U.S. Military Returns to Tarawa
LEMON: Tarawa is a tiny dot in the South Pacific. It's also the site of an epic Marine Corps battle of World War II. Defeating the Japanese who were dug in in Tarawa took three days. But the cost of victory was staggering. Hundreds of dead Marines were buried in mass graves and never recovered until now. CNN's Ted Rowlands takes us there.</s>PITETI TENTOA, TARAWA RESIDENT: This is where we found it, inside the hole here.</s>TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): About a year ago, Piteti Tentoa was digging a hole with his son right next to his home.</s>TENTOA: We dig the hole for making a garden. And while we digging the hole and we would find a bone.</s>ROWLANDS: Peter lives in Tarawa, the site of one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history Peter says there was no doubt in his mind he'd found a U.S. Marine. It is a very big American boy when we look at it. Very long bone in the legs like an American. And he has a can hanging on the side.</s>ROWLANDS: The World War II battle of Tarawa claimed more than 1,000 Marines in just over 72 hours of fighting with the Japanese. After the war, the U.S. government tried but couldn't find all of the U.S. bodies that had been buried on the island. Now more than 65 years later, the U.S. military is back on Tarawa looking for those lost Marines. JPAC is the military's unit responsible for finding and identifying lost soldiers. For the past week, the JPAC team has been digging and sifting areas where they think there may be remains, which they were doing when Peter showed up.</s>CAPT. TODD NORDMAN, U.S. MARINE CORPS: He came over and, you know, basically hollered at us over the fence and got our attention.</s>ROWLANDS: Peter took Marine Captain Todd Nordman and his team inside his tiny home and showed them what he had.</s>STAFF SGT. JORDY ANTHONY, U.S. ARMY: And once we went there and checked them out, it was -- it was eye-opening.</s>ROWLANDS (on camera): Peter had kept the remains in a box on this shelf above his bed, along with a skeleton. He also found a helmet, ammunition belt and a canteen.</s>TENTOA: We looked out there for months and months before your people, the American team, come and look for them.</s>NORDMAN: His respect that he gave the remains was pretty incredible, and honestly it gave me goose bumps.</s>ROWLANDS: Then Piteti gave them something else.</s>STAFF SGT. KURTIS WITT, U.S. MARINE CORPS: The captain turned around and this guy handed him a projectile.</s>NORDMAN: I, you know, instantly said, you know, you don't need this in your house.</s>ROWLANDS (voice over): The crew took the bomb away. The remains were bagged and labeled and will be analyzed for identification. Piteti says after taking care of the remains he feels connected to them and told us he would like to meet the soldier's family some day.</s>TENTOA: They will be very happy and see the body of their boy or their father or their brother coming back home to America.</s>ROWLANDS (on camera): The U.S. military is planning on spending more than a month here. They are digging on six separate sites. This is the second of those six. It's estimated that there could be as many as 500 U.S. Marines still buried here. Ted Rowlands, CNN, Tarawa.</s>LEMON: All right. So forget getting those cool jeans, new shoes and stylish backpack for the new school year. It's all about the gadgets. Our tech guru Katie Linendoll shows us the cool new stuff. And meet the new neighbors, but be warned, they are a bunch of animals. Zebras on the loose.