In Search of MIA from One Fateful Day in 1943: Florida Gulf Coast University Partners with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) to Bring Servicemen Home

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Applying the Power of Partnerships to the Search for America's Missing in Action" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) recently formed a partnership with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). In June 2019, FGCU participated in its first mission, the investigation of a World War II aircraft crash in Germany. For FGCU, this was the culmination of several initial endeavors. It was the first joint effort between the Departments of Justice Studies and Social Sciences. Undergraduate students from the Anthropology Program with archaeological experience and graduate students in forensic anthropology participated. Our crew of 10 students, two professors, a forensics lab manager, a CRM archaeologist, a linguist, a DPAA EOD, and an Air Force medic worked together very efficiently. Our methods included traditional archaeological and forensic archaeology techniques, with an emphasis on metal detection. Our team was the first to excavate this crash site. Although we had the whole team on site for only about three weeks, we excavated 20 4 x 4 m units and investigated three possible bomb or impact craters within the site. We identified many screenfuls of small pieces of aircraft wreckage and collected possible material evidence. Some of this evidence may correlate the site with the plane. Our debriefing with the DPAA indicated our mission was successful.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Applying the Power of Partnerships to the Search for America's Missing in Action   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32449