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ARLnow.com Today at 7:30am

Marine Killed in WWII Interred — “When a representative from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency told Cheryl Cronin that her uncle, Marine Pvt. First Class Lawrence E. Garrison had been positively identified 80 years after his death in battle, she was overwhelmed… On Oct. 5, 2023, Cronin and a handful of family and friends laid Garrison to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.” [Arlington National Cemetery, Washington Post]

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Marine identified and buried at Arlington nearly 80 years after WWII death

By Danny Nguyen
Updated October 5, 2023 at 6:50 p.m. EDT | Published October 5, 2023 at 6:15 p.m. EDT

On Lawrence Earl Garrison’s first day of battle in November 1943, he joined nearly 35,000 Marines on the atoll of Tarawa in an attempt to seize the Japanese-held Gilbert Islands in the central Pacific.

Two years earlier, the United States had been drawn into World War II after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Now the U.S. military was closing in on Japan in the Battle of Tarawa, a conflict from Nov. 20 to 23, 1943, in what is now the Republic of Kiribati. About 1,000 U.S. troops died during the battle, and more than 2,000 were wounded.

On the first day of the battle, Garrison — part of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division — suffered fatal gunshot wounds. Pfc. Garrison was 23.

Without dog tags or rings, Garrison’s remains were unidentifiable, said Jordan Windish, an osteoarchaeologist at History Flight, a nonprofit that helps identify missing-in-action troops, who has worked on identifying remains from Tarawa. ... For close to 80 years, his family searched for closure. That process came to an end Thursday, when Garrison’s remains were buried in a somber ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

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Marine Corps Sgt. Maj. Carlos A. Ruiz presents a folded American flag to Cheryl Cronin, Garrison’s niece, on Thursday. (Eric Lee for The Washington Post)

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By Danny Nguyen
Danny Nguyen writes about social issues in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia. He comes to the Post after writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, where he covered housing and homelessness. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2022. Twitter https://twitter.com/dannyn516

Lawrence Earl Garrison

March 18, 1920 - November 20, 1943

U.S. Veteran



Lawrence will be buried with full military honors on October 5, 2023 at Arlington National Cemetery.

Marine Corps Private First-Class Lawrence Earl “Brownie” Garrison, killed at age 23 in World War II, was accounted for on August 23, 2022. PFC Garrison, born on March 18, 1920, in Adamson, Oklahoma, was the seventh of nine children born to Isaac Samuel “Sammie” Garrison and Annie Ethel Boling Garrison. The family settled on a farm in Ryan, Oklahoma in 1933. He grew up with siblings Katie, Mary, Calvin, Albert Lee, Woodrow, Andrew, Wallace, and Everett, half-brothers George and Emory from his father’s earlier marriage to Sophia Rhodes of Indiana, and stepsisters Ruth and Dahlia from his father’s later marriage to Addie Taylor Gholson. He had an additional seven older step siblings.

Lawrence graduated from Ryan High School in 1940. While in school, he participated in football, wrestling, track and softball. His brothers remembered him as a good hunter, often going hunting to help feed the family. In July 1940, he entered the Civilian Conservation Corp in Colorado. On June 14, 1941, he enlisted in the Marine Corp in Denver, Colorado and went to boot camp in San Diego, California. He was assigned to H Company, Second Battalion, Eighth Marine Regiment, Second Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force. He saw action on Guadalcanal and Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands.

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