Gilman, Paul David
Marines Reserves Private 1st class

Paul David Gilman, age 19, from Belen, New Mexico, Valencia county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 1943
Death details: On May 17, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private First Class Paul David Gilman, missing from World War II. Private First Class Gilman, who joined the U.S. Marine Corps from Colorado, was a member of Company M, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. He was killed in action on 20 November 1943 during the amphibious assault on Betio Island, also known as the Battle of Tarawa. Private First Class Gilman was buried in a cemetery later designated Cemetery 27, but recovery efforts in 1946 failed to locate the burial site. In 2015, the non-profit organization History Flight, now an external provider of DPAA, located Cemetery 27, and turned the remains over to DPAA for analysis. In 2017, DPAA analysts identified PFC Gilman from among the remains recovered from Cemetery 27.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency