Press Release from The Patriot Guard Riders of MS:

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that 24-year-old U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Harold Hammett, of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, killed during World War II, has been accounted for and we are honored to announce that Sgt. Hammett is coming home to Hattiesburg, Mississippi on Wednesday, February 14, 2024.

Harold was born in Forrest County, MS on February 16th, 1919. He was the fifth of eight children blessed to the union of Emry Holmes “E. H.” and Eva Jane (Sharp) Hammett. He graduated with Petal Consolidated High School’s class of ’39
and was a member of the Carterville Baptist Church. Hammett then enlisted in the Marine Corps in San Francisco, California on August 1, 1940, and was sent to the South Pacific in July 1942.

He was in the Battle on Tulagi and in several major battles on Guadalcanal. After being wounded, he was hospitalized in New Zealand and then awaited orders for his next mission.

Sergeant Hammett was with his brothers in Bravo Company, 1st Battalion of the 2nd Marines (B-1/2) when they landed on Betio as part of Operation: GALVANIC. The mission of the 2nd Marine Division was to secure the island in order to
control the Japanese airstrip in the Tarawa Atoll; thereby preventing the Japanese Imperial forces from getting closer to the United States and enabling US forces to get closer to mainland Japan. It would become one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history.

It was November 20, 1943 (D-Day for the Battle of Tarawa), when young Harold – just 24 years old – perished.

He was reportedly soon buried on Betio Island – a temporary location chosen by his fellow Marines, the survivors of the battle, until the fallen could be recovered and returned to their families.

Harold’s family had a memorial marker placed in hopes that one day he would be found and returned home. His parents would later be laid to rest next to this marker. The anticipated arrival at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport with military honors and honor guard is Wednesday, February 14, arriving at 5:17 P.M. Sgt. Hammett’s remains will then transfer to Hulett￾Winstead Funeral Home in Hattiesburg.

Graveside services will be at Roseland Park Cemetery in Hattiesburg on Friday, February 16 at 2:00 P.M.

Prior to the service, at approximately 1:30 P.M., Sgt. Hammett will be escorted from Hulett-Winstead Funeral to Roseland Park Cemetery where he will be laid to rest with full military honors.

The public is encouraged to show respect and support to the family by safely lining roadways and overpasses along the route, where allowed to do so.