Dale Geddes

U.S. Marine Corps Pvt. Dale R. Geddes, 21, of Grand Island was killed in combat Nov. 20, 1943, during World War II’s Battle of Tarawa. A sniper shot Geddes while he was giving first aid to another Marine. Geddes was killed on the island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll.

Geddes’ body was buried in a trench grave along with a small group of other Marines. The gravesite was not discovered until March 2015, when History Flight used cadaver dogs and technology equipment to locate the site, which was underneath pavement. Geddes was positively identified using DNA from a surviving relative. Geddes was reinterred in the Grand Island City Cemetery, buried next to his parents, on Aug. 22, 2016.

Dale R. Geddes was born Feb. 21, 1922, in Grand Island, the youngest child of William Gavin and Minnie (Kent) Geddes. His siblings were Florence (Virgil) Hutton of Denver, Colo.; Verna (Frank) Griggs of Sun City, Ariz.; John Walter (Denise Overturf) Geddes of Boulder, Colo.; and Ralph (Marian Frimann) Geddes of Rawlins, Wyo.

Dale Geddes attended Grand Island Public Schools, was president of the high school band, and was a 1940 graduate of Grand Island Senior High School.

He worked at The Grand Island Independent as a newspaper carrier and after graduating from high school in the business office. In 1942, he moved to Cheyenne, Wyo., where he worked in the business office of the Cheyenne newspaper.

Geddes enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on Nov. 20, 1942, in Denver. Geddes completed basic training in San Diego, Calif., with the Fifth Recruit Battalion. In January 1943, he was assigned to the 11th Replacement Battalion and sent to Tank School. He was transferred to Company H, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines in March 1943 and joined his unit in New Zealand to train for the Battle of Tarawa.

Pvt. Geddes received the Purple Heart Medal, Good Conduct Medal, U.S. Marine Corps Combat Action Ribbon, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, U.S. Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon, and U.S. Marine Corps Rifle Marksmanship Badge.

A team from History Flight, Inc., a non-profit organization based in Marathon, Fla., discovered the remains of Geddes and 39 other Marines in 2015.

Relatives established a Battle of Tarawa exhibit at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Va., in memory of Geddes.