Patrick, George Frank
Marines Reserves Private

George Frank Patrick, age 22, from Dallas, Texas, Dallas county.

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 1943
Death details: On August 30, 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private George Frank Patrick, missing from World War II. Private Patrick, who entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Texas, served in Company D, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. He was killed in action on November 20, 1943, during the Battle of Tarawa, though specific details regarding his loss are unknown. He was reportedly buried with other service members on Betio Island in a battlefield cemetery; however, he could not be identified among the remains disinterred from the island following the war. Between 1946 and 1947, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted recovery operations on Betio, and Private Patrick’s remains were among those recovered but could not be identified at the time and were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific as unknown remains. In 2017, DPAA analysts disinterred Private Patrick’s from this cemetery and used modern forensic technology to identify them.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency