During the Battle of Tarawa Atoll in the Pacific War, in November 1943, the bodies of Japanese soldiers were gathered at a mass grave on the sandy beach for burial on Betio Island.

　　During the Battle of Tarawa Atoll in the Pacific War, in November 1943, Japanese soldiers were gathered to bury the bodies of fallen comrades on Betio Island. On November 20, the U.S. military began its occupation of the Pacific's Tarawa Atoll. The Japanese military had only established defensive positions on Betio Island. The U.S. forces numbered 35,000, while Betio Island held only 2,619 Japanese soldiers and approximately 2,200 construction workers. Betio Island was completely flat, composed entirely of coral sand.

　　On November 21, U.S. naval guns resumed shelling the remaining Japanese-held sections of Betio Island, while tanks and additional Marine battalions arrived at the beachhead. The U.S. forces advanced another 200 meters to the opposite shore, capturing the airfield and splitting the Japanese defensive forces in two. On November 22, the Americans pressed their attack, shelling surviving bunkers with naval guns and burning machine gun nests with flamethrowers. Japanese soldiers fought to the death, refusing capture and shooting themselves with their last bullets. That afternoon, about 170 mobile Japanese soldiers counterattacked. They were repelled by concentrated artillery and machine gun fire. By the morning of November 23, three isolated pockets of resistance remained on Betio, with dozens of Japanese soldiers continuing to defend with rifles and machine guns. U.S. tanks, aircraft, and naval guns launched renewed attacks, annihilating the Japanese defense force. At 1330 hours, a telegram reported the complete suppression of Japanese resistance on Betio. Mopping up operations for Japanese soldiers hiding on Betio continued for several days. 

　　The capture of Betio cost the U.S. forces 1,009 Marines killed and 2,110 wounded. The U.S. Navy suffered 687 dead and drowned. The majority were crew members of the aircraft carrier USS Liscom Bay, sunk by a Japanese submarine on November 23. The Japanese garrison on Betio was almost entirely annihilated. The only survivors taken prisoner were just 17 Japanese soldiers and 129 Korean construction laborers.