Page 15 - Aerotech News and Review 6-3-13

Marine missing from PENTAGON, from 14 to healing. She said that last year one command sergeant major,” she said.
World War II accounted for of the Coast Guard rescue swimmers Lankford is now a senior TAPS
crash of a C-12 in Alaska in 1992. who was helping with the kids noticed
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced May 30 that the “I went looking for the kind of sup- a TAPS volunteer wearing a button peer mentor. “This program has been
remains of a U.S. serviceman, unaccounted for since World War II, have been port organization I knew existed for that said “suicide loss team.” a life-changer and a life-saver for me
identified and are being returned to his family for burial with full military other types of loss in our society and and my 11-year-old son,” she said.
honors. found it just wasn’t there,” she said. “He shared that he had just lost “In the last nine years, we’ve had to
“It had never been created in America his son to suicide,” she said. “That’s come into a new normal, understand-
Marine Pfc. James B. Johnson of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., was buried May 31 for military families grieving a loss.” what TAPS is about. It’s connecting ing what our lives look like now,
in Arlington National Cemetery. at the heart level. It’s about finding the transition that we’ve been going
Carroll did two years of work to those who are grieving in silence and through. Coming together with other
In November 1943, Johnson was assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, identify gaps in service and find standing alone and bringing them into survivors of military loss helps with
8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, which landed against stiff Japanese resis- where the needs were. In 1994, she a family where they are loved and un- that transition.”
tance on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, created TAPS. The group provides derstood.”
in an attempt to secure the island. Over several days of intense fighting at care and support to an average of 13 Coming together was the goal of
Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and sailors were killed and more than new survivors every day. The pro- Finding the new normal the evening, and plenty of volunteers
2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were virtually annihilated. Johnson gram runs 24/7 and offers care to Cheryl Lankford has been in the helped to facilitate it.
died sometime on the first day of battle, Nov. 20, 1943. more than 60,000 surviving family
members. program since her husband, Army Each of the services had represen-
The battle of Tarawa was a huge victory for the U.S. military because the Command Sgt. Maj. Jonathan Lank- tatives posted at various parts of the
Gilbert Islands provided the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet a platform from which to Valuing service ford, died in Iraq on Sept. 22, 2007. Pentagon to host the survivors. The
launch assaults on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance their Central “Every American should serve,” National Basketball Association —
Pacific Campaign against Japan. Lankford lives in San Antonio and including some of its stars — worked
said one man who lost his son in Iraq. now uses her experiences to help oth- with the kids in the Pentagon court-
In the immediate aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S. service members “It doesn’t have to be in the military, er grieving families. yard. Kids petted horses, watched a
who died in the battle were buried in a number of battlefield cemeteries on but somewhere in the community — Marine Corps K-9 demonstration,
the island. In 1946 and 1947, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration soup kitchens, parks, whatever. Think She said most Americans have spun around the turret in a Humvee,
Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio Island, but John- how much better we would be if that been supportive of the military, but sat in a Coast Guard rescue basket and
son’s remains were not recovered. On Feb. 28, 1949, a military review board happened.” they often forget that when a service much more.
declared Johnson’s remains non-recoverable. member dies, there are family mem-
The survivors are proud of their bers left behind. “We’re really humbled by the way
In June 2015, a nongovernmental organization, History Flight, Inc., noti- service, too. “Our loved ones were the service members in the Pentagon
fied DPAA that they discovered a burial site on Betio Island and recovered part of that one percent who did step “One of the things that I like to tell have turned out for us,” Carroll said.
the remains of what they believed were 35 U.S. Marines who fought during forward and raised their right hands people is that my husband was more
the battle in November 1943. The remains were turned over to DPAA in July and pledged to protect and defend the than a soldier — which he was, and he The survivors have a full itiner-
2015. freedoms of this country, and when loved it — but he was a husband and ary planned for the weekend, cul-
they did so their families served right he was a father and he was a brother minating at Arlington National
To identify Johnson’s remains, scientists from DPAA and the Armed Forces along with them,” Carroll said. “So and a son and a battle buddy and a Cemetery May 30.
DNA Identification Laboratory used Y-Short Tandem Repeat DNA analy- when their sacrifice was made, their
sis, which matched a nephew; laboratory analysis, including dental analysis, family sacrificed also.” “One of the things that I like to tell people is that my husband was
chest radiograph comparison, and anthropological comparison, which matched more than a soldier — which he was, and he loved it — but he was a
Johnson’s records; as well as circumstantial and material evidence. The group has been coming to the husband and he was a father and he was a brother and a son and a
Pentagon for just a couple of years,
Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than Carroll said, and they are grateful to battle buddy and a command sergeant major.”
400,000 died during the war. all the service members who volunteer
to work with the group. It can also lead

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June 3, 2016 Aerotech News and Review 15

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