Additional remains of Staff Sergeant Arthur E. Myers, whose aircraft crashed 76 years ago, were laid to rest at Dresden Cemetery on Monday, November 23.
S SGT Myers enlisted in the U.S. Army Air forces on November 22, 1941, just a few weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor. On January 13, 1944, SSGT Myers and nine others originally from the 819th Bombardment Squadron, were added to the 38th Bombardment Squadron. Before S SGT joined, the 38th were already performing bombing runs on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, Gilbert Island (now part of Republic of Kiribati) and other targets in the area. They had been doing so since they arrived on Betio Island in early January 1944 just months after the Marines secured the airstrip on the island on November 23, 1943.
S Sgt Shaffer, Second Lieutenant (2d Lt) Alenier, 2d Lt Johnson, First Lieutenant (1st
Lt) Lurcott, and 2d Lt Dabrowski. Left to right, kneeling: S Sgt Shell, Sergeant (Sgt) Rothman, S Sgt Fenze l, and S Sgt Myers. Staff Sergeant Polzien is not pictured. [Photo from historical report: S Sgt Arthur E. Myers – compiled by Hannah Metheny, World War II Historian]
On January 21, 1944, SSGT Myers and the rest of the crew of a B-24J no. 42-72999, nicknamed Galloping Gus, prepared for a bombing run to Roi-Namur Island, Kwajalein Atoll. He was an Armorer Gunner aboard the Galloping Gus which had carried soldiers on at least eight combat missions prior to the mission given to S SGT Myers and the crew.
After climbing to 250-300 feet the engines of the B-24J did not sound as though they were developing enough power. It was later discovered that the aircraft had water in the gas. The plane stalled and plummeted into Tarawa Lagoon just an estimated three miles east of the end of the runway where the plane ascended. No one survived the crash.
Another B-24J from the same squadron and took off from the same airstrip crashed into the lagoon only 17 minutes prior.
Remains of five of the crew members were recovered by the rescue team including the remains of S SGT Myers. All five were interred in the Main Marine Cemetery on Betio Island on January 22, 1944. The following day the 38th Bombardment Squadron left the island.
Years later the Main Marine Cemetery was renamed Cemetery 33 and over those years construction projects attempting to beautify isolated graves and cemeteries on the island shifted markers and separated them from the graves. This caused a problem, the names on the crosses that once marked the graves no longer matched the identity of those believed to be buried in the cemetery.
After the war ended the United States began repatriating its fallen. Recovery operations began on Betio Island on March 4, 1946. After many days the original burial trenches were located and only SSGT Myers and one other member of the crew of B-24J no. 42-72999 were identified. In 1947, per the family’s request, S SGT Myer’s remains were transported to Dresden, Ohio to be buried in the Dresden Cemetery.
The investigation into the losses on Tarawa Atoll concluded in 1949. However, in 2009, a non-profit organization called History Flight began working to locate cemeteries and isolated graves from the Battle of Tarawa. Through their work, they were able to uncover a series of coffin burials from Cemetery 33. This discovery took place in 2017 and the remains were shipped back to the states. It was not until recently, with modern technology, that some of the discovered remains were determined to belong to S SGT Myers. The remains were arranged to be buried on his grave in Dresden Cemetery.
A full military funeral was held for S SGT Myers on November 23, 2020 at Bolin-Dierkes Funeral Home. A procession which began at the funeral home and arrived in Dresden just before 1:00 pm was greeted by students and staff from both the Tri-Valley Middle School and Dresden Elementary School who lined both sides of Main Street in front of the schools and leading to the Dresden Cemetery. Many in the crowd were holding or waving American flags and stood silently and respectfully as the procession for S SGT Myers drove by. The Dresden Police and Fire Department also took part in the procession.
Rev. Andrew Wilson who officiated the graveside service said, “76 years and it does matter, 76 years and still you get that kind of response from our young people. Where do they get those values, those are our values. America is great because America is Good!”
