LIBERTY — The remains of an Amite County World War II Marine who went missing in 1943 in the Pacific Islands have been identified and will be buried this month.
The remains of Pvt. 1st Class James Samuel “Sam” Smith will be transferred to his home county, where a cemetery plot had long ago been established for him.
A memorial service will be held 11 a.m. Monday, Oct. 17, at Brown Funeral Home in Liberty, with visitation at 10.
Burial with full military honors will follow in Liberty Cemetery.
“People like this have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country above and beyond the call of duty of everybody else that has served and returned home,” said Murry Toney of Liberty, who is department commander for The American Legion in Mississippi.
“It’s the least that the government can do to continue to look for these remains.”
Officials with the Department of Defense’s POW/MIA Accounting Agency said that in November 1943, Smith was assigned to Company C, 2nd Amphibious Tractor Battalion, 2nd Marine Division on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands.
Smith’s battalion’s role was to ferry Marines to shore on amphibious landing crafts. But the troops received devastating fire from Japanese shore guns, and by the end of the battle, the battalion had lost 64 Marines. Out of 125 landing crafts, only 35 remained. Many sank in the lagoon.
Some 1,000 Marines and sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded over several days of intense fighting.
Smith died on the first day of battle and was reported as Missing in Action on Nov. 20, 1943. He was 19.
In 2012, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command went to Betio after the organization History Flight Inc. identified it as a site possibly containing the remains of American war dead. The team recovered Smith’s remains from an area previously identified as Cemetery 25.
Lab analysis, along with circumstantial evidence, confirmed that Smith’s remains were included in the burial, defense officials said.
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Smith was born Jan. 21, 1924, in Liberty, the son of Carey Samuel and Mamie Gerald Smith. He attended school in Liberty, where he was a star football player. He was a member of the Liberty Methodist Church.
After graduating from high school in 1941, Smith moved to Baton Rouge to work, planning to enter college and become a doctor. But when war broke out, he joined the Marines and was assigned to the South Pacific.
A year after he was reported MIA, he was officially declared dead on Nov. 21, 1944. A memorial service was held for him at Liberty Methodist Church in 1944, and a gravestone was erected in Liberty Cemetery.
Smith was awarded the Purple Heart Medal, Combat Action Ribbon (World War II), Presidential Unit Citation Award, Marine Corps Good Conduct, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two bronze stars and World War II Victory Medal.
Smith has no surviving local relatives. His survivors include 14 nieces and nephews.
Smith’s remains are currently being kept in Honolulu and will be flown to Mississippi next weekend. On Saturday, Oct. 15, an honor guard will accompany a Brown Funeral Home hearse from Jackson to Amite County.
“It gives the family closure to know that at least they have the remains back home instead of off somewhere,” Toney said. “The POW/MIA team continues to look for the veterans who have not returned home to return the remains. We know our personnel are being accounted for.”
Toney expects a good turnout for the funeral and burial. In addition to Smith’s relatives who will be coming to town, “I’ve had some calls from several people that said they would like to come because he was an MIA,” Toney said.
One woman told him she will take her children out of school if necessary to attend the ceremony.
“The word’s getting out there. I’m expecting quite a few people,” Toney said.
