Posted on 07/09/2015 10:22:31 AM PDT by Kartographer
“There’s no such thing as a former Marine.”
Marine veterans are properly referred to as “Former Marines” to distinguish them from active duty Marines.
Never, never ever call a former Marine an “ex” Marine unless you want a fight on your hands.....
This is part of the Marine’s “Customs and Traditions of the Marine Corps”....as taught to every Marine recruit in Boot camp....
I find it hard to believe that Bonnyman was “lost.”
The combat footage of Lt Bonnyman’s ad hoc unit “Forlorn Hope’s” assault on a large pillbox is a often viewed part of photographic footage contained in the Tarawa documentary... Bonnyman is seen as one of a group of several Marines atop the pillbox just moments before he was shot and killed by Japanese fleeing out of the rear of the about to be overtaken/destroyed pillbox......
I was always told that Bonnyman was dis-interned from Tarawa and reburied at the National Cemetery at the Punchbowl in Hawaii..... as were the other 2 MOH winners at Tarawa......
Well if not The DOD Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the U.S.M.C amoung others are pulling a very ugly trick on Bonnyman’s family.
But I have no doubt and that Bonnyman’s body has been recovered.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4q4NZH-eVM
Bonnyman can be seen as the Marine kneeling atop a Bunker/pillbox at ~ 10.01 in the film just moments before he was shot and killed.......
As I asked if not true what would be the point of so many including the U.S.M.C., Bonnyman’s family and the DOD Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and others lying about it?
(I miss my dad...)
You can add John Murtha to that list......
There are very, very few Marines that are not outstanding civilians/citizens....... I’m 100% sure your father was one of them....Semper Fi MAC....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPg2Kf-jYeA
I don’t know.....I just remember that I read he was re-buried at the Punchbowl National Cemetery. I also read a couple of years ago that one of the three Tarawa MOH winners was again dis-interned and shipped to a hometown cemetery...... I agree it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me!
Clearly what you hear was in correct. I say most likely they may have placed a in memorial, but his body isn’t there.
From Military.com Daily:
In Highland Memorial Park in Knoxville, Tenn., a large marble headstone stands in honor of 1st Lt. Alexander “Sandy” Bonnyman Jr., a Marine killed in action Nov. 22, 1943, during World War II’s Battle of Tarawa.
Etched upon its surface, the only reference to the empty earth beneath it, are the words “buried at sea.”
For nearly 70 years, Bonnyman’s family — members of which now live in Boulder County — remembered the handsome, adventurous man they had lost with what few artifacts they had left: his Medal of Honor, awarded posthumously for his efforts to hold back a Japanese counterattack; a large portrait, commissioned from an Italian oil painter; and a few black-and-white photographs taken during the assault on Betio.
After his death, the military issued a letter stating that most of the Tarawa war dead were presumed lost at sea near the island.
But without conclusive proof that Bonnyman was among them, his family began a decades-long campaign to procure information about their beloved soldier’s final resting place.
From The Marine Crops Times:
Yet the remains of Bonnyman and approximately 40 other Marines killed in action during the battle disappeared as their impromptu burial trench, known as Cemetery 27, was lost.
An American Graves Registration Service team exhumed and repatriated about 500 Marines from the small island in the Central Pacific in 1946, but simply could not find Cemetery 27. Its occupants were officially declared “unrecoverable” by the Quartermaster General’s Office in 1949.
From Stars and Stripes:
Clay Bonnyman Evans was 5,000 miles from home, deep in a pit on the Pacific island of Betio, when he heard the words his family had awaited for so long.
“It’s gold,” announced Kristen Baker. With a brush, the archaeologist gently swept the sand off an unmistakable shape: a human skeleton — with a mouth full of gilded fillings.
“It’s gold.”
Two words to end a 71-year wait. Two words to solve a mystery that had vexed Evans’s family for four generations. Two words to give a long-lost war hero the happy ending he deserved.
First Lt. Alexander “Sandy” Bonnyman Jr. was finally coming home.
For the better part of a century, the Medal of Honor recipient was literally lost to the chaos and carnage of World War II. His grave said “Buried at sea,” but his family knew better. Sandy Bonnyman was entombed — somewhere.
Clearly the only logical conclusion is what you heard was not correct.
I stand corrected.....
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