What to Know
- The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency says the remains of Marine Corps Reserve Pvt. Joseph F. Boschetti have been accounted for.
- Boschetti was a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 18th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force on Nov. 20, 1943.
- The Philly native died on the first day of fighting against the Japanese on the island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands.
The government says the remains of a Marine who died in a Pacific island battle during World War II have been identified as a 23-year-old Philadelphia man.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency says the remains of Marine Corps Reserve Pvt. Joseph F. Boschetti were accounted for on July 8.
The agency says Boschetti was a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 18th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force on Nov. 20, 1943.
He died on the first day of fighting against the Japanese on the island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands.
Boschetti was identified following testing of remains initially declared unidentifiable that were transferred to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii in 1949.
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This story has been corrected to show the last name in the third and last paragraphs is Boschetti, not Bray, and corrects his title to Marine, not a soldier.
