Murray, George Bernard
Marines Private 1st class

George Bernard Murray, age 20, from Oceano, California, San Luis Obispo county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 1943
Death details: On June 6, 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified the remains of Private First Class George Bernard Murray, missing from World War II. Private First Class George Bernard Murray joined the U.S. Marine Corps from California and served with Company B, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. He was killed in action on November 20, 1943, the first day of the Battle of Tarawa. Private First Class Murray was reportedly buried on Betio Island (now Kiribati); however, his remains could not be individually identified among the remains recovered from Betio after the war. In 2010, Kiribati police turned over possible human remains to an official U.S. military recovery team conducting a mission on the island, and forensic tests conducted in the United States were able to identify the remains as PFC Murray.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency