Welcome home, PFC Wilbur C. Mattern. Thank you for your service. Semper Fi.
Via Free Beacon:
A young Marine killed in the bloody World War II Battle of Tarawa has finally been brought home and has been laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.
Pfc. Wilbur C. Mattern was 23 years old when he was killed on November 21, 1943, the second day of the three-day battle to take the atoll back from the Japanese. He was found earlier this year by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), whose function is to search for missing American servicemembers around the world, identify them and return them home for proper burial with honors.
Mattern was buried on the 73rd anniversary of his death, November 21, 2016 with a Marine Honor Guard present. Mattern was from Oelwein, Iowa.
The DPAA and Department of Defense provided images of Mattern’s funeral.