June Chapter Meeting

RIM & EVIDENCE USED TO RECOVER POW/MIA
PRESENTED BY POW/MIA ACCOUNTING AGENCY

Description:

DPAA’s mission is to recover missing personnel who are listed as Prisoners of War or Missing In Action from all past wars and conflicts and from countries around the world. Most of the evidence retrieved in the European-Mediterranean operations department makes it way to Offutt, while the Indo-Pacific evidence is handled by the lab in Hawaii. DPAA uses the term “fullest possible accounting” to say that their unwavering desire and mission is to provide accounting for missing personnel to their families and the nation. DPAA’s regional directorates include the historical research and operational components fulfilled by planners, researchers, analysts, and historians. The lab has nearly 40 staff members with advanced degrees in forensic anthropology and dentistry.

DPAA anthropologists do more than analyze human remains at the lab to help with identification. They conduct innovative research in forensic anthropology and deploy to different parts of the world to actually recover human remains in the field. Working with human remains can be a rewarding byproduct that these scientists can bring to the loved ones of those families who are desiring closure. One forensic anthropologist was able to meet the sister of a fallen service member from World War II. The sister had lost hope that her brother would be identified because he was adopted, meaning DNA would not be useful in his case. Because of the innovative scientific techniques DPAA has developed, they were able to identify her brother using chest radiographs and skeletal analysis.