WESTFIELD – The United State Marine Corps is bringing the remains of Captain Richard Woytisek Vincent home for burial at Pine Hill Cemetery Thursday with full honors.
Vincent, a graduate of Westfield High School and the University of Massachusetts, was assigned to Company d, 2nd Battalion, 18th Marines, 2nd Marine Division. He died on Nov. 20, 1943 and was listed as Killed In Action (KIA).
Vincent was a 1st Lieutenant when he died in action and promoted to captain posthumously promoted. He was listed as missing in action (MIA) or buried at sea until Oct. 21, 2014 when his remains were identified.
Vincent was one of 514 US Marines whose remains were discovered on Tarawa, an island in the Marshall Islands during excavation for a construction project. The Battle of Tarawa was won by the 2nd Marine Division in 72 hours, but at a horrible cost.
Landing craft, intended to transport Marines to the shore, hit a reef during low tide, forcing Marines to disembark 500 feet from the shore line. The Marines came under heavy fire as they crossed that 500 feet devoid of cover and concealment.
Tarawa, held by the Japanese from 1941 to 1943, was a strategic island 2,400 miles southwest of Hawaii that opened the Central Pacific and eventually the Philippines, to the US forces.
Vincent’s parents, Walter Woytisek Vincent, who died in 1950 and Jennie C. Kitner Vincent who died in 1946, erected a memorial at the Pine Hill Cemetery. The memorial, which still stands today, reads “In Memory of Our Son, Richard, 1st Lt, U.S.M.C. Gave his Life at Tarawa, We live by deeds, not years.”
The graveside service is slated for 1 p.m. Thursday and will include full military honors presented by U.S. Marines and other veteran organizations. Vincent’s body is being flown into Bradley International and will be received by a US Marine Honor Guard and transported to the Firtion Adams Funeral Home on Broad Street.
