First Sergeant David Quinn comes home

Back in December, Hondo told us that Marine First Sergeant David Quinn’s remains had been identified by DPAA. He was in Company C, 2nd Amphibian Tractor Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, USMC, when he was lost on Tarawa Atoll on 21 November 1943 – just four months after he was married.

Bert sends us a link to WMUR which reports that First Sergeant Quinn will be returned to his family in Temple, New Hampshire later this week;

On Saturday, he will be buried with full military honors in his hometown of Temple, where generations of the Quinn family have lived since 1780.

Paul Quinn never met his uncle, but always felt a connection to him and always hoped one day his remains would be identified.

“Elation – that’s about the only way to describe it,” Paul said. “I might have got a little choked up about it.”

A Quinn family member, a Marine Stationed in Hawaii, will escort First Sergeant Quinn’s earthly remains for the entire journey home.

Sgt. Quinn will finally be laid to rest in a space in his family’s plot that has been waiting all these years.

“I think it’s going to be one of the days of my life I will always remember,” Paul said. “I’m looking forward to the time I can go down to the cemetery and I know that his remains are there. It’s going to be wonderful, like the family’s back together again.”

Category: We Remember