PFC Emmett L. Kines comes home to West Virginia

Last month, Hondo told us that Emmett L. Kines’ remains had been identified from the battlefields of the Pacific island Betio in Tarawa, another missing Marine recovered by History Flight from among the hundreds. Today we hear that he made it home yesterday to Grafton, West Virginia;

From WeHeartWV;

On hand was his only remaining living sibling, 90-year-old Betty Huffman. She was present when his remains arrived at the Donald G. Ford Funeral Home.

She hugged her brother’s flag-draped coffin, finally reunited with her long-lost brother.

From DPAA;

Marine Pvt. Emmett L. Kines, 24, of Grafton, West Virginia, will be buried Sept. 19, in his hometown. In November 1943, Kines was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, which landed against stiff Japanese resistance on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to secure the island. Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were virtually annihilated. Kines died sometime during the first day of the battle, Nov. 20, 1943.

Category: We Remember