World War II Honoree

Edwin Francis Benson

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Boston, Massachusetts

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private. He was inducted into the United States Marine Corps July 2, 1940 at Boston, Massachusetts, with recruit training assigned to the Fourth Recruit Battalion Training Regiment; Marine Corps Base at Parris Island, South Carolina. Upon his graduation from Boot Camp, he was transferred to Camp Geiger, North Carolina for combat training. Served as a Rifleman with the Second Division in the Central Pacific Theater of Operations, assigned to Lima Company, Third Battalion and Second Marine Regiment. His division participated in the amphibious assault against the Imperial Japanese forces in the Battle of Tarawa. The combat engagement took place on the Island of Betio, located on the Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Islands Code Name: Operation Galvanic. Reported missing in action, lost at sea Saturday, November 20, 1943 on the first day of the invasion. In remembrance of the brave, his name is permanently inscribed 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 laboratory in Honolulu, Hawaii where he was identified. The family of the Marine received his remains for burial. He was laid to rest with Military Honors, November 19, 2019 at the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.