VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A Virginia Beach Marine who was killed fighting in World War II has been accounted for, nearly 80 years after his death.
Marine Corps Reserve Cpl. Jack S. Brown was 22 when he died on July 8, 1944. Brown was a member of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, which was part of the invasion force of the island of Saipan in a larger effort to capture the Mariana Islands from Japan.
Brown was reported killed in action but his body was not able to be recovered. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) said human remains that were designated as "Unknown X-30 2nd Marine Division Cemetery Saipan" were recovered from Saipan and interred in the Fort William McKinley Cemetery, now the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in the Philippines.
In March of 2021, the remains were disinterred for possible identification. The DPAA said its scientists used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.
The remains were positively identified as Brown, and his relatives were notified.
His name is recorded in the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, along with the others who are still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.
Brown will be buried next month in Norfolk.
