In a remarkable mission to honor history and provide closure to grieving families, a dedicated group from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln embarked on a six-week expedition to France. Their goal: to search for soldiers who disappeared during World War II.
Under the leadership of anthropology professor Bill Belcher, the team, comprised of students, professors, and alumni, diligently worked from dawn till dusk. Belcher shared with Nebraska Today that the team utilized a method known as screening, meticulously sifting through soil to uncover potential artifacts. For more about this technique, you can read the full article here.
This mission is part of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense. While participants must keep their discoveries confidential, all findings are dispatched to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base. This lab, located in Bellevue, is dedicated to the identification of missing military personnel. More information about the DPAA’s work can be found here.
For the students, this endeavor was not just about uncovering history but also gaining invaluable practical experience in forensic anthropology.
Professor Belcher emphasized the educational impact of the project, noting the significance of personal identity and anthropology’s role in understanding it. He remarked, “The family has still passed down these losses, and they still grieve, in a sense, for those members that never came home. And so, we’re trying to give them some closure to that grief and bring these people home,” during an interview with Nebraska Public Media. His full statement can be accessed here.
The mission underscores the ongoing efforts to recover approximately 26,000 individuals still missing from World War II, highlighting the persistent impact of history on present-day lives.
