Robert Leroy Zehetner, age 19, from Brooksville, Florida, Hernando county.
Parents: Roy Zehetner
Service era: World War II
Date of death: Saturday, November 20, 1943
Death details: On July 3, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Private First Class Robert Leroy Zehetner, missing from World War II. Private First Class Zehetner joined the U.S. Marine Corps from Florida and served with Company F, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. He was killed in action on November 20, 1943, during the assault on the Japanese-controlled Betio Island of Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands. His remains were buried at one of the temporary cemeteries on the island. In 1946, the remains buried at these cemeteries were centralized at the Lone Palm Cemetery on Betio, before being repatriated to the U.S. for identification; however, the remains of PFC Zehetner could not be identified at the time. These unidentifiable remains from Betio were buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Hawaii, as “unknowns.” In 2016, DPAA disinterred all Tarawa “unknowns” and used modern forensic techniques that eventually identified PFC Zehetner.
Source: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
