World War II Honoree

Mason Opel 'Slim' Yarbrough

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Sikeston, Missouri

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

RANK: CORPORAL. HE WAS INDUCTED INTO THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS JUNE 7, 1941 AND COMPLETED HIS BASIC COMBAT TRAINING AT THE MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT CAMP ELLIOT, CALIFORNIA. SERVED IN THE PACIFIC THEATER OF OPERATIONS ASSIGNED TO BRAVO COMPANY, SECOND MARINE RAIDER BATTALION, NICKNAMED ‘CARLSON’S RAIDERS’, AMPHIBIOUS CORPS, PACIFIC FLEET. ON AUGUST 17-18, 1942, A FORCE OF 221 MARINES, WHO WERE ABOARD TWO SUBMARINES, USS ARGONAUT AND USS NAUTILUS, PARTICIPATED IN THE AMPHIBIOUS COMMANDO RAID ON THE JAPANESE HELD BUTARITARI ISLAND, WHICH WAS KNOWN BY AMERICAN FORCES AS ‘MAKIN ATOLL’ LOCATED IN THE GILBERT ISLANDS. KILLED IN COMBAT DURING THE RAID MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 1942 AND BURIED IN A COMMON GRAVE ALONG WITH EIGHTEEN OTHER MARINES BY NATIVE INHABITANTS. HE WAS OFFICIALLY LISTED AS MISSING IN ACTION THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1943 AND MEMORIALIZED IN THE TABLETS OF THE MISSING, HONOLULU NATIONAL MEMORIAL CEMETERY OF THE PACIFIC, ‘PUNCHBOWL’ HAWAII AND THE GUADALCANAL MEMORIAL. WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF ISLAND INHABITANTS, INCLUDING A MAN WHO ASSISTED IN THE BURIAL OF THE MARINES IN 1942, A RECOVERY TEAM FROM THE UNITED STATES ARMY CENTRAL IDENTIFICATION LABORATORY IN HAWAII, UNCOVERED A MASS GRAVE AND EXCAVATED THE REMAINS IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER OF 1999. THROUGH EXTENSIVE AND EXHAUSTIVE FORENSIC IDENTIFICATION, HIS REMAINS ALONG WITH THE OTHER EIGHTEEN MARINES WERE POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED AND RETURNED TO THEIR COUNTRY AND FAMILIES. ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2000 HE WAS LAID TO REST WITH FULL MILITARY HONORS IN THE MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY, SIKESTON, MISSOURI. DECORATION AND CITATION: PURPLE HEART. THIS MARINE, AN AMERICAN PATRIOT, WAS AWARDED THE PURPLE HEART FOR HIS SUPREME SACRIFICE IN DEFENSE OF HIS COUNTRY.