Missouri Mariner’s body to be returned to Missouri for burial

In February 1944, Spotts was a crew member of the SS Cape Isabel, part of a convoy of three ships including the USS Grayson and the SS Cape Fear.  On Feb. 22, 1944, the ships were approximately 12 miles off the coast of Tarawa Atoll.  The two Merchant Marine vessels were bringing supplies to Betio Island.  Spotts was electrocuted during bilge maintenance.  He was unable to be revived.

On Feb. 23, 1944, Spotts was buried with military honors in the U.S. Marine Cemetery on Betio Island.

In the aftermath of the fighting on Tarawa, U.S. service members who died in and after the battle were buried in a number of battlefield cemeteries on the island. The 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company conducted remains recovery operations on Betio between 1946 and 1947, but Spotts’ remains were not identified and he was declared non-recoverable.

In 2017, members of History Flight, Inc., a non-profit organization, discovered a coffin buried in Cemetery #33 on Betio, which contained possible osseous remains. These Unknown remains were transferred to the DPAA laboratory for examination and identification.

To identify Spotts’ remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as dental and circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Spotts’ name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific along with the others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Spotts will be buried in Armstrong, Missouri, on Nov. 9, 2024.

For family and funeral information, contact the Navy Casualty Office at (800) 442-9298.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa.