Private First Class Coons was with his brothers in Charlie Company, 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marines (C-1/2) 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 the Corps history.
It was November 21, 1943 (D+1 for the “Battle of Tarawa”), when young Sigal - just 23 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried 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 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, Sigal's parents 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 Coons’s remains were not recovered. On February 8, 1949, a military review board declared Sigal “non-recoverable”.
On August 8, 2013, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of PFC Coons and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Sigal’s family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered his great-nephew the opportunity to provide a Family Reference DNA Sample, should it be necessary for Sigal's identification.
Marine Corps Private First Class Sigal Ellison Coons is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing".
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Personnel Profile
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
Private First Class Coons was with his brothers in Charlie Company, 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marines (C-1/2) 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 the Corps history.
It was November 21, 1943 (D+1 for the “Battle of Tarawa”), when young Sigal - just 23 years old - perished. He was reportedly soon buried 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 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, Sigal's parents 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 Coons’s remains were not recovered. On February 8, 1949, a military review board declared Sigal “non-recoverable”.
On August 8, 2013, Jennifer Morrison, an independent volunteer forensic genealogist, found the family of PFC Coons and put them in contact with the Marine Corps POW/MIA Section. This (re)established lines of communication with Sigal’s family regarding the ongoing recovery and repatriation efforts, and offered his great-nephew the opportunity to provide a Family Reference DNA Sample, should it be necessary for Sigal's identification.
Marine Corps Private First Class Sigal Ellison Coons is memorialized among the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific's Honolulu Memorial. His name is permanently inscribed within Court 2 of the "Courts of the Missing".
SOURCE
Marine Corps POW/MIA Section
American Battle Monuments Commission
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Personnel Profile
Jennifer Morrison, independent volunteer forensic genealogist
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COONS SIGAL ELLISON
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS • USMC • CALIFORNIA
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