It's hard to believe they are still discovering corpses on Betio. When the fighting ended, it seemed there dead every square foot of that cursed island.
Betio Island was tiny (less than 2/3 of a square mile) but soaked in blood. About 1000 dead Americans & 5000 dead Japanese in just only four days of vicious fighting.
Compared to Guadalcanal (7000 dead in 6 months), Iwo Jima (7000 dead in 5 weeks) & Okinawa (12,000 dead in 3 months), the Battle of Tarawa was deadlier in casualties-per-day than any other Pacific island battle.
