WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Marine Corps Reserve Pfc. John R. Bayens, 20, of Louisville, Kentucky, killed during World War II, was accounted for on Sep. 23, 2019.
(This identification was initially published Oct. 1, 2019.)
In November 1943, Bayens was a member of Company B, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 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, while the Japanese were virtually annihilated. Bayens was killed on the third day of the battle, Nov. 22, 1943. His remains were reportedly buried in Cemetery 33 on Betio Island.
In 1946, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company centralized all of the American remains found on Tarawa at Lone Palm Cemetery for later repatriation; however, almost half of the known casualties were never found. No recovered remains could be associated with Bayens, and in October 1949, a Board of Review declared him “non-recoverable.”
In 2014, History Flight, Inc., a nonprofit organization, identified Cemetery 33. Excavations of the site uncovered multiple sets of remains, which were turned over to DPAA in 2015.
To identify Bayens’ remains, scientists from DPAA used dental, anthropological, and chest radiograph comparison analysis, as well as material evidence.
DPAA is grateful to the United States Marine Corps for their assistance in this mission. Additionally, DPAA is appreciative to History Flight, Inc., for their partnership in this mission.
Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war. Currently there are 72,638 service members still unaccounted for from World War II with approximately 30,000 assessed as possibly recoverable. Bayens’ name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others killed or lost in WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
For family information, contact the Marine Corps Service Casualty office at (800) 847-1597.
Bayens will be buried Dec. 16, 2019, in Louisville, Kentucky.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa or call (703) 699-1420/1169.
Bayens’s personnel profile can be viewed at
https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000XfL4EAK