Finding the fallen
During World War II, more than 2,000 American pilots and crew members were lost over Papua New Guinea. Now a Pentagon team is trying to bring them home.
DAY 1
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Army Major George Eyster (left) led a team to Papua New Guinea in search of two World War II fighter pilots who went missing more than 60 years ago.
PHOTO GALLERY Scenes from the recovery mission
(By Bryan Bender and Kevin Baron, Globe Staff and Correspondent) |
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In search of closure
Even after six decades, Gill Thorpe of North Kingstown, R.I., remains haunted by his brother's disappearance over the South Pacific.
Interactive graphic
McCown's last flight
Follow the path Capt. Marion R. McCown took on his final bombing run.
PHOTO GALLERIES
A day in paradise
Little Pigeon Island in Blanche Bay offered a respite from strenuous recovery work.
DAY 2
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Spurred by a first-hand knowledge of the horrors of war, recovery leaders like George Eyster (left), make it their mission to bring home MIAs who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their country. (By Bryan Bender and Kevin Baron, Globe Staff and Correspondent)
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Bones can reveal family secrets
Identifying the remains of soldiers with DNA carries a thorny byproduct -- the potential to uncover false paternity cases.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
DNA lab unlocks secrets of identity
Anthropologists at a Hawaii laboratory are using cutting-edge technology to identify the remains of servicemen.
DAY 3
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The signatures of four women scratched into a plane wreck on Papua New Guinea offered a reminder of the generation of females who flocked to factories during World War II. The names also left a trail of stories back to Tuscon, Ariz. (By Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff)
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VIDEO
Answering her
call to duty
Frances Millbrandt, 93, of Tuscon, Ariz., helped build planes for World War II.
The MIA Project
The Pentagon launched the mission of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) on Oct. 1, 2003, to recover the remains of tens of thousands of MIAs from foreign wars. The organization, which identifies six missing servicemen each month on average, utilizes the largest forensic anthropology laboratory in the world and 15 teams that travel the globe on recovery missions. This is the story of one such recovery mission in Papua New Guinea.
Meet The JPAC recovery team
Scroll through a gallery to learn more about the members of the recovery team that performed the Papua New Guinea project. |
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