Kourkos, Sam John
Marines Reserves Private 1st class

Sam John Kourkos, age 20, from Independence, Kansas, Montgomery county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Sunday, November 21, 1943
Death details: On December 6, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private First Class Sam John Kourkos, missing from World War II. Private First Class Kourkos entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Missouri and was a member of Company M, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, which took part in the Battle of Tarawa. On November 21, 1943, he was killed in action against Japanese forces on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. He was buried on Tarawar following his loss, and his remains were disinterred shortly after the war but could not be identified at the time, and were reburied as “unknowns” in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Hawaii. In 2016, DPAA exhumed a casket from Section F, Grave 1224 at the NMCP, and the remains were accessioned at a DPAA laboratory the same day where analysts used modern forensic techniques along with the circumstantial evidence and identified PFC Kourkos’ remains.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency