Marine Corps PFC Eugene Ernest Vaccarezza, 23, killed in World War II, remains unaccounted-for.
On September 26, 1942, young Eugene walked to the Marine Corps recruiting office and enlisted. He would spend time at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California, with the 1st Field Artillery Battry, Artillery Battalion before shipping out into the Pacific Theater.
Private First Class Vaccarezza was with his brothers in Golf Company, 3rd Battalion of the 10th Marines (G-3/10) 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 21, 1943 (D+1 for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Eugene - just 23 years old - perished. He was reportedly struck by machine gun fire during the assault on Tarawa and was evacuated to an unknown location. After the battle, no further reports regarding PFC Vaccarezza's status emerged, and a thorough search of all hospitals and medical establishments on Tarawa was initiated. All efforts to locate PFC Vaccarezza following his disappearance were unsuccessful, and he was not identified among the remains disinterred from Tarawa following the war.
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, Eugene's family accepted the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation.
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 PFC Vaccarezza's remains were not recovered. On February 8, 1949, a military review board declared Eugene "non-recoverable".
His family had a memorial marker placed at Druids Occidental Cemetery, in Occidental, California, in hopes that one day Eugene would be found and returned home.
On December 5, 2013, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of PFC Vaccarezza and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Eugene's family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered his family the opportunity to provide a Family Reference DNA Sample, should it be necessary for Eugene's identification.
Marine Corps Private First Class Eugene Ernest Vaccarezza 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" (56134137, a cenotaph).
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Personnel Profile
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
NOTE: California Birth Index states his birth month as May.
On September 26, 1942, young Eugene walked to the Marine Corps recruiting office and enlisted. He would spend time at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California, with the 1st Field Artillery Battry, Artillery Battalion before shipping out into the Pacific Theater.
Private First Class Vaccarezza was with his brothers in Golf Company, 3rd Battalion of the 10th Marines (G-3/10) 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 21, 1943 (D+1 for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Eugene - just 23 years old - perished. He was reportedly struck by machine gun fire during the assault on Tarawa and was evacuated to an unknown location. After the battle, no further reports regarding PFC Vaccarezza's status emerged, and a thorough search of all hospitals and medical establishments on Tarawa was initiated. All efforts to locate PFC Vaccarezza following his disappearance were unsuccessful, and he was not identified among the remains disinterred from Tarawa following the war.
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, Eugene's family accepted the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation.
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 PFC Vaccarezza's remains were not recovered. On February 8, 1949, a military review board declared Eugene "non-recoverable".
His family had a memorial marker placed at Druids Occidental Cemetery, in Occidental, California, in hopes that one day Eugene would be found and returned home.
On December 5, 2013, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of PFC Vaccarezza and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Eugene's family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered his family the opportunity to provide a Family Reference DNA Sample, should it be necessary for Eugene's identification.
Marine Corps Private First Class Eugene Ernest Vaccarezza 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" (56134137, a cenotaph).
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Personnel Profile
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
NOTE: California Birth Index states his birth month as May.
Marine Corps PFC Eugene Ernest Vaccarezza, 23, killed in World War II, remains unaccounted-for.
On September 26, 1942, young Eugene walked to the Marine Corps recruiting office and enlisted. He would spend time at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California, with the 1st Field Artillery Battry, Artillery Battalion before shipping out into the Pacific Theater.
Private First Class Vaccarezza was with his brothers in Golf Company, 3rd Battalion of the 10th Marines (G-3/10) 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 21, 1943 (D+1 for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Eugene - just 23 years old - perished. He was reportedly struck by machine gun fire during the assault on Tarawa and was evacuated to an unknown location. After the battle, no further reports regarding PFC Vaccarezza's status emerged, and a thorough search of all hospitals and medical establishments on Tarawa was initiated. All efforts to locate PFC Vaccarezza following his disappearance were unsuccessful, and he was not identified among the remains disinterred from Tarawa following the war.
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, Eugene's family accepted the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation.
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 PFC Vaccarezza's remains were not recovered. On February 8, 1949, a military review board declared Eugene "non-recoverable".
His family had a memorial marker placed at Druids Occidental Cemetery, in Occidental, California, in hopes that one day Eugene would be found and returned home.
On December 5, 2013, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of PFC Vaccarezza and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Eugene's family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered his family the opportunity to provide a Family Reference DNA Sample, should it be necessary for Eugene's identification.
Marine Corps Private First Class Eugene Ernest Vaccarezza 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" (56134137, a cenotaph).
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Personnel Profile
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
NOTE: California Birth Index states his birth month as May.
On September 26, 1942, young Eugene walked to the Marine Corps recruiting office and enlisted. He would spend time at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California, with the 1st Field Artillery Battry, Artillery Battalion before shipping out into the Pacific Theater.
Private First Class Vaccarezza was with his brothers in Golf Company, 3rd Battalion of the 10th Marines (G-3/10) 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 21, 1943 (D+1 for the "Battle of Tarawa"), when young Eugene - just 23 years old - perished. He was reportedly struck by machine gun fire during the assault on Tarawa and was evacuated to an unknown location. After the battle, no further reports regarding PFC Vaccarezza's status emerged, and a thorough search of all hospitals and medical establishments on Tarawa was initiated. All efforts to locate PFC Vaccarezza following his disappearance were unsuccessful, and he was not identified among the remains disinterred from Tarawa following the war.
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, Eugene's family accepted the Purple Heart and Presidential Unit Citation.
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 PFC Vaccarezza's remains were not recovered. On February 8, 1949, a military review board declared Eugene "non-recoverable".
His family had a memorial marker placed at Druids Occidental Cemetery, in Occidental, California, in hopes that one day Eugene would be found and returned home.
On December 5, 2013, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of PFC Vaccarezza and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Eugene's family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered his family the opportunity to provide a Family Reference DNA Sample, should it be necessary for Eugene's identification.
Marine Corps Private First Class Eugene Ernest Vaccarezza 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" (56134137, a cenotaph).
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
DPAA Personnel Profile
American Battle Monuments Commission
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
NOTE: California Birth Index states his birth month as May.
Inscription
EUGENE E VACCAREZZA
PFC US MARINE CORPS / WORLD WAR II
MAR 23 1920 ... NOV 22 1944
MIA
