Military labs do the detective work to identify soldiers decades after they died in World War II

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. — Generations of American families have grown up not knowing exactly what happened to their loved ones who died serving their country in World War II and other conflicts.

But a federal laboratory tucked above the bowling alley at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha and a sister laboratory in Hawaii are steadily answering these lingering questions, with the goal of offering 200 families a year the opportunity to honor their relatives with a proper funeral.

“They may not have even been alive when that military member was alive, but that story has been passed down through the generations,” said Carrie Brown, laboratory manager for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency at Offutt. “Maybe they saw it on the mantle, a photo of that person when he was little and didn’t really understand or know who he was.”

Memorial Day and the upcoming 80th anniversary of D-Day on June 6 are reminders of the urgency of Brown’s work. The forensic anthropologists, medical researchers and historians working together to identify lost soldiers are in a race against time as remains buried on battlefields around the world deteriorate.

But advances in DNA technology, combined with innovative techniques including comparing bones to chest X-rays taken by the military, are allowing labs to identify more missing soldiers every year. About 72,000 soldiers from World War II are still missing, along with about 10,000 more from all conflicts since then. The experts believe that about half of them can be recovered.

The agency identified 59 service members in 2013, when the Offutt lab first opened. That number has been steadily increasing — 159 service members last year, up from 134 in 2022 — and the labs have a goal of 200 identifications per year.

Thanks to the labs’ work, Donna Kennedy was able to meet her cousin, Cpl. Charles Ray Patten, this month with full military honors at the same cemetery in Lawson, Missouri, where his father and grandfather are buried. Patten died 74 years ago during the Korean War, but spent decades unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.

‘I was just in pain. I mean, it hurt. You know, I just felt so bad. Even though I didn’t know him, I loved him,” Kennedy said.

Patten’s funeral was a simple affair with only a few family members. But often when veterans who fought decades earlier are identified, people line the streets of their hometowns waving flags and signs to announce the return of their remains.

“This work is important first and foremost because these are individuals who gave their lives to protect our freedom, and they made the ultimate sacrifice. So we’re keeping the promise here that we’re going to get them home to their families,” Brown said.

“It’s important that their families show them that no matter what happens, we will never stop,” she said.

Often there are compelling details, Brown said.

One of her first cases involved the intact remains of a World War I Marine found in a forest in France with his wallet still in his pocket. The wallet, with the initials GH, contained a New York Times article detailing plans for the offensive in which he ultimately died. He also had an infantryman badge with his name and the year he received it on the back.

Before leaving France with the remains, the team visited a local cemetery where other soldiers were buried and discovered that there were only two missing soldiers with the initials GH.

Brown had a good idea who that soldier was before his remains even arrived at the lab. That veteran was buried at Arlington National Cemetery and Brown often visits his grave when she is in Washington DC

Most cases are not that simple.

The experts working in the laboratory must piece together identities by looking at historical records of where the remains were found and which soldiers were in the area. They then consult the list of possible names and use the bones, objects found, military medical records and DNA to confirm their identity. They focus on battles and plane crashes where they have the greatest chance of success because of the available information.

But their work can be complicated when soldiers are buried in a temporary cemetery and moved when a unit has to withdraw. And unidentified soldiers were often buried together.

When remains are brought to the laboratory, they sometimes include an extra bone. Experts then spend months or even years matching the bones and waiting for DNA and other test results to confirm their identities.

One test can even reveal whether the soldier grew up eating mostly rice or a corn-based diet.

The lab also compares specific features of collarbones to the chest X-rays the military routinely takes of soldiers before they deploy. It helps that the military keeps extensive records of all soldiers.

These clues help the experts piece together the puzzle of a person’s identity.

“It’s not always easy. It’s certainly not immediate,” Brown said. “For some cases we really have to fight to get to that place, because some have been missing for 80 years.”