Marine Corps Reserve PVT Glen Burton Pierce, 18, killed in World War II, remains unaccounted-for.
Born July 16, 1925, in Goldthwaite, Texas, Glen Burton Pierce was blessed to the union of Jesse and Frances Sara (nee Hanks) Pierce.
On September 2, 1942, the 72", 137 lbs, brown-eyed brunette walked into a Dallas, Texas Marine Corps recruiting station and enlisted in the Reserves.
Private Pierce was with his brothers in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Marines (E-2-2) 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 Corps history.
It was November 20, 1943 (D-Day for the “Battle of Tarawa”), when young Glen - just 18 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried in Cemetery #11 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, Glen'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; Homer L. Pierce, Owen Robert Pierce, Howard M Pierce, Allen "Rae" (Mrs Suppes) and Arlas James Pierce.
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 Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio, but PVT Pierce’s remains were not recovered. On October 10, 1949, a military Board of Review declared Glen “non-recoverable”.
On October 7, 2015, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of PVT Pierce and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Glen’s family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered his niece the opportunity to provide a Family Reference DNA Sample, should it be necessary for his identification.
Marine Corps Reserve Private Glen Burton Pierce is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing".
SOURCE
DPAA Personnel Profile
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Born July 16, 1925, in Goldthwaite, Texas, Glen Burton Pierce was blessed to the union of Jesse and Frances Sara (nee Hanks) Pierce.
On September 2, 1942, the 72", 137 lbs, brown-eyed brunette walked into a Dallas, Texas Marine Corps recruiting station and enlisted in the Reserves.
Private Pierce was with his brothers in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Marines (E-2-2) 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 Corps history.
It was November 20, 1943 (D-Day for the “Battle of Tarawa”), when young Glen - just 18 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried in Cemetery #11 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, Glen'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; Homer L. Pierce, Owen Robert Pierce, Howard M Pierce, Allen "Rae" (Mrs Suppes) and Arlas James Pierce.
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 Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio, but PVT Pierce’s remains were not recovered. On October 10, 1949, a military Board of Review declared Glen “non-recoverable”.
On October 7, 2015, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of PVT Pierce and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Glen’s family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered his niece the opportunity to provide a Family Reference DNA Sample, should it be necessary for his identification.
Marine Corps Reserve Private Glen Burton Pierce is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing".
SOURCE
DPAA Personnel Profile
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Marine Corps Reserve PVT Glen Burton Pierce, 18, killed in World War II, remains unaccounted-for.
Born July 16, 1925, in Goldthwaite, Texas, Glen Burton Pierce was blessed to the union of Jesse and Frances Sara (nee Hanks) Pierce.
On September 2, 1942, the 72", 137 lbs, brown-eyed brunette walked into a Dallas, Texas Marine Corps recruiting station and enlisted in the Reserves.
Private Pierce was with his brothers in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Marines (E-2-2) 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 Corps history.
It was November 20, 1943 (D-Day for the “Battle of Tarawa”), when young Glen - just 18 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried in Cemetery #11 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, Glen'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; Homer L. Pierce, Owen Robert Pierce, Howard M Pierce, Allen "Rae" (Mrs Suppes) and Arlas James Pierce.
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 Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio, but PVT Pierce’s remains were not recovered. On October 10, 1949, a military Board of Review declared Glen “non-recoverable”.
On October 7, 2015, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of PVT Pierce and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Glen’s family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered his niece the opportunity to provide a Family Reference DNA Sample, should it be necessary for his identification.
Marine Corps Reserve Private Glen Burton Pierce is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing".
SOURCE
DPAA Personnel Profile
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Born July 16, 1925, in Goldthwaite, Texas, Glen Burton Pierce was blessed to the union of Jesse and Frances Sara (nee Hanks) Pierce.
On September 2, 1942, the 72", 137 lbs, brown-eyed brunette walked into a Dallas, Texas Marine Corps recruiting station and enlisted in the Reserves.
Private Pierce was with his brothers in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Marines (E-2-2) 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 Corps history.
It was November 20, 1943 (D-Day for the “Battle of Tarawa”), when young Glen - just 18 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried in Cemetery #11 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, Glen'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; Homer L. Pierce, Owen Robert Pierce, Howard M Pierce, Allen "Rae" (Mrs Suppes) and Arlas James Pierce.
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 Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio, but PVT Pierce’s remains were not recovered. On October 10, 1949, a military Board of Review declared Glen “non-recoverable”.
On October 7, 2015, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of PVT Pierce and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Glen’s family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered his niece the opportunity to provide a Family Reference DNA Sample, should it be necessary for his identification.
Marine Corps Reserve Private Glen Burton Pierce is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 4 of the "Courts of the Missing".
SOURCE
DPAA Personnel Profile
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Inscription
PIERCE GLEN BURTON
PRIVATE • USMC • TEXAS
Gravesite Details
According to Glen’s birth certificate, baby “Pierce” was born on July 16, 1926 in Mullin, Mills County, Texas. His parents were given as Frances Hanks and Jesse M. Pierce.
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