Top Photo: A Marine Corps amphibious tractor (LVT) on “Orange” beach at Peleliu on September 15, 1944. Only these tracked vehicles could breach the coral reef several hundred yards offshore to bring troops and supplies onto the island. US Navy History and Heritage Command.

Thanks to the efforts of the Japanese government, the remains of an American Marine who was killed during the “forgotten hell” of the Battle of Peleliu are returning home, just over 80 years after his death.  

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on March 28, 2025, that Private First Class John Henry Newstrom of Minnesota had been accounted for. He entered the US Marine Corps and served with Company G, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.

On September 28, 1944, Newstrom was killed by enemy gunfire as he attempted to eliminate an enemy sniper from a cave on the northwestern tip of Peleliu during Operation Stalemate II. His body was not recovered after the battle, and attempts to locate his remains after the war were unsuccessful.  

In 2018, a team of experts on Peleliu, sponsored by the Japanese government, recovered remains on the island believed to be casualties from World War II. Dr. John Byrd, DPAA Scientific Analysis director, said that the agency works closely with the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, as well as the Japan Association for Recovery and Repatriation of War Casualties (JARRWC), to recover and repatriate American and Japanese servicemembers back to their respective nations.

“Because US Marines and US Army soldiers fought across this terrain against the Japanese, combatants from both countries were lost in the same places,” Byrd said. “We enjoy an excellent relationship with JARRWC teams, often accompanying them in their field endeavors.”

Experts from the DPAA and the Japanese teams completed a joint forensic review of recovered remains, and some were recommended for further analysis at the DPAA Laboratory in Honolulu. Permission to transfer the remains was granted in 2024 following coordination among the DPAA, the Palau Historical Preservation Office, and the Japanese government.  

More than 10,000 Japanese troops were killed in the battle for control of Peleliu. The Americans suffered more than 9,600 casualties with more than 1,600 killed in action in the protracted struggle that lasted months instead of days.

Marine Corps General Clifton Cates argued that “the fight for Peleliu was one of the most vicious and stubbornly defended battles of the war.” Despite being perhaps the Marine Corps’ most difficult assaults, the battle is often overlooked compared to other Pacific battles on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.

The DPAA is tracking 125 unaccounted for ground loss casualties from the battle of Peleliu, as well as three prisoners of war lost during pre-battle reconnaissance. The agency also believes that 79 sets of unidentified remains from Peleliu are interred at other US military cemeteries and is working to disinter these remains for further analysis and possible identification.