World War II Honoree

Roger Keith Nielson

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Denver, Colorado

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Corporal. On August 14, 1941, he entered the United States Marine Corps from Colorado, receiving his basic combat infantry training at the Marine Recruit Depot in San Diego, California. Served as a Rifleman with Company-E, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment a subordinate unit of the 2nd Marine ‘The Silent Second’ Division in the Pacific Theater of Operations. His division participated in the amphibious assault against the Imperial Japanese Army forces on the Island of Betio, Battle of Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, Code Name: Operation Galvanic. Reported Missing in Action, November 20, 1943 on the first day of the invasion. In remembrance of the Brave, his name is recorded in the Tablets of the Missing, memorialized at the Honolulu National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific ‘Punchbowl’ Hawaii. In June of 2015 the History Flight, a private organization, discovered a collective Burial grave on Betio Island. The remains were transferred to the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency in Hawaii where he was identified. The remains of this Marine were interred with military honors at the Fort Logan National Cemetery on November 16, 2016 in Denver, Colorado. This Marine, an American Patriot awarded the Purple Heart Posthumously, who so gallantly gave his life in defense of his country.