PHILADELPHIA _ The remains of a Marine killed in a key battle in the Pacific during World War II have been identified as Private First Class Joseph F. Boschetti of Philadelphia 75 years after his death.
Boschetti, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Monday, was killed on Nov. 20, 1943 at the age of 23 in a battle on the island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands. He hailed from the Manayunk section of Philadelphia, the Inquirer reported in a 1944 death notice, and served as a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 18th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force.
Known as the Battle of Tarawa, the skirmish resulted in the deaths of about 1,000 U.S. service members, and the wounding of more than 2,000 others. Ultimately, U.S. forces emerged victorious from the three-day fight, gaining a platform in the Gilbert Islands from which they were able to launch campaigns on the Marshall and Caroline Islands to advance the war effort against Japan.
Following the end of WWII in Sept. 1945, between 1946 and 1947, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company began recovering remains of soldiers killed on Betio, but did not initially identify Boschetti's remains. In 1949, remains not identified in the effort were interred unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, which is also known as the Punchbowl.
In Jan. 2017, a set of remains known as Tarawa Unknown X-020 was disinterred, and ultimately found to be that of Boschetti in July this year. The DPAA identified Boschetti's remains through anthropological analysis bolstered by DNA analysis conducted by scientists at the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System.
Boschetti's name currently appears on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl. Now that he has been identified, a rosette marker will appear next to his name, indicating that he has been accounted for.
There are currently more than 72,000 World War II service members who remain unaccounted for. About 30,000 are considered to be possibly recoverable, the DPAA said.
