and reinterments, identification efforts in the late 1940s, and postwar anthropogenic changes to the island by the local population have contributed to the commingling of casualties. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency established the Tarawa Project in 2016 to assist in the sorting, association, and identification of the often commingled remains recovered directly from the Republic of Kiribati and 94 caskets of Battle of Tarawa unknowns disinterred from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawai’i. The project has been able to confirm a minimum number of individuals (MNI) of 243 based on unique mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences, while inventory of ~9,000 elements indicates a MNI of 131 from disinterments and 96 from recent field recoveries. The Tarawa Project has used a combination of historical research, DNA testing, chest radiograph and odontological comparisons, and forensic anthropological and mate- rial evidence analyses to help identify 41 of the 84 total service members accounted for from the Battle of Tarawa since the 1940s. KEYWORDS: forensic anthropology, commingling, Tarawa Introduction the casualties, and the ongoing recovery efforts highlight how remains can become commingled and the need to have The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is a multidisciplinary approach to resolving this commingling. responsible for the search for, recovery of, and identifica- Even though the list of unaccounted- for U.S. casualties tion of unaccounted- for U.S. service members from past from the Battle of Tarawa is generally known, the wartime conflicts; the DPAA Scientific Analysis Directorate (DPAA- burial procedures combined with the postwar recovery and Laboratory) established the Tarawa Project in the autumn of identification efforts have resulted in a complex commingled 2016 to assist with the identification of U.S. casualties from assemblage. The post- depositional changes to the island, the the Battle of Tarawa. This project is tasked with resolving the extended interval since the incident, the poor preservation of commingling of casualties (including the segregation of the the remains, and the large size of the assemblage all affect U.S. from Japanese/Korean remains), associating remains the ability to resolve the commingling and identify the recovered directly from the Tarawa Atoll and/or disin- unaccounted- for U.S. casualties (Adams & Byrd 2014). Fur- terred from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific ther, the prevalence of an open context of commingling in this (NMCP), and proposing potential identifications of service assemblage, where the primary burial location is unknown, members to the science director/medical examiner. The limits the utility of the burial records associated with a par- nature of the battle, the complex post- depositional history of ticular casualty (Puerto et al. 2014). Similar to current- day disaster victim identification (DVI) scenarios, a multidisciplinary approach is necessary to systematically analyze aDefense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Joint Base Pearl Harbor– the remains and resolve the commingling, especially given Hickam, Hawai’i, USA the likelihood of non- U.S. remains commingled with U.S. bSNA International, Alexandria, VA, USA cOulun Seudun Ammattikorkeakoulu, Archaeology, Oulu, Finland remains in the assemblage (Puerto et al. 2014). *Correspondence to: Rebecca J. Taylor, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, 590 Moffet Street, Joint Base Pearl Harbor– Hickam, JBPHH Hawai’i 96853, USA Historical Background E-mail: [email protected] Received 5 June 2018; Revised 18 August 2018; In November 1943, U.S. forces began an initiative to invade Accepted 21 August 2018 the Japanese- occupied Gilbert Islands (now the Republic of © 2019 University of Florida Press 88 Tarawa Project I Kiribati), termed Operation Galvanic. The largest assault took houses built on top of cemeteries), including evidence of the place on Betio Island in the Tarawa Atoll from 20 to 23 Novem- cemeteries (e.g., removal of grave markers). Remains have ber 1943, resulting in a large number of casualties (Alexander been intermittently recovered from Betio Island since the end 1993). The U.S. Second Marine Division reported 997 marines of World War II due to accidental discovery through natural and 30 sailors (medical corpsmen) dead, 88 marines missing disasters and infrastructure developments, as well as formal and presumed dead, and 2,292 injured (Alexander 1993). The excavation by the DPAA, its predecessor organizations, and reported numbers for the Japanese forces included 4,690 dead nongovernmental organizations. The nature of these recov- and 146 Japanese and Korean prisoners taken (Alexander eries often resulted in groups of commingled remains being 1995; Wukovits 2006). Due to post- battle accounting efforts, unilaterally turned over to the U.S. government or remains the initial reported numbers have been increased to ~1,150 being reburied near their primary discovery location and U.S. and ~6,000 Japanese and Korean casualties. later excavated from the secondary burial. Thus, remains The large number of fatalities, small size of Betio Island, accessioned into the DPAA- Laboratory have been primarily and rapid rate of decomposition necessitated quick burial of commingled assemblages of articulated portions of remains the casualties (Alexander 1993). Often trench burials were and miscellaneous unarticulated elements with minimal established using bulldozers with casualties placed shoulder associated provenience information, which represent U.S., to shoulder wrapped in ponchos and a single marker erected Japanese, and Koreans casualties from the Battle of Tarawa to signify a whole unit (e.g., a single wooden cross inscribed and Kiribati nationals. In rare instances, intact in situ buri- simply with “D- 2- 18” to refer to D Company, Second Battal- als from wartime trench features have been recovered. ion, 18th Marine Regiment; Alexander 1993) or inscribed as “unknown” (Wukovits 2006). These burial practices resulted Historical Analysis in incomplete documentation of grave locations and the individuals interred in them as well as the accidental commin- The Schofield- CIL processed all casualties from the Lone gling of remains (e.g., appendages overlapping with adjacent Palm Cemetery between 1947 and 1949. Laboratory person- remains). At least five compulsory cemeteries were created nel confirmed AGRS field identifications and identified many on Betio Island by the assault troops prior to 24 Novem- of the unknowns through anthropological assessment and ber 1943, with a total of 43 isolated gravesites or cemeteries comparison to antemortem dental records. Historical records reported by 1946 (Steere & Boardman 1957; Wukovits 2006). of the Schofield- CIL anthropological analyses indicate that Further, U.S. Navy Construction members (“Seabees”) phys- 48 of the 92 unknowns processed through the CIL showed ically modified Betio Island (1943– 1946) to meet wartime some level of commingling, usually duplicated or non- needs and “beautified” the cemeteries, resulting in burials matching elements. Further, multiple unknowns (X- numbers) becoming disassociated from their corresponding markers believed to be commingled were often processed simulta- (Steere & Boardman 1957). neously, with elements being removed from or exchanged In March 1946 the American Graves Registration Ser- between unknowns in an effort to segregate the remains. For vice (AGRS) arrived at Betio Island to recover the war dead example, the CIL assumed that continuous X- numbers had a and began consolidating U.S. casualties from Betio and its shared provenance when in most cases they came from dif- neighboring islands into a single Lone Palm Cemetery, but ferent cemeteries. Further, a 1948 AGRS Review Board they often found remains skewed from or no remains associ- approved the burial of all of the unknowns as a group. Sets of ated with burial markers (Steere & Boardman 1957). By remains were sorted by element in preparation for the group May 1946 the AGRS had recovered and interred 532 remains burial, but approval was later rescinded and the 92 unknowns (~50% of U.S. casualties) into the Lone Palm Cemetery. Just were interred at the NMCP between 1949 and 1950. Subse- over half of these remains were interred with name associa- quent to these “individual” interments, one casket containing tions through in- field analysis of grave markers, dental charts, the remains of at least 10 individuals recovered from Betio and/or identification media. The rest were designated with an Island in the late 1960s after storms, and another casket con- X- number (e.g., X- 001) and buried as an unknown. Due to taining

Load more