Military labs do detective work to identify soldiers decades after their deaths in World War II.

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

But a federal lab nestled above the bowling alley at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha and a sister lab in Hawaii are answer those lingering questions regularlyaiming to offer 200 families per year the opportunity to honor their loved ones with a dignified burial.

“They may not have even been alive when this service member was alive, but this story is passed down through the generations,” said Carrie Brown, laboratory manager for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency at Offutt. “They may have seen a picture of this person on the mantle when they were little and didn’t really understand who they were.”

Memorial Day and the upcoming 80th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, serve as a reminder of the urgency of Brown's work. Forensic anthropologists, forensic pathologists and historians working together to identify lost soldiers are engaged in a race against time as the remains buried on battlefields around the world deteriorate.

But advances in DNA technology, combined with innovative techniques including comparing bones with chest X-rays taken by the military, allow labs to identify more missing soldiers each year. Some 72,000 soldiers from World War II are still missing, along with around 10,000 other casualties from all the conflicts that followed. Experts estimate that about half of them are recoverable.

The agency identified 59 service members in 2013, when the Offutt laboratory opened. This number has continued to increase – 159 military personnel last year, compared to 134 in 2022 – and the laboratories have a target of 200 identifications per year.

Lab work allowed Donna Kennedy to bury her cousin, Cpl. Charles Ray Patten, with full military honors this month in 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 buried as unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.

“I just felt bad. I mean, it hurts. You know, I 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 waving flags and signs line the streets of their hometowns to announce the return of their remains.

“This work is important above all because these are individuals who gave their lives to protect our freedom and who paid the ultimate sacrifice. So we are here with the promise that we will bring them home to their families,” Brown said.

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

There are often compelling details, Brown said.

One of his 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 portfolio, initialed GH, contained a New York Times article describing plans for the offensive during which he ultimately died. He also wore an infantryman's 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 learned that only two missing soldiers with the initials GH remained.

Brown had a good idea who this soldier was before his remains even arrived at the lab. This 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.

Experts working at the lab must piece together identities by examining historical records showing where the remains were found and which soldiers were in the area. They then look at the list of possible names and use the bones, items found with them, military medical records and DNA to confirm their identity. They focus on battles and plane crashes where they have the greatest chance of success with the information available.

But their job could be complicated if soldiers were buried in a temporary cemetery and moved when a unit was forced to retreat. And unidentified soldiers were often buried together.

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

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

The lab also compares specific characteristics of the clavicles to chest X-rays that the military routinely took on soldiers before deployment. It is helpful for the military to keep detailed records of all soldiers.

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

“It's not always easy. It's certainly not instantaneous,” Brown said. “In some cases, we really have to fight to get to that point, because some of them haven't been around for 80 years »