Geddes, Dale R.
Marines Private

Dale R. Geddes, age 21, from Grand Island, Nebraska, Hall county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 1943
Death details: On December 23, 2015, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private Dale Robert Geddes, missing from World War II. Private Geddes entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Colorado and served with Company H, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. On November 20, 1943, he was killed during the amphibious assault on Betio Island, as part of the Battle of Tarawa. He was buried in a Marine cemetery on Betio, but his remains were not recovered in the immediate aftermath of the war. In 2015, the nonprofit organization History Flight located a burial trench on Betio and recovered several sets of human remains. DPAA forensic analysts later identified Private Geddes from among these remains.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency