World War II Honoree

Mason O. Yarbrough

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Sikeston, Missouri

Honored By

U.S. Marine Raider Association

Relationship

Comrades

MEMBER OF THE 2ND RAIDER BATTALION. KILLED DURING THE AUGUST 17-18, 1942 RAID ON JAPANESE-HELD BUTARITARI ISLAND, DURING WHICH AN ESTIMATED 83 JAPANESE SOLDIERS WERE KILLED. LIEUTENANT COLONEL EVANS F. CARLSON COMMANDED THE RAIDERS DURING THE OPERATION AND PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT'S SON, CAPTAIN JAMES ROOSEVELT, WAS THE OPERATION'S SECOND-IN-COMMAND. FERRIED TO THE ISLAND BY SUBMARINE AND LANDING ON AND DEPARTING BUTARITARI BY RUBBER BOATS, THE MARINES WERE UNABLE TO EVACUATE THE BODIES OF THEIR FALLEN COMRADES. WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF ISLAND INHABITANTS, INCLUDING A MAN WHO ASSISTED IN THE BURIAL OF THE MARINES IN 1942, A RECOVERY TEAM FROM THE U.S. ARMY CENTRAL IDENTIFICATION LABORATORY, HAWAII (CILHI) UNCOVERED A MASS GRAVE AND EXCAVATED THE REMAINS IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 1999. THAT OPERATION WAS PRECEDED BY AN INITIAL INVESTIGATION IN AUGUST 1998 AND AN UNSUCCESSFUL RECOVERY EFFORT IN MAY 1999. THE U.S. MARINE RAIDER ASSOCIATION PROVIDED INVALUABLE ASSISTANCE WITH FIRSTHAND INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION ABOUT THEIR COMBAT ON BUTARITARI. IN LATE 1999, THE CILHI BEGAN AN EXHAUSTIVE FORENSIC IDENTIFICATION PROCESS, INCLUDING THE USE OF MITOCHONDRIAL DNA, TO CONFIRM THE IDENTITIES OF THE MARINES. MARINE CORPS OFFICIALS, USING HISTORICAL MILITARY RECORDS AND MORE MODERN SEARCH TECHNIQUES, LOCATED THE NEXT OF KIN OF EACH OF THE MARINES.