Students to Find Burial Sites on Guadalcanal

A GROUP of Radford University students in the United States are planning to visit Solomon Islands to find reminds of US Marines died here during the Second World War. The university’s anthropology professor Donna Boyd is planning to bring seven students in July to search for the remains of the ill-fated group of Marines known as the Goettge patrol.The students, accompanied by three professors, plan to use ground-penetrating radar in hopes of pinpointing the site where Japanese soldiers buried the Marines in 1942 during World War II. Previous efforts to find the men's graves have been unsuccessful.The 25-man Goettge patrol, named after the Marine intelligence officer in charge, Lt. Col. Frank Goettge, set out in a boat on Aug. 12, 1942, toward an area west of the Matanikau River, where they believed a group of demoralized Japanese soldiers might be willing to surrender.Not long after landing on the beach, though, they were pinned down by enemy fire.Over the course of the night and into the morning, most were killed. In the end, only three survived: they swam more than 4 miles back to an American camp.The slain Marines are presumed to have been buried in a trench near the spot where they fought. An MIA-recovery group, which has collected documents and located what it thinks is the most likely burial site, asked Radford anthropology professor Cliff Boyd to take the next step and find the remains of the Marines.Boyd co-founded the university's Forensic Science Institute along with his wife, professor Donna Boyd.

Source:Solomonstar