MacDonald, John William
Marines Private 1st class

John William MacDonald, age 19, from Boston, Massachusetts, Suffolk county.

Parents: Dorothy H. MacDonald

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 1943
Death details: On June 13, 2016, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) accounted for Private First Class John William MacDonald, missing from World War II. Private First Class MacDonald entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Massachusetts and served with Company F, 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, and DPAA forensic analysts identified PFC MacDonald from among these remains.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency