The New Zealand High Commission hopes 17 of the bodies unearthed in a pit are those of New Zealand Coastwatchers summarily executed by their Japanese captors in October 1942.
The remains could include those of Arthur Heenan, of Middlemarch, and Clifford Pearsall, of Lawrence, both telegraph workers caught in a rapidly advancing war.
Bob Heenan (84), of Mosgiel, was 15 when his brother Arthur left for the islands. He was unsure yesterday how to react to news his brother's body may have been found, but he was sure it must be identified.
"It has been so long, but with the knowledge there is these days, I would hope they can make every effort to find out if it is him," Mr Heenan said.
"All these years, I thought wherever he was buried had been covered by an American landing strip. I never thought he would ever be discovered. Now, I hope he has."
The Coastwatchers were civilian radio operators and military observers sent to stations in Kiribati to monitor Japanese shipping and aircraft during World War 2.
They were captured when Japanese forces swept through the islands during August and September 1942.
They were taken to Tarawa and executed in mid-October, after a bombing raid by an American aircraft.
American forces captured the islands in November 1943. A year later, a court of inquiry learnt the Coastwatchers had been beheaded and dumped in a pit.
New Zealand High Commissioner Rob Kaiwai said he had his "fingers crossed" his team had found the New Zealand Coastwatchers, ending decades of lingering uncertainty.
The island was strewn with war dead. Some estimates suggest up to 6000 bodies were buried there, but there were few verifiable stories about where the Coastwatchers were buried.
His small team excavated the site after hearing "a compelling recollection" from a priest who removed eight or nine heads from the area about 10 years ago.
The site was near an old mental asylum and colonial gallows. The team found human bones at the surface, which was "not unusual" on the island, and more complete remains about 2m into the pit.
The remains were not removed because the team did not want to disturb any evidence - evidence that needed to be examined by specialists.
He hoped those specialists might come from the likes of the US Joint Prisoners of War Action Command, which worked in the islands and used DNA techniques to identify remains.
Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully, who recently visited the island and has taken a special interest in the search, could not be contacted yesterday.
THE VICTIMS
The 17 New Zealand citizens beheaded in Kiribati were. -
Arthur C. Heenan, Clifford A. Pearsall, Allan L. Taylor, Henry R. C. Hearn, John J. McCarthy, Arthur E. McKenna, Thomas C. Murray, R. A. Ellis, Robert I. Hitchon, Dallas H. Howe, Reginald Jones, Claude A. Kilpin, Roderick M. McKenzie, John H. Nichol, Charles J. Owen, Wilfred A. R. Parker, Leslie B. Speedy.
