US-India joint effort to recover the remains of over 400 personnel missing during World War II
FILE PHOTO: In this 2014 photo, a gardener walks past the preserved outlines of a tennis court around where some of the fiercest battles were fought in Kohima, now part of the Kohima War Cemetery, the final resting place of more than 1,420 Commonwealth servicemen of World War II, in Kohima, India. (AP Photo/Yirmiyan Arthur)
By:
Pramod Kumar
THE US department of defense has partnered with Gandhinagar-based National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) to step up efforts to recover the remains of its over 400 personnel who had gone missing in India during World War II.
Scientific experts at the University will help the defense prisoner of war/missing in action accounting agency (DPAA) to recover and identify these missing personnel.
The DPAA mission project manager at NFSU, Dr Gargi Jani, has said that these agencies will locate, identify, and repatriate the remains of the service members from America’s past conflicts including World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and Iraq and Persian Gulf Wars.
“There are over 81,800 department of defense personnel of the US who are still unaccounted for from these wars and over 400 are missing in India. The NFSU will scientifically and logistically assist the DPAA in their mission,” said Jani.
“We are privileged and enthusiastic to enter into this formal partnership with Indias National Forensic Science University. Their renowned expertise and capabilities will advance our efforts to find and recover the remains of Americans missing from World War II in India,” said Kelly McKeague, DPAA director.
NFSU vice-chancellor Dr J M Vyas said the partnership with the DPAA will enable the scientific exchange in the areas of forensic anthropology and odontology and develop best practices for human identification.
“The NFSU has always taken a lead to promote forensics in a criminal investigation. This kind of partnership will create unique research opportunities and student exchange also,” he said in a statement.
The DPAA has also established a three-way partnership with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and the NSFU with the virtual signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on May 27, to develop academic exchanges and cooperation in teaching and research.
The DAPP recently facilitated the last rites of US citizen Justin G Mills (25) who had died in World War II in 1943.
“Marine Corps Reserve First Lt. Justin G.Mills of Galveston, Texas, killed during World War II, was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery May 26, 2021. In November 1943, Mills was killed on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to secure the island in the fight with Japanese forces,” according to the DAPP website.
“His remains were reportedly buried in the Central Division Cemetery, and later to the Lone Palm Cemetery on Betio Island. Mills was recovered in 2014 and accounted for in 2019. Mills niece and nephew were on hand to finally welcome their uncle home and lay him to rest.”
The Gilbert Islands after its independence from the British are now called the Republic of Kiribati and it is an independent island nation in the central Pacific Ocean.
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