Diving Deeper Depths

U.S. service members assigned to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency(DPAA) participate in a disinterment ceremony held at the NationalMemorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii, Aug. 5, 2019. Theceremony was part of DPAA’s efforts to disinter the remains of unknownservice members lost during the Korean War. DPAA’s mission is to providethe fullest possible accounting of missing personnel to their familiesand the nation.

U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Leah Ferrante)

DIVING DEEPER DEPTHS

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor StinsonAll Hands Magazine

Over the years, America has faced many conflicts: World War II, Korean War and more. Unfortunately, sometimes service members aren’t able to make it home – whether alive or in a casket. However, over the years, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) had made it their mission to reunite service members and their families. There are currently still many unaccounted for from previous wars, and recent advances in technology have allowed scientists and researchers to explore underwater landscapes that were previously unreachable.

Since 2015, DPAA focused much of its energy on the USS Oklahoma (BB- 37), a Nevada-class battleship that was on Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. After the Pearl Harbor attack, 429 deaths were confirmed from the USS Oklahoma. As of February, DPAA hit its first major milestone with the USS Oklahoma project, confirming a positive identity match of its 200th crewman. Fireman 1st Class Billy James Johnson was identified from a set of 388 individual remains.

While the USS Oklahoma project is still ongoing, it has been so successful that it serves as a pathfinder.

“It was the way forward and showed us we can be successful doing this. So based on Oklahoma’s success, we made the argument to disinter the USS West Virginia and the USS California,” explained Dr. Laurel Freas, forensic anthropologist for the USS West Virginia (BB-48) and USS California (BB-44) projects.

Unlike popular forensic shows such as Bones or Forensic Files, these projects can take a long time because each step is to be taken seriously and with careful attention to detail. The extensive planning and logistical legwork for a joint field activity or JFA cannot begin until DPAA receives approval from host-nations to dispatch their teams to various locations all over the world.

Once in the field, recovery teams examine the excavation site, much like a detective oversees a crime scene. Each mission is unique and comes with its own hazardous territory for the team to consider and varies depending on if the site is on land or in the water. When the site is established, it is combed through carefully, grid by grid, and screened for potential remains, life support equipment or material evidence.

The next important step is when the remains arrive at the lab. Upon arrival, they are stored in a secured area. Forensic anthropologists are then responsible for analyzing the human remains and all the material evidence that is part of the file – i.e. military uniforms, personal affects, I.D. tags, etc. Dental remains are also very important because it may contain mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The osteologist take samples from the bones and teeth to amplify the surviving mtDNA to determine the genetic sequence. The sequence is then compared to sequences from family references provided by living people who are maternally related to the unknown service member.

The entire process is carried out by dozens of people and can take months or even years to analyze DNA from remains recovered from sites. Oftentimes the remains are commingled, meaning they are remains from multiple people. Additionally, remains have gone through a process which makes it harder for scientists to extract DNA from them, such as being soaked in formaldehyde or being buried more than once over the years. These additional factors are taken into consideration, but make the reality of the situation a lot more time consuming than the general public might think.

Even though these projects are time consuming and require a lot of manpower, DPAA hopes to uphold its word that it will reunite every lost service member with their family, no matter how long that takes.

“There’s a promise that we make as a nation to our service members and that they make to one another that no one will be left behind, no one will be forgotten, and so this is how the nation executes that promise, this is how we go about fulfilling that,” said Freas. “Even if it takes 75 years, or longer, we’re not going to give up, we’re going to keep trying… I think it’s just really, really important for people to understand that level of commitment, that level of dedication, that we’re never going to give up on this.”