Leaving Mac Behind: The Lost Marines of Guadalcanal

Guadalcanal’s missing Marines come into focus through Reconstruction of lives, last moments, and legacies, using records and eyewitnesses to illuminate lost graves and renewed repatriation efforts.

“My first telegram came Sep. 3 1942 that my son was missing in action. And the next telegram came Aug. 18 1943 that he was Declared Dead. Till this day I do not know what happened to him.” Mrs. Ann M. Lyons, August 7, 1957.

Between 1942 and 1944, nearly four hundred Marines virtually vanished in th...