Remains Of California Marine Killed In World War II Coming Home At Last
OCEANO, San Luis Obispo County (AP) — The remains of a U.S. Marine will be returned home to California's Central Coast nearly 74 years after he was killed in a bloody World War II battle in the Pacific.
The remains of Pfc. George B. Murray will be flown from Hawaii to Los Angeles on Wednesday and buried Friday with military honors in a cemetery in Arroyo Grande, near his hometown of Oceano in San Luis Obispo County.
Murray was just 20 when he was killed on Nov. 20, 1943, as Marines landed against strong Japanese resistance on the island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll. About 1,000 Marines and sailors died and more than 2,000 were wounded in the battle.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency says remains located in 2010 were finally identified as Murray's through DNA.
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