Sgt. Donald D. Stoddard’s mom and dad acquired a grave for their son following his body went lacking through Planet War II. Seventy-7 yrs later on, an viewers of hundreds, none of who ever understood him, witnessed his burial.
“His mothers and fathers had so significantly religion in our country that they really reserved a plot and headstone for him all people decades ago, being aware of that understood he would be brought residence to be buried here following to them,” stated retired U.S. Maritime Corps Maj. Gen. William F. Mullen III, a keynote speaker at Stoddard’s funeral.
Stoddard, who died throughout the siege of Betio Island in November 1943 whilst assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Maritime Regiment, 2nd Maritime Division, was place to rest at Mountain Perspective Memorial Park in his hometown of Boulder, Colorado, on June 26.
To shell out respect to a fallen brother-in-arms, Marines from 1/6 flew out from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to lay customary French Fourragere decorations throughout his casket, a tradition for 1/6. The French government awarded the green braided rope for 1/6‘s efforts in Environment War I, which is worn by each individual Marine who joins the unit.
“Being a Maritime is currently a brotherhood, and then insert to that being in the infantry, then the community just receives smaller— 1/6 on your own is a loved ones within alone,” mentioned U.S. Maritime Staff Sgt. Ryan Jaskulka, a platoon sergeant with 1/6 who attended the funeral. “To be equipped to give him the honors he deserves following this a lot of several years, it is humbling.”
“To be in a position to give him the honors he warrants soon after this a lot of years, it’s humbling.” Staff Sgt. Ryan Jaskulka, 1/6 platoon sergeant
Due to the fact Earth War II, the remains of company customers have little by little been uncovered and returned to their households, but Stoddard was not recovered right until March 2019 by the non-financial gain business Heritage Flight.
In accordance to Aundrea Thompson, a forensic archaeologist with Heritage Flight, the non-gain was in a position to find Stoddard’s burial web-site right after flying a few veterans who fought in Tarawa to the fight web-site to give the group’s users a tour of wherever just the preventing happened, as nicely as to discover burial internet sites.
“This particular space was untouched simply because there was a making earlier mentioned it,” Thompson mentioned. “But then the setting up collapsed, and so we reported, ‘now’s our likelihood to get in there and dig.’ It was preserved properly because of the constructing.”
She explained they at last identified the web page, named Cemetery 33, which retains far more than 30 Marine bodies, when a person was shoveling and tapped on human stays. Thompson said the approach of finding stays is an psychological and notably intimate working experience.
“It’s odd due to the fact you’re the first human being to lay eyes on this man or woman in all those 75 years when you wipe that soil absent and discover their remains, and you get your arms and pick him up and choose him out of the floor,” she said.
After officers recognized Stoddard’s stays and cleared them for flight, relatives users like Don McKeehan, Stoddard’s subsequent of kin and oldest dwelling nephew who never ever knew his uncle, acquired recognize the plane would land June 23 into Denver International Airport.

Recovered Continues to be
Photograph by Cpl. Chase Drayer
Mckeehan stated he was anticipating a decent-sized support and recognition for his uncle, but the reaction was far more than he could have at any time imagined.
“Monday early morning, I was contacted to be a portion of a motorcade that was likely to be arriving in Denver for further transport to Boulder, so one of the nephews and myself went on that motorcade,” Mckeehan said. “The route to get him to Boulder was amazing. Individuals on the streets, overpasses had been with the fireplace department, police department, individuals just saluting him and paying him the respect I consider he deserves.”
Stoddard was not the only member in his loved ones to serve in the Marine Corps. His wonderful-good-nephew Brenden Jarvis, a previous Marine doggy handler, attended the funeral, but he hadn’t regarded his good-terrific-uncle served till right after he experienced divided from the services.
“Honestly, I’m just tremendous honored to have any individual in my loved ones serve, primarily for the duration of Environment War II,” Jarvis stated. “Having someone in your family who paid the best sacrifice is actually unbelievable.”
Witnessing his great-good-uncle’s funeral assisted Jarvis “tie together” his thoughts on what it definitely signifies to serve.
“Being a Maritime, you discuss about sacrifice,” he reported. “Everyone many thanks you for your support and everything like that, but a second like this lets me finally see what that sacrifice really seems to be like by seeing absolutely everyone come jointly and welcome this hero residence.”
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