image
US investigating team believes Indian field evidence may provide answer to WWII unaccounted-for-personnel
Kolkata, Jun 1 (IBNS): The US Consulate General Kolkata recently hosted a talk titled The Anatomy of a Dig: Forensic Science and Anthropology, Two Sides of the Same Coin.
It was followed by an interactive session by Lt. Col. Kevin M Pritz and Dr Meghan-Tomasita Cosgriff-Hernandez of the US Department of Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency (DPAA).
They discussed how the various facets of forensic science and anthropology play a vital role in assisting the DPAA in recovering the remains of missing US soldiers.
DPAA is said to manage the largest forensic anthropology lab in the world, where researches sift through the remains of missing service members from World War II, Korea and Vietnam, then try to match them to DNA and return them to their loved ones.
The Government of India and DPAA have a history of cooperation in this significant undertaking.
With full support from Government of India, the DPAA conducted field activities in Arunachal Pradesh, India from November 1 – December 14, 2016, in search of US World War II unaccounted for personnel.
The DPAA team recovered evidence that was subsequently examined by a Joint Forensic Review Committee comprising both DPAA and Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) members.
On December 7, 2016, the committee determined that the evidence was possibly correlated to the US WWII service members unaccounted for from that region, and recommended the remains and material evidence be transported to a DPAA laboratory for further analysis.
In June 2017, DPAA personnel will escort the evidence from Kolkata to the US laboratory in Honolulu, Hawaii, for analysis.
This activity marked the seventh mission relating to US unaccounted for personnel conducted in India.
Past missions include three recovery missions during 2008 and 2009 in Arunachal Pradesh, one investigation in Tripura in 2013, one investigation in Assam and Nagaland in 2014, one recovery in Arunachal Pradesh in 2015, and one investigation in Arunachal Pradesh 2016.
Top Headlines
-
News
Job-providing people-intensive firms deserve preferential taxation rate: Chocko Valliappa on Union Budget
February 01, 2025
-
News
Chocko Valliappa on Centre for Excellence in AI for education sector in Union Budget
February 01, 2025
-
News
Budget 2025: FM delights middle-class with upto 12 lakh tax exemption, woos poll-bound Bihar
February 01, 2025
-
News
Union Budget 2025: Laxman Jaiswal calls depreciating rupee, declining stock market as critical challenges faced by Indian economy
January 22, 2025
-
News
Donald Trump takes oath as 47th US President
January 21, 2025
-
News
Sona SPEED partners Sarla Aviation to design-make critical components for eVTOL air taxi
January 20, 2025
-
News
Magh Bihu celebrated in Kolkata
January 15, 2025
-
News
Justin Trudeau announces resignation as Canada's PM amid rising pressure by partymates
January 06, 2025
-
News
30 shots fired in mass shooting outside New York nightclub that injured 11: NYPD
January 02, 2025
-
News
Truck driver who rammed into New Orleans crowd flying ISIS flag identified as US Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar
January 02, 2025
