* * * This report has been reformatted for viewing on the Internet. * * *
Developed in coordination with the Defense
Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO)
and the United States
Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii (USACILHI)
The United States Secretary of Defense and the Defense Prisoner
of War/Missing Personnel Office acknowledge grateful appreciation
to the United States Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii
for the design and production of this report.
United States Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii
310 Worchester Avenue, Bldg 45
Hickam AFB, Hawaii 96853
www.cilhi.army.mil
"It is for the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they gave their last full measure of devotion- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain."
President Lincoln at Gettysburg
In his speech at Gettysburg, President Lincoln captured the essence of the American spirit and our national values. Every time a service member is returned home and identified, our nation and the world recall what we stand for as a country, the value of our military and the ultimate price that Americans are willing to pay for freedom. Every service member identified by the United States Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii (CILHI) paid that price.
The loss our nation feels when our heroes are lost at war is small compared with the tremendous emptiness their loved ones feel when phrases such as "Missing in Action" and "Died, Body Not Recovered" are all that return from the battlefield. The incredible loss and uncertainty felt when a loved one does not come home can be alleviated only when his or her remains are recovered, identified and returned home.
Fellow veterans also experience an enormous void from the loss of their comrades. Those veterans fought not only for God and country but for the people that were beside them during battle. And when their comrades did not make it home, the magnitude of loss they felt, and still feel, was almost as great as that felt by family members. Nick Nishimoto, a veteran and returned prisoner of war, commented at a repatriation ceremony, "For me, it’s a family member that’s coming back...It’s my brother that’s coming back." During a recent recovery operation in England, one veteran told CILHI that he had been scheduled to fly the aircraft they were excavating, but someone else took the mission and died. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Affairs) Robert L. Jones recently said about a recovery operation, "This is also a solid demonstration of our nation’s commitment to young men and women in today’s armed forces. This nation is committed to ensure – no matter what the circumstances – that we will do everything that we can conceivably do to return them home.
The Department of Defense is dedicated to serving families, veterans and today’s service members. The current list of unaccounted-for personnel includes more than 88,000 individuals. This number includes 8,170 from the Korean War, 1,994[1] from the Vietnam War and more than 78,000 servicemembers from World War II. CILHI has 13 search and recovery teams, with a defense policy allocation of ten teams committed to the Vietnam War (Southeast Asia), two teams committed to the Korean War and one team covering WWII and the Cold War. The deliberate process by which WWII recoveries are currently prioritized is outlined in this report.
Despite the limited resources currently allocated to WWII recoveries, tremendous success marked FY 2000 operations. Reallocation of resources from missions not conducted in North Korea because of an initial breakdown in talks and from flooding in Southeast Asia allowed CILHI to conduct more WWII recoveries than resources would ordinarily permit. Multiple trips into Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Vanuatu produced extremely successful recoveries. PNG welcomes the presence of CILHI teams and would like to see a growing relationship. The American Embassy in PNG is directly responsible for this excellent relationship. American Embassies near WWII battlefields and CILHI regularly receive reports of exposed remains or location leads on possible WWII service members. The Department expects this trend to increase as development in remote areas expands, news media attention strengthens and other countries continue to take a larger interest in how America recovers her lost heroes.
CILHI expects to expand cooperative work with its Australian counterparts. The Australian government is actively recovering its missing service members in PNG. An Australian senior officer attended a jointly hosted CILHI-Smithsonian Institution conference on "Advances in Personal Identification" held last November. Moreover, the excavation and identification of lost Army Air Corps members in China and the Makin Raiders (who were made famous by the movie "Gung Ho" and whose identification is expected to be complete in the near future) received national attention. The Department also took the opportunity to bring home soldiers whose remains became exposed in Europe and performed a recovery mission in Bulgaria. All of these recoveries are detailed in the operations section of this report.
There is an unprecedented need for additional WWII recovery teams to supplement teams currently operating at full capacity in Indochina and Korea. Not only has the advancement of communications and technology facilitated the increase in potential WWII resolutions, but the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe will undoubtedly continue to yield the discovery of more WWII sites. Furthermore, while much of the Department’s emphasis has been focused on the former battlefields of the Vietnam War (Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia), the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office and CILHI have remained strongly focused on expanding the negotiated access to sites in North Korea. The reduction of political tensions between the United States and North Korea could allow the Department to gain ever greater success in efforts to resolve more than 4,000 cases of U.S. service members whose remains were never recovered from north of the 38th parallel.
These opportunities place greater pressure on limited resources available for the larger scale recovery mission of 78,000 missing from WWII. Fortunately, the remains from WWII battles for the most part are very well preserved and are with accompanying artifacts. This greatly helps in the identification process. CILHI experiences tremendous success in the recovery-to-identification ratio, as detailed in the operations section.
The Department is dedicated to ensuring that every service member who died for America has the opportunity to return home, and will continue to shift priorities and resources wherever feasible to work toward that strategic vision.
This section highlights previous and ongoing efforts regarding World War II not specifically addressed in the FY 2000 Defense Authorization Bill, briefly reviews past efforts to recover persons unaccounted-for from World War II, outlines current efforts and details steps that must be taken to transform the WWII effort into a dynamic, proactive search and recovery program in accordance with new World War II legislation.
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The Missing Man Monument at Hickam AFB, Hawaii |
The German surrender on 8 May 1945, and the Japanese surrender on 15 August 1945, together marked the end of World War II. Of the estimated 16 million Americans who served during the war, 406,000 had died and almost 79,000 were missing. The war with Germany resulted in roughly 24,000 unaccounted-for, and with Japan over 54,000. Of these, almost 16,000 individuals were lost in Europe (this number includes those lost in the Battle of the Atlantic). An additional 4,000 were lost in the western waters of the Atlantic. Also lost in the war with Germany were almost 4,000 servicemen serving south and west of the Mediterranean in North Africa and the Persian Gulf. In the east, over 54,000 were lost in the Pacific and in Asia. This includes American casualties lost during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Over 400 additional servicemen were lost in U.S. mainland Pacific coastal waters[2].
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Repatriation ceremony, Hickam AFB, 2000 |
Access to the vast majority of battle areas and the prompt establishment of Army Identification Laboratories in Japan and Germany, the core of former enemy territory, resulted in the recovery of large numbers of remains immediately after WWII. In fact, by 1947, 14 overseas sites had been selected for the establishment of WWII cemeteries to bury the dead and still unaccounted-for is in excess of 78,000,[3] By service, these losses total 38, 439 Army/Army Air Corps, 35,713[4] Navy, 4,141 Marine Corps and 661 Coast Guard.[5]
From 1945 to 1951, extensive recovery efforts were made, but the closing of the Army identification laboratories in Japan and Germany in 1951 marked the end of the initial post-war recovery effort and resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number of recovery operations for WWII losses. By 1951, leads had dwindled and the Army identification laboratories in Japan and Germany were closed. Since then, the remains for some of these individuals have been located, identified and returned to their next of kin, and a small number of losses that have been confirmed over the years have been added to the list. From 1951 until 1976, WWII excavations were accomplished only when crash sites with numerous remains were located, which occurred once or twice each year (see Figure 3 for a timeline).
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| Figure 3: Timeline of WWII Activity and Recoveries |
In 1976, the Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii (CILHI) was established and assigned the mission to recover and identify all unrecovered United States service members from past wars. Specifically, CILHI’s mission is to:
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Figure 1: Number of Accessions[6] and Missions from 1995 to 1999 |
The scope of CILHI’s mission also includes support of other disasters such as the 1985 air crash disaster in Gander, Newfoundland, in which members of the 101st Airborne were killed. The duty delegated to CILHI is indeed unique and differs significantly from the war-specific recovery programs assigned to the identification laboratories that existed in previous years.
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Figure 1A:
WWII identifications and Accessions as of 25 September 2000 |
CILHI’s initial WWII recovery program focused on the numerous and accessible sites in Papua New Guinea. The effort was assisted by a number of expatriate Australians permanently living in Papua New Guinea who came forward and identified crash sites they had seen. To further encourage the effort, the United States began an aggressive campaign in Papua New Guinea to encourage local nationals to report any knowledge of possible American remains locations. The effort was, and continues to be, highly successful. Today, at roughly 85 sites in Papua New Guinea, American losses have been confirmed or information has been submitted to United States authorities, that warrants further investigation.
CILHI has returned numerous sets of WWII remains (Figures 1 and 1A). Since 1995, CILHI’s WWII recovery program evolved tremendously and now includes sites in areas as remote as North Africa and the Persian Gulf.
CILHI’s current WWII recovery efforts have become worldwide and are not limited to a specific geographic region, as they had been in the past. As illustrated in Figure 2, CILHI has maintained a steady WWII mission program since 1995. It becomes more and more difficult as more sites are recommended for excavation without a realignment of resources to balance that increase.
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Figure 2: Missions Conducted
by Geographical Region Since 1995 |
The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) mission is to exercise policy, control and oversight within the Department of Defense (DoD) of the entire process for investigation and recovery related to missing persons (including matters related to search, rescue, escape and evasion), coordinate for DoD with other departments and agencies of the U.S. on all matters concerning missing persons, and establish procedures to be followed by DoD boards of inquiry and by officials reviewing the reports of such boards (Missing Persons Act).
CILHI’s mission is to search for, recover and identify remains of American military personnel, certain American civilian personnel and certain allied personnel unaccounted-for from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and other conflicts and contingencies. CILHI also conducts humanitarian missions as directed by the Department or other competent authority. Additionally, CILHI provides technical assistance in recovery and identification matters as requested by the appropriate geographic Commander-in-Chief (CINC).
A unique relationship between DPMO and CILHI exists to conduct the search, recovery, and identification process for WWII unaccounted-for. Although there is no direct command relationship, DPMO influences the direction of operations from a policy perspective. Additionally, DPMO provides advocacy for CILHI on matters pertaining to resource allocation, funding and staffing requirements. This partnership between the two organizations has proven extremely beneficial for the overall accounting process, particularly for WWII operations.
During the past year, CILHI visited a total of 47 WWII sites worldwide in addition to conducting recovery operations in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and North Korea. These site visits include conducting the investigation and recovery operations, which are highlighted throughout this report. The overwhelming success in WWII recovery operations and identifications is especially noteworthy given the limited resources of CILHI. Those limited resources are addressed in more detail later in this report.
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| US Army CILHI Cliff Excavation in China |
The requirement to perform WWII recovery processes worldwide while maintaining attention on losses from other conflicts has necessitated careful planning and the thoughtful allocation of available resources. To manage this endeavor, CILHI has employed a 10-2-1 team configuration, with 10 teams are dedicated to Southeast Asia, 2 to North Korea and 1 to the effort to recover personnel missing from World War II. This latter team, considered to be CILHI’s "global team," is responsible for World War II cases, in addition to the Cold War, Gulf War and any other past or present conflict not associated with the conflicts in Korea and Indochina. The "global team" is also used to back-fill temporary personnel shortages of teams operating in Southeast Asia or the Korean Peninsula. Other teams have become available to assist in World War II recovery operations when political circumstances or weather conditions have temporarily slowed operations in North Korea and Indochina. There is no assurance that such circumstances will produce similar opportunities in the future.
CILHI’s mission planning mechanisms include the use of priority case list designations of A, B and C. The placement of a case on the "A" List indicates that it has met the highest number of required elements necessary for a recovery mission to take place; placement on the "C" List means that a case has satisfied the fewest criteria. The specific criteria for the respective lists are as follows:
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CILHI underwater excavation in
the United Kingdom |
Cases that have been upgraded from the B or C Lists and placed on the A List must still undergo screening and evaluation processes before an excavation actually takes place. First, the regional military CINC must approve and evaluate the political stability in the excavation area. Second, a climatologic review is conducted to determine the optimal time frame in which to conduct excavation operations.
When these screening procedures are complete, the case is evaluated to establish its excavation priority on the A List itself. Considerations include the feasibility of conducting excavation operations and the probability of success both in remains recovery and team safety. Another issue considered during prioritization of A List cases is whether or not a site is listed as "open," indicating that CILHI excavations were begun but had to be postponed because of time constraints. Also, "open" status can mean that remains were recovered on previous missions at the site and the possibility of additional remains recovery is likely. These latter two conditions result in cases moving to the highest priority on the A List.
Since upgrading of cases on the B and C Lists cannot generally occur without assessments from investigation teams or other credible third parties, it has become increasingly challenging to maintain the movement of cases off the B and C Lists. Regular WWII investigative team deployments have been rare because of the inadequacy of CILHI staffing authorizations to conduct such operations. As a result, investigation operations have become the responsibility of the excavation teams. While these teams are excavating sites in various locations, they routinely perform investigations of B List and C List cases if time permits. These teams visit the B and C case sites and locate and interview local nationals to gain pertinent knowledge of the site or its associated remains. In addition to conducting their scheduled excavations and investigations of B List and C List cases, these excavation teams attempt to get information from local nationals regarding sites involving American losses that may not have been reported to U.S. or other appropriate officials.
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"... On behalf of the United States Marine Raider
Association, allow me the distinct pleasure of expressing our gratitude in
the recovery of our Makin Island lost…when we were young, we were taught
to salute as a matter of respect. Your command, and your self deserve a
salute from all Marine Raiders, the families, friends and loved ones speak
of great pleasure reference the efforts and success of your command." Letter to CILHI from Don Harn, Fallen Comrades Committee, U.S. Marine Raider Association |
Fiscal Year 2000 presented numerous opportunities for recovery operations, many of which comprise our most successful recovery missions to date. These opportunities emerged when operations in North Korea slowed down because of unrealistic North Korean demands for compensation and when the 58th Joint Field Activity in Vietnam was cancelled following severe flooding. Not only did WWII recovery operations in FY 2000 depend upon the cancellation of operations in Southeast Asia and Korea, but they comprised only a small percentage of the global teams’ responsibility to operations for the Cold War, Gulf War and any other past, current or future loss not associated with the Vietnam or Korean Wars.
What follows are brief summaries for FY 2000 CILHI WWII operations organized by country.
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| Wreckage excavated in PNG FY 2000 |
Highlighting this fiscal year’s WWII operational efforts was an unprecedented increase in the operational tempo of missions conducted in Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea is currently the single most concentrated area of operation for CILHI in terms of recovery potential for U.S. service members unaccounted-for as a result of WWII. We estimate that there are more than 300 crash sites on the island. Many of the crash sites found have proven successful in terms of recoveries, as they have been relatively undisturbed by humans. Additionally, congressional interest has centered CILHI’s efforts in the country owing to the high number of recorded losses and the opportunity for successful recoveries.
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CILHI team working with PNG citizens |
CILHI successfully conducted three recovery missions and three investigative missions in PNG. Facts from those missions follow, and illustrations are contained in Appendix A.
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| CILHI team members interviewing PNG citizens |
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| Pumping water at England excavation site |
The support CILHI received from Papua New Guinean officials and citizens was instrumental to the overall success of FY 2000 missions in that country. First, the United States Ambassador and her staff provided critical liaison support and on-the-ground coordination regarding the political and cultural environment of the nation. Second, expatriates proved to be a valuable resource for providing local and historical knowledge of cases and proved to be the foundation for many missions to Papua New Guinea in FY 2000. Third, interagency and international cooperation and team building formed a solid foundation on which future successes will undoubtedly be built. CILHI complemented the support from these various levels by hosting several expatriates and National Museum personnel for a working group meeting and tour in Hawaii that formed an even stronger bond between organizations and individuals.
CILHI’s efforts to improve operations in terms of both quantity and quality included the CILHI Commander’s visit to Papua New Guinea. Direct interface with national and local officials was very positive and revealed a strong Papua New Guinean willingness to support CILHI’s recovery efforts. Visits to agencies including the Papua New Guinea Defense Force, the Papua New Guinea Ministry of Internal Affairs and the nation’s National Museum and Art Gallery were part of both the Commander’s agenda and of points of interface required by the team leader when conducting operations.
Additional initiatives that CILHI has already put into place include dedicated Investigative Missions and Multiple Team Missions. The base for continuing operations has been built and is outstanding.
CILHI operations in Europe were also highly successful in fiscal year 2000. Assisted by several local historians and the United States Army Mortuary Affairs Activity, Europe (USAMAA-E), the CILHI Casualty Data Section, Operations Section, and the teams in the field combined to successfully conduct two missions and plan a third.
Despite being started in Fiscal Year 1999, Bulgaria Mission 1 (23 September through 29 October) is of note because it crossed into fiscal year 2000. This case involved the loss of a P-38 Lightning Fighter from the 71st Squadron while returning from escort duty on a bombing mission to Ploesti. The crash site is in the vicinity of the village of Dragoman in western Bulgaria along the Serbian border. This mission highlighted the degree of cooperation between CILHI and USAMAA-E within the European Theater and the effects of heavy media coverage. It also showed the ability of the organization to once again successfully work with local government and private agencies. The team recovered remains and personal effects from the cockpit area of the crash site; however, additional work is required to close the site. The Lab and Casualty Data Sections continue their efforts to resolve this case.
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CILHI Makin Raid recovery team
and Marine Corps Escort |
CILHI saw some of its most resounding success in the islands of the Northwestern Pacific. In Kiribati, the team completed the single most successful mission in the history of CILHI recovery operations, returning 19 sets of remains and numerous personal effects to Hawaii and closing the site. One of the Marines recovered was the first enlisted Marine recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor. This case received national news media attention, highlighting the organization’s role in recovering our nation’s unaccounted-for Service members. Once again, CILHI built a foundation within the island chain for future operations. Local government officials were very supportive of the organization’s efforts.
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| CILHI excavation in the South Pacific |
Another area of operation in which CILHI was heavily involved was the island nation of Vanuatu (formerly known as the New Hebrides) in the Coral Sea. Once again, substantial interaction with government agencies such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Cultural Affairs helped foster a supportive infrastructure for CILHI to conduct current and future operations. Successful interaction at the district and local levels helped establish a close working relationship with the Council of Chiefs on the island of Espiritu Santo. During a traditional ceremony, the CILHI team’s leadership was thanked for the role the Americans played in the liberation of the island nation during WWII.
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| CILHI Excavating a Chinese Cliffside |
The China Mission 1 (29 August through 26 September 1999) involved the loss of a B-24 Bomber from the 375th Bomber Squadron, 14th Air Force on 31 August 1944 on a bombing mission out of Liuchow, China. The site is located in Xing An County in the province of Guang Xi. The mission began in a highly unusual manner with the handover of five identification tags from the crew of a B-24 Bomber by Chinese President Jiang Zemin to President Bill Clinton during meetings in Manila on 23 November 1996. This mission highlights the long process of identification of remains and the building of a relationship with a nation quite different in political structure from the United States. It is also notable because of the large amount of work the Lab and Casualty Data Sections did this year to resolve the case. Media attention to this case generated public interest and worldwide coverage. This case truly demonstrates that the recovery of missing service members can cross all borders, boundaries and political obstacles.
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| Soldiers taking cover in foxholes during WWII |
Despite the successes noted above and exhibited in further detail in Appendix A, it must be said that CILHI is currently executing WWII investigations and recoveries by exception. Congressional interest is a primary reason that current cases are investigated and subsequently excavated. The organization has not been equipped with enough personnel and resources to complete more extensive operations; however, recent Department program actions may reverse the trend.
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| Figure 4: WWII Unaccounted-for by Region |
CILHI teams now conduct WWII investigations and excavations worldwide. In 1999 alone, CILHI conducted WWII field activities in England, Bulgaria, Germany, Panama, China, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Currently, over 150 sites in almost 30 countries worldwide are awaiting further investigation or excavation. This list is growing despite the fact that the U.S. Government does not proactively seek the disposition of each individual still unaccounted-for from WWII, as is the procedure for resolving the cases of individuals still missing from the Vietnam and Korean Wars. Instead, it actively pursues leads passed to it by private citizens and other governments. In addition, CILHI investigators ask about, and are frequently informed of, additional sites during each WWII field activity they conduct. Figure 4 shows the distribution of WWII unaccounted-for by region. Protocol Standardized procedures for handling reports of WWII remains sites have been developed over the years. In most instances, information is reported to the U.S. Defense Attaché (DATT) in a given country. The DATT performs an initial verification of the information before forwarding the package to CILHI. Occasionally a private citizen notifies CILHI or DPMO directly. CILHI conducts historical research on each report to determine if there are any unaccounted-for losses in the reported area and if the circumstances of the incident fit the description of the information forwarded. If warranted, the Casualty Data Section of CILHI forwards a questionnaire to the reporting party for additional information and clarification. If initial analysis indicates a potential for further action, the case is placed on the CILHI Worldwide Case List.
The U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIA Affairs, established in 1992 to investigate cases of Americans and Russians still unaccounted-for as a result of previous conflicts, also collects leads. U.S. personnel who work jointly with their Russian counterparts to collect information and follow leads permanently staff offices in Moscow. They forward WWII site information that requires investigation or excavation to DPMO and subsequently to CILHI.
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WWII O-47 loss site on the side of a
mountain in Panama. A CILHI recovery team has investigated the site and placed it on the excavation list. |
CILHI draws on a wide variety of recovery resources to overcome hazards such as loss sites precariously perched on cliffs, sites with an abundance of unexploded ordnance and sites in extremely remote, difficult-to-access areas. In 1994, for example, a CILHI team crossed a Himalayan glacier on horseback and on foot to recover the frozen remains of five U.S. airmen killed during WWII. Thus far, no WWII land-based site has been rejected for excavation because of safety concerns. However, access to some sites is temporarily delayed because of security concerns such as civil unrest or State Department restrictions related to foreign policy.
Not all underwater sites can be safely excavated, such as most deep-water ship and aircraft loss sites. There are likely more than 30,000 individuals whose remains are, if they still exist, located at such sites. Navy divers are used to conduct underwater recoveries since these are specialized skills that CILHI does not maintain. The Department of the Navy recognizes that the sea has always been considered a fit and final resting place for Navy and Marine Corps personnel. Nevertheless, reasonable efforts are made by the Navy’s Salvage and Recovery Program to accomplish specific underwater recoveries as humanitarian undertakings. Navy underwater recoveries must be scheduled so as not to conflict with other, time-critical salvage and recovery operations. Further, and more important, remains recoveries will not be undertaken if they put the lives of recovery team members at risk. Requirements for conducting underwater remains recoveries are shown in Figure 5.
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| Figure 5: Criteria for Underwater Recoveries |
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Figure 6: Sites by Region on the
CILHI Worldwide A, B and C Lists |
Additional factors weighed during the evaluation process are risks involved in the actual excavation process; availability of medical evacuation should a team member be injured or become ill; likelihood of success; accessibility of the site; weather and terrain conditions; requirements for special equipment and special training; whether or not remains have actually been observed at the site; whether or not an excavation was previously begun at the site and is awaiting completion; witness reliability; the estimated time it will take to close the site; and political and family interest in the site.
Teams conducting excavations in support of WWII deploy for periods ranging from 28 to 35 days. During each deployment, a team can normally excavate no more than one or two sites. Investigation teams normally deploy for 21 days, during which they are able to pursue 10 to 20 cases. CILHI personnel have an overwhelming operations pace, commonly spending over 200 days each year deployed, and rarely spending more than 45 days in succession at their home base. Their time at headquarters is spent writing detailed reports on the last deployment and doing extensive research and preparation for the next deployment. With information on new sites being gathered on a regular basis, and with no additional WWII assets, it will be extremely difficult for CILHI to reduce the number of backlogged cases awaiting excavation and investigation. Figures 7, 8 and 9 depict cases currently awaiting CILHI action.
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| Figure 7: Number of CILHI's A-List Sites per Country as of June 2000 |
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| Figure 8: Number of CILHI's B-List Sites per Country as of June 2000 |
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| Figure 9: Number of CILHI's C-List Sites per Country as of June 2000 |
The recent amendment of Section 1506, Title 10, United States Code has levied additional pressure on the DoD and CILHI. The amendment, found in Section 576, states that the Secretary of Defense shall make every reasonable effort to search for, recover and identify the remains of U.S. service members lost in the Pacific Theater during WWII while engaged in flight operations. The amendment further states that the Secretary of Defense shall consider increasing the number of personnel assigned to CILHI. Although the legislation highlights air operations in the Pacific, it also draws attention to the entire WWII recovery effort - an effort working at maximum capacity with current staffing authorizations.
The number of sites annually reported has increased dramatically in recent years. Persons engaged in enterprises such as timbering, mining and hunting are moving deeper into remote areas and finding sites previously beyond the reach of human activity. Expanded agricultural activity and new construction efforts in settled areas have unearthed evidence of remains or loss-related artifacts that were previously not visible. The expansion of mass communications has led to an increasing worldwide awareness of the ongoing U.S. effort to recover remains. Finally, during each deployment recovery teams learn of additional sites.
Germany and Japan also have programs to recover their WWII unaccounted-for. Japanese efforts began immediately following WWII and continue today throughout the Asia-Pacific region and in the former Soviet Union. Rather than return recovered remains to Japan, the Japanese cremate the remains at the recovery location. German recovery efforts began only recently and focus primarily on mass graves in the former Soviet Union. The Germans inter recovered remains near the recovery locations in individual plots in military cemeteries. DPMO is endeavoring to ensure that American remains are not mistakenly recovered and cremated, or reburied, by Japanese or German recovery teams so that they are forever lost to U.S. recovery efforts. Nonetheless, the best method to prevent this from occurring is to locate and excavate the sites of America’s unaccounted-for as expediently as possible.
The vast area involved, and the potentially large number of recoverable remains, presents an enormous challenge to the U.S. government. It is not known how many of the more than 78,000 still unaccounted-for individuals are potentially recoverable; however, certain limiting factors exist. Most personnel lost at sea are unrecoverable. This number is likely more than 30,000 and includes not only seamen but also Army personnel lost during transport on naval ships, as well as Navy and Army Air Corps aircrew whose aircraft crashed at sea. Additional remains were unknowingly destroyed or permanently lost to the recovery effort during wartime artillery bombardments and bombing strikes, as well as during building efforts during the post-war reconstruction period. Finally, a large number of remains have been destroyed through the passage of time, exposure to elements and circumstances of loss, such as fire and explosion.
CILHI, working with DPMO and the services, must develop a deliberate, proactive plan to search for, recover, and identify the remains of service members unaccounted-for as a result of WWII. The Department of Defense must analyze the circumstances and regions of loss for the more than 78,000 individuals still unaccounted-for. Determinations must be made as to how many individuals are permanently lost because of the nature and/or location of their loss incidents. Research, analysis and recovery efforts can then prioritize recovery assets to focus on individuals and geographic areas where recoveries are deemed most probable. The Department of Defense must develop a carefully balanced plan that will not only comply with new legislation that highlights aviators lost over the Pacific but also ensure continued efforts on behalf of all Americans lost during WWII, whether in the Asia-Pacific or European Theaters and whether engaged in flight, naval or ground activity.
Given the high volume of cases already known to exist in Papua New Guinea, the Department of Defense must consider the advisability of establishing a small detachment in Papua New Guinea to actively collect new leads in the Pacific. As in Southeast Asia, forward-deployed offices are expected to attract individuals with new information, determine the value of newly reported information and conduct preliminary site visits. The offices can also facilitate the throughput of deploying and redeploying teams.
CILHI must grow sufficient recovery staff that are solely dedicated to the WWII mission, to aggressively pursue both current and future cases on the Worldwide A, B and C Lists. CILHI also requires sufficient anthropological support for field activities as well as for ongoing forensic analysis at CILHI. In addition, both DPMO and CILHI require sufficient analytic support to enable a proactive approach to the WWII recovery effort. Finally, DPMO must ensure adequate policy support for all related issues. Staffing requirements and funding are detailed in figures 11, 12, 13 and 14.
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| Figure 10: Necessary Steps for the New WWII Mission |
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Figure 11: CILHI's Additional
Staffing Requirements for the New WWII Mission |
CILHI will require two WWII-specific investigation/ recovery teams and an increase in support staff to fully support the increased mission (see figure 11). The global team will focus on real time recoveries; back-fill other teams when necessary; conduct special, ad hoc recoveries; and support WWII efforts as it has done in the past. Initial estimates indicate CILHI needs a staffing increase of at least 25 persons, which provides for the staffing of the two WWII-dedicated teams and support personnel. Each nine-person team will consist of one team leader, one anthropologist, one non-commissioned officer in charge (NCOIC), one medic, three mortuary affairs specialists, one explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) specialist and one photographer. CILHI also requires two additional analysts to increase research efforts and a third anthropologist, in addition to the two anthropologists hired for the two teams, to ensure ongoing forensic analysis at CILHI during the deployment of field teams. This estimate presupposes that all staffing requirements already validated for CILHI are filled.
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Figure 12: DPMO's Proposed
Additional Personnel Requirements for the New WWII Mission |
As it does for the Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia recovery efforts, DPMO will fully support CILHI’s WWII efforts with analytic and policy support. At present, DPMO has no authorizations for WWII and is able to support the effort on an ad hoc basis only. To establish a full-time support program for the expanded WWII mission, DPMO will require three additional analysts – one each for Pacific air losses, worldwide naval losses and European Theater losses – and one policy officer.
Each WWII-dedicated team will conduct a minimum of five excavations each year. The global team will conduct up to five WWII excavations each year as permitted by other requirements. In addition to excavations, each WWII-dedicated team will conduct a minimum of four investigation activities annually. During each investigation, 10 to 20 sites will be visited; thus four annual investigation activities will result in the investigation of 40 to 80 sites in one year. The current global team will conduct additional investigation activity in support of WWII recoveries when possible. Northeast and Southeast Asia teams, when diverted from their primary mission for any reason, will augment the WWII effort. The two WWII-dedicated teams make investigations and excavations in the Pacific their priority, as mandated by new legislation. However, excavations will be done only on sites that have met all the excavation criteria. The expanded activity will ensure that by the start of FY 2003, 18 excavations and 15 investigation activities will be conducted annually in pursuit of the resolution of WWII cases. Figure 13 depicts the number of anticipated WWII field activities from 2000 through 2005.
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Figure 13: Number of Estimated
Investigations and Excavations with Two WWII Teams, Regular Global Team Assistance and Periodic Participation by Other Regional Teams |
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Figure 14: Estimated Annual Cost
Increases at CILHI for New WWII Activities |
The fully expanded WWII mission will increase CILHI's current annual spending levels by an estimated $3.5 million by the close of FY 2002 (see figure 14). For FY 2001, the increase includes one WWII team plus an additional anthropologist and two analysts. A second WWII team will be added in FY 2002. The costs also include the expansion of the current WWII mission by five excavations and four investigations in FY 2001 and doubling the number of deployments beginning with FY 2002.
DPMO annual increases to current spending levels will rise to $329,108 by the close of FY 2002. This increase reflects the addition of one policy officer and three policy-support analysts (see figure 15).
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| Figure 15: Estimated Annual Cost Increase at DPMO for New WWII Activities |
The following assumptions have been made in preparing this section:
| On behalf of my family, I want to express my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to your staff for the assistance you have provided to our family and my brother... Although our family had to wait for 54 years for my brother to come home, I do not want to wait another day without saying thank you for your help. |
| Letter to CILHI from primary next of kin of Lt. James Rex Ramsey, whose remains were recovered in an underwater excavation and identified by CILHI. Lt Ramsey perished in a B-24 Bomber during WWII. |
Ultimately, the success of the U.S. government’s accounting efforts is measured by the identifications of the remains of American service members. Recoveries without subsequent identifications are but hollow promises of full accounting.
As Figure 16 shows, the number of identifications has risen steadily since the early 1990s, going from an average of 0.08/week in 1992 to approximately 1.35/week in 1998-1999 and to a projected 2.0/week in 2000. There has also been an increase in World War II identifications. In fact, since 1990, approximately 27% (126) of the total 467 identifications CILHI has made have been of remains recovered from World War II theaters, and over half of those (66) have been made since 1998. This is due in part to an increase in staffing and resources during the late 1990s, although CILHI continues to suffer from unfilled staffing requirements. Ironically, the remains that have lain in the ground the longest, World War II losses, often offer the best overall potential for identifications primarily because of their relative inaccessibility. During and following World War II, Army Graves Registration personnel combed the battlefields for the remains of U.S. war dead. With access to most of the battlefields immediately after the war (the former Soviet Bloc countries being a notable exception), these Graves Registration units were able to recover all of the accessible remains. In general, those that were not recovered at the time were lost in remote areas and there were no clues or witnesses to the incident. Yet it is this relative remoteness that allows for the successful recovery and identification of these individuals some 55 to 60 years after their loss.
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| Figure 16: Number of Total Identifications from All Conflicts from 1993 to 2000 |
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| Forensic scientist searching for clues |
By virtue of being inaccessible, World War II loss sites often have not undergone the systemic scavenging that typifies loss sites in Vietnam and Laos and the former battlefields of North Korea. The result is that while the World War II sites initially may be harder to locate and difficult to reach, the remains often have lain undisturbed for five decades. This means that remains recovered from these sites usually are of sufficient quantity and quality to facilitate their identification. This is accentuated by the fact that the World War II machines of war, while terrible in their own right, often pale in comparison to those that followed. The destruction wrought upon a human body by an aircraft moving at 150 miles an hour at impact cannot compare with that of an aircraft moving at the speed of sound. Furthermore, World War II was the war of the heavy bomber. There remain a large number of World War II crash sites that involve 8 to12 crewmen, compared with air crashes involving 1 or 2 crewmen that are more commonly associated with Vietnam War losses.
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Anthropologists use teaching models
to discuss possibilities |
These factors culminate in a high degree of success for the identification of World War II remains. We estimate that more than of 95% of the remains recovered from World War II sites are eventually identified, compared with the approximately 75% for Vietnam War losses and less than 50% for remains recovered from North Korea (though this percentage is expected to increase as cooperation between our government and North Korea improves). As a result, even though less than 8% of the CILHI’s recovery assets are dedicated to World War II recoveries, almost 40% of the identifications made in the past two years have been of World War II service members. In addition, the CILHI case backlog includes a number of World War II remains that most likely will be identified as soon as additional laboratory resources become available.
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Marine Raiders Association Meeting
in Chicago, September 2000 |
The past suggests that the location and identification of WWII recovery sites will increase dramatically and at an unprecedented rate. There are several reasons for this.
Persons engaged in enterprises such as timbering, mining and hunting are moving deeper into remote areas and finding sites previously beyond the reach of human activity. As the nations of the Pacific basin continue to develop, large tracts of previously untouched land have been exposed to reveal numerous crash sites. In fact, worldwide expansions of agricultural activity and new construction efforts in settled areas have and will continue to unearth evidence of remains or loss-related artifacts that were previously not visible. This can be viewed as a positive situation in that CILHI, if informed, can investigate and subsequently excavate a larger number of sites. However, many items associated with crash sites are valuable, causing scavengers and souvenir hunters to disturb the wreckage and the remains in search of profit.
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CILHI recovered and identified all 10
members of the WWII B-24 Bomber crew that perished in China. Their subsequent burial at the Arlington National Cemetery attracted significant media attention, and highlighted the fact that there are over 78,000 still unaccounted-for from that conflict. |
News coverage on the search for Missing in Action is another trend directly related to both site discovery and possible disturbance. Stories about the mission and operations of CILHI have surfaced in numerous media including the Discovery Channel, the British Broadcasting Corporation, People magazine, U.S. News and World Report, the Korean Broadcasting Service and CBS News. This increasing trend was highlighted by the media coverage provided during a recent visit by the Secretary of Defense to one of the CILHI excavation sites in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Greater visibility of our government’s accounting process and the CILHI mission is occurring in other forms as well. Other nations starting their own search and recovery operations using a CILHI model demonstrate that the United States has been instrumental in the growing importance of recovering and accounting for war dead. While Japan began its efforts immediately following WWII, it continues to actively pursue the recovery of its lost service members throughout the Asia-Pacific Theater and in various parts of the former Soviet Union. Some programs are newer. Most notably, German recovery efforts began only recently and focus primarily on mass graves in the former Soviet Union. Recovered remains are interred in individual plots in military cemeteries near the recovery locations. Additional interest has come from other countries, including Russia and the United Kingdom. Australian recovery efforts began in the aftermath of the war with the commissioning of Royal Australian Air Force officer Squadron Leader Keith Rundle to resolve the fate of missing RAAF aircraft and crews throughout the Southwest Pacific area. This geographical area included all countries over which both the U.S. 5th and 13th Air Forces operated, except Japan. Rundle retired in 1967 and having resolved hundreds of cases, including the mass graves at Rabaul, which also contained U.S. airmen. The Australians worked directly with US recovery personnel on several cases in the immediate aftermath of the war. This international interest can only help in our continuing efforts to recover and account for our missing countrymen.
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Repatriation Ceremony at Hickam AFB,
Hawaii. The remains of those returning heroes were taken to CILHI for identification. The Department is dedicated to the fullest possible accounting of our nation's service members. |
Although it has been possible to redirect assets and carefully balance resources to meet all Southeast Asia and Korea requirements and still conduct 13 operations to recover WWII war dead during FY 2000, this approach will become more difficult as our list of required WWII recovery cases grows at an increasing pace.
Currently, seven excavations and four investigations compose the eleven World War II-related missions scheduled for FY 2001. The Department, through CILHI, is ready to carry out the United States government’s mission to recover our nation’s fallen from WWII, within the policy allocation of resources.
"Keeping the promise" to recover those that paid the ultimate price for our freedom is a moral duty. The sacrifice these heroes and their families made deserves to be matched with our nation’s unwavering oath to accomplish the fullest possible accounting. It is right to renew the pledge to this nation that its heroes are "not to be forgotten."
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Figure 17: Backlog of Laboratory
Accessions (n=930) by Conflict, as of September 2000 |
Figure 17 shows the total number of accessions, subdivided by conflict, currently at CILHI. It is important to recognize that each accession does NOT represent a single individual. An accession represents remains or possible remains accepted into the laboratory, which could comprise multiple individuals, a single individual or a partial individual. Some may not be human remains associated with any individual. The accessions are received from different sources, most commonly CILHI excavations and unilateral turnovers. CILHI excavations usually result in better identification potential because of the control over provenance (spatial location) and a thorough recovery. Unilateral turnovers are commonly received from foreign governments or refugees and lack important background information. Often, unilateral turnovers consist of only a very small fragment of bone that is received with a fraudulent name association. Even when valid information is received with the remains, they are normally too small to have any identification potential (it is CILHI policy to retain all remains, regardless of the size and condition, that could possibly be associated with missing American soldiers in case technological advances make additional analysis possible). In other situations, such as the numerous accessions unilaterally received from North Korea (approximately 80% of the Korea accessions are unilateral turnovers received between 1990 and 1994), the remains consist of commingled bones from multiple individuals. Because of the extensive commingling and lack of background information, this type of situation is very complex and requires a considerable analytical effort to sort the remains and make identifications. In summary, the total number of accessions at CILHI represents an unknown number of individuals, and there is considerable variation in the identification potential of each case.
Section 566 of the FY 1999 National Defense Authorization Act directed the Department to develop a joint manning plan to ensure the appropriate participation of the four services in the staffing of CILHI. This legislation tasks the Department to realign CILHI military staffing in accordance with the proportion of Prisoners of War and Missing Personnel from the four Military Services. On June 23, 2000, Deputy Secretary of Defense Rudy de Leon approved the joint manning plan for CILHI. The plan effectively allocates resources throughout the services and ensures that proper staffing of CILHI is maintained.
The joint plan will be phased in over a three-year period beginning in FY 2002. The initial plan was developed with the current staffing level of 177 personnel spaces. However, Program Decision Memorandum 1, signed by the Deputy Secretary of Defense in August, directed that CILHI be authorized an additional 70 spaces (both military and civilian) to accommodate an increased emphasis on Korean War investigation, recovery and identification operations as well as the legislative requirements for WWII operations. These increases will begin in FY 2001 with the authorization of an additional 22 civilian billets.
Although the plan will jointly staff CILHI, the organization will remain a sub directorate of the Adjutant General of the U.S. Army under the direction of the Casualty and Memorial Affairs Operations Center. CILHI will not be a joint organization. Title 10, Chapter 32, Joint Officer Management provides specific guidelines for affording Joint Duty Assignment (JDA) credit to service members assigned to joint organizations. However, CILHI is not currently a joint organization and the requirements to afford JDA credit to incoming personnel have not been determined. DPMO and OSD Personnel & Readiness will be exploring this as a future option for CILHI.
The list of WWII loss sites awaiting investigation and excavation continues to grow. The current paucity of assets available to research the sites, conduct field activity and conduct forensic analysis of recovered remains has contributed to the backlog of cases awaiting action. Steps outlined in this report, when implemented, will ensure an aggressive, proactive Department of Defense effort to search for, recover and identify the remains of persons still unaccounted-for from WWII. The expanded WWII recovery effort will place an enormous burden on staffing in all agencies connected to the accounting process. However, the Department of Defense has a responsibility to the men and women of the armed forces, as well as to the families of the unaccounted-for, to fulfill its obligation of the fullest possible accounting, and it takes that responsibility very seriously.
DoD/DPMO Fiscal Year 2000 World War II Report to Congress - Annex
[1] The Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Service, and the Department of State report the current number of Americans who are unaccounted for in Southeast Asia as 1,994, as of 18 September 2000.
[2] The numbers in this paragraph are approximations of numbers listed in literature produced by the American Battle Monuments Commission.
[3] The term “unaccounted-for” as used in this paper defines individuals whose remains have not been individually recovered, identified and buried. As such it includes individuals whose remains have been left at incident sites, such as approximately 1,100 persons entombed in the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.
[4] Navy losses include burials at sea.
[5] Current loss numbers are from the American Battle Monuments Commission.
[6] Accession: An Accession is defined as the one-time receipt at the laboratory of biological (remains) or material (artifacts) evidence from a single incident. It may represent one or more individuals provided those individuals were lost in the same incident (e.g., aircraft crash). [Evidence from the same incident received at different times are assigned separate accession numbers. Similarly, evidence from multiple incidents received at the same time are assigned multiple accession numbers.]