Private John F. Prince comes home
HMC Ret sends a link to the news that Private John F. Prince is on his way home after he fell on Betio Island in November 1943. Hondo told us in April that his remains were identified, now he’s scheduled to be with his family on June 17th in Calverton, New York. From the New York Daily News;
“It brings tears to my eyes all the time,” Prince’s Floral Park niece Patricia Donigian, 60, told the Daily News Friday. “It’s an awesome feeling, like a missing piece of the puzzle of your life is no longer missing. It’s like, wow.”
A graduate of Jamaica High School, Prince was just 19 when his division made an amphibious landing in November 1943 to overthrow a Japanese airstrip on Betio 2,400 miles southwest of Hawaii.
[…]
Family and friends will travel from as far away as Nebraska to remember the young man who made the ultimate sacrifice, Donigian said.
A friend now in his 90s, who knew Prince when they were growing up in Bellerose, Queens, will be there, she said.
Category: We Remember
Calverton is about 40 miles East of me and unfortunately, I’ve been there many times over the years after Pinelawn/Long Island National Cemetary closed to Veterans after filling up several years ago.
Both are beautifully maintained.
Excuse my manners….welcome home, Pvt. Prince – rest easy as your family and friends pay tribute to you and your bravery.
Pacific assault….got to be USMC……as always……SEMPER FI+++
Actually, the Army suffered more combat deaths than the Marine Corps in the Pacific. Army; 120,186 vs. Navy & Marines; 31,157
Furthermore, the 27th Infantry Division (NYARNG) suffered the brunt of the largest Banzai attack during the war during the Battle of Saipan. There were three men from the 27th who earned the MOH during that battle.
Ben L. Salomon, William O’Brien, and Thomas A. Baker were the three from Orion who received the medal for their efforts on that day.
Welcome home Private Prince… may you now rest in peace. May your family and friends find solace in seeing your return home for the last time.
Welcome Home and Rest In Peace, Warrior. You’ve earned your place in history and Valhalla.
“Rest, warriors, rest
Against the day of journeying forth
Tender hands shall lift thee out
To home soil waiting.”
Those are the last several lines of a requiem written at in 1943 by Captain Donald L. Jackson, USMC. He wrote it and inscribed it on a painted board at the main cemetery on Tarawa before he and his fellow Marines continued the fight westward. The promise of returning the Fallen to “home soil waiting” is being kept. Welcome home, John Prince. Welcome to home soil.
Rest in peace in your home soil Private Prince. God be with your family now.
Welcome home brother.
You were gone but never forgotten, Brother.
Rest in peace, brother. Welcome home.
RIP Pvt Prince.
Sorry it took so long to bring you home.