BY DANI TIETZ
dani@mahometnews.com
Marine Corps Reserve Pfc. Jack B. Van Zandt, 22, of Danville, Ill., killed during World War II, will be laid to rest in his hometown on Dec. 17, 2019.
After 76 years, Van Zandt’s remains were identified by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) on Sept. 23, 2019.
Raised just west of Danville, Van Zandt was born on Oct. 8, 1922 as the third child of George and Blanche Van Zandt.
After graduating from Oakwood High School in 1939, Van Zandt joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve in May 1942, prior to the Dec. 7 bombing of Pearl Harbor.
As a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force, Van Zandt and his brothers 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, while the Japanese were virtually annihilated. Van Zandt was killed on the third day of the battle, Nov. 22, 1943. His remains were reportedly buried in East Division Cemetery on Betio Island.
In 1946, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company centralized all of the American remains found on Tarawa at Lone Palm Cemetery for later repatriation; however, almost half of the known casualties were never found. No recovered remains could be associated with Van Zandt, and in October 1949, a Board of Review declared him “non-recoverable.”
George and Blanche Van Zandt received the Purple Heart for their son’s sacrifice and service. Although his body was not recovered in their lifetime, his siblings, including Lois, who lived until she was 93, never gave up hope that he may one day return home.
In 2014, History Flight, Inc., a nonprofit organization, located a site correlated with Cemetery 33. Excavations of the site uncovered multiple sets of remains, which were turned over to DPAA in 2015, where they were subsequently accessioned to the laboratory.
To identify Van Zandt’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as material evidence.
Lois and her daughter, Nancy Linde, traveled to Jacksonville, Fla., to give DNA samples in hopes that Jack’s remains would be identified.
The Van Zandt family received word that Jack’s remains had been identified just days prior to Lois’ death on Oct. 4, 2019.
Nancy Linde said, “We kept telling her over and over that his remains are coming home in the hope that she would hear even though she could not respond.”
Van Zandt will be honored at the Sunset Funeral Home in Danville on Dec. 17 from 1 to 2 p.m.
Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war. Currently, there are 72,641 service members still unaccounted for from World War II with approximately 30,000 assessed as possibly recoverable.
Van Zandt’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others killed or lost in WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
