The DPAA has announced that PFC Jack Benson Van Zandt (A/1/6th Marines), killed in action at Tarawa, has been accounted for as of 23 September 2019.

Jack was born in Rossville, Illinois on 8 October 1921. He grew up and attended school in Danville although he graduated with the class of 1939 from Oakwood High School in Fithian, IL. Following his graduation, the young man moved to Indianapolis to work for the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company.

Following his enlistment in May of 1942, Van Zandt was assigned to Company A, 6th Marines. He fought with them in the closing weeks of the Guadalcanal campaign, and then on Tarawa.

PFC Van Zandt lost his life to gunshot wounds at 1030 hours, 22 November 1943. He was buried in a mass grave on Betio, Tarawa atoll, and lay there undiscovered until early 2019. A History Flight expedition uncovered “Row D” and brought the remains back to the United States for laboratory analysis. Of approximately thirty remains recovered, Jack Van Zandt is the fifth to be identified.

Bio courtesy of missingmarines.com

https://missingmarines.com/2019/10/03/accounted-for-jack-b-van-zandt/

[Bio compiled by GML470]