Jerome Bernard Morris, age 22, from Paragould, Arkansas, Greene county.
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Monday, November 22, 1943
Death details: On September 27, 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Sgt. Jerome Bernard Morris, missing from World War II. Morris, who entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Missouri, served with Company B, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. On November 22, 1943, he was killed in action during the Battle of Tarawa. He was recovered at the time and buried on Betio Island in the East Division Cemetery (later renamed Cemetery 33); in 1944, the Seabees erected a grave marker to Morris in nearby Cemetery 35. Post-war searches of Betio failed to associate any remains with Morris. In 2009, the private organization History Flight located a burial site on Betio that was later identified as Cemetery 33. In 2019, excavations near this same area uncovered an undiscovered burial trench that yielded human remains, which were turned over to DPAA. These newly discovered remains were identified as those of Marines associated with the members of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, who were killed in action on November 22, 1943. Based on the recovery location and circumstantial evidence, along with laboratory and dental analysis, Morris was identified from these collective remains.
Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency