Lowery
History Sarah 102
Batham
News Article: Historic Flights Raise Money to Search for Missing WWII Soldiers
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/870105.html
History Flight is a nonprofit organization that gives people a change to ride the
vintage war planes to raise money to fund search efforts for soldiers missing in action
during World War II, including the battle of Tarawa in the Pacific Ocean. According to
recent studies, more than 78,000 WWII soldiers and civilians are still missing. History
Flight Director, Mark Noah, raised nearly $90,000 for his first two search missions, and
found the remains of 139 U.S. Marines at Tarawa. This year, since gas prices are lower,
he expects to raise funds anywhere between $100,000 and $150,000. Noah also expects
to find the remains of the other 541 Marines left in Tarawa in 2009 his mission. Noah
states that when he finds the Marines in Tarawa, he will continue to raise funds to find
soldiers in other parts of the fighting grounds of WWII.
This article is very interesting because its surprising to me that still to this day,
nearly 65 years after the war has ended, people are still putting efforts into solving the
mysteries of the losses of the war. Noah focuses on the Battle of Tarawa, which was a
major battle in 1943 where the U.S. Marines defeated the Japanese troops. There were
many casualties, and with the exotic location of the battle, many of the U.S. troops were
never found, and reported missing. Noah plans to find these troops and officially honor
them. This require knowledge of the battles of World War II, without this, one might
have no idea about the Battle of Tarawa and its significance.