Joe
Not Forgotten - recovering missing soldiers
June 8, 2009 12:00 AM
If you have ever traveled around the United States, more than likely, at some point, you’ve seen a black flag flying alongside Old Glory. The flag is the symbol for the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, and I think it has always been an influence on my life. Long-time readers of the blog will know that I believe strongly in the duty of governments to go looking for their missing soldiers. There are still 1,742 U.S. soldiers missing in Vietnam, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.
In a short, but fascinating, piece in the new issue of National Geographic, the magazine reports that there are just under 85,000 US soldiers missing since World War II, with almost 75,000 of those being from the Second World War. Currently the United States spends more money than anyone else looking for its missing soldiers. It has nearly 700 cases on the go at any given time and manages to recover the missing at a rate of about 7 a month.
Just as it is the duty of a soldier to serve his country, it is the duty of a country to serve its soldiers, even those that have been lost or perished. I’m not suggesting that everyone should go out and wave a black flag (though, I can’t see anything wrong with that either), but I do believe that everyone from every country should take a moment and find a way to let their missing soldiers know that they “Are Not Forgotten”.
COMMENTS
The Joint Services teams that search for missing service members often include archeologist from other Federal agencies. Several of my National Park Service colleagues have gone on these missions. I have seen presentations on their work, one in the Balkans collecting evidence from mass grave sites, and two from investigations of crash sites in Vietnam. Finding the remains of airmen at crash sites is very problematic. One case was an F-100 that crashed at high speed into the side of ridge. Between the crash, the work of nature over 20 to 30 years (gravity, storm water flows, and animals), and the work of local residents scavenging metal, the evidence of the crash site was spread far and wide. They did find some small bones and bone fragments, and together with parts with serial numbers allowed them to determine that the pilot had died in the crash. The other case involved a B-52 shot down during one the Linebacker offensives. The airplane went down largely intact into a rice paddy. I’m sure all the readers will agree that a B-52 is big machine and should leave a lot of crash remains. The archeologist assumed that metal salvaging would occur, but figured the engines as the heaviest, densest part would bury in deep, and still be there. The team excavated a huge area over several years and found nothing in the rice paddy. He did notice that many of the local farmers had machetes and knives with titanium blades. No human remains were located at this crash site, which is a shame since most of the crew went down with the airplane. Finding missing service members is not as easy as CSI or NCIS would lead us to believe.
Report this comment