U.S. Officials Search for WWII POW/MIAs on Wake Island

Greg Berg and Denise To excavate a dig site Jan. 12, 2008 on Wake Island. Mr. Greg and Ms. To, forensic anthropologists, were sent to do a site survey after Wake Island officials notified the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command of bones located on the island. JPAC officials are charged with achieving the fullest possible accounting of all Americans missing as a result of past conflicts. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo)

A memorial to prisoners of war is seen Jan. 12 on Wake Island. The "98 Rock" is a memorial for the 98 U.S. civilian contract POWs who were forced by their Japanese captors to rebuild the airstrip as slave labor, then blind-folded and killed by machine gun Oct. 5, 1943. An unidentified prisoner escaped, and chiseled "98 US PW 5-10-43" on a large coral rock near their mass grave, on Wilkes Island at the edge of the lagoon. The prisoner was recaptured and beheaded by the Japanese admiral, who was later convicted and executed for war crimes. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo)

Greg Berg uses a sifter to look for bone and artifacts at a dig site Jan. 12 on Wake Island. Mr. Berg, a forensic anthropologist, was sent to do a site survey after Wake Island officials notified the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command of bones located on the island. JPAC officials are charged with achieving the fullest possible accounting of all Americans missing as a result of past conflicts. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo)

Greg Berg and Denise To excavate a dig site Jan. 12, 2008 on Wake Island. Mr. Greg and Ms. To, forensic anthropologists, were sent to do a site survey after Wake Island officials notified the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command of bones located on the island. JPAC officials are charged with achieving the fullest possible accounting of all Americans missing as a result of past conflicts. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo)

A C-17 Globemaster III sits on the flightline Jan. 12 at Wake Island. The C-17, from the 15th Airlift Wing from Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, brought members of Pacific Air Forces headquarters to conduct a site survey of the island. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo)

Living History:

WAKE ISLAND, Jan. 17, 2008 (AFPN) -- A team of anthropologists sent by Joint Prisoner of War Missing in Action Accounting Command officials began to dig on Wake Island to determine if they have found World War II prisoners of war.

When a contractor doing asbestos abatement work on the island discovered what appeared to be human remains, Wake Island officials contacted JPAC.

JPAC sent Greg Berg and Denise To from its Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, headquarters to investigate.

JPAC officials are charged with achieving the fullest possible accounting of all Americans missing as a result of past conflicts. There are an estimated 35,000 missing persons from World War II alone, not counting those deemed lost at sea or entombed in sunken vessels.

Wake Island was the site of a fierce World War II battle, coinciding with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. American forces surrendered the island on Dec. 23, 1941, and the Japanese held it until September 1945, when a Marine detachment regained control for America.

The remains may be those of 98 American civilian contractors, who were held as prisoners of war to perform forced labor for the Japanese and then executed in 1943.

"We're looking to see if we have found any little bits of human bone or even possibly artifacts that might be related to the incident," he said. "So I'm looking for anything from shells to rounds to buttons, any sort of personal effects, coins, and they really stand out against the background of shell debris."

The job is tantamount to looking for a needle in a haystack, only you're not sure there is a needle in the haystack. It's a tedious process that takes time -- and on this overnight trip, time is the one thing this team doesn't have much of.

"We've got five hours of daylight today and maybe three tomorrow," Mr. Berg said. "We're moving at max speed to get this done. We sent out two anthropologists to tackle this because we knew we had such a short period of time."

And after hours of digging and sifting, the team's efforts paid off. After excavating only a one meter square section of earth, they've bagged-and-tagged the lower quarter of the skeleton. They suspect there is more to be found in the area.

They'll fly the remains back to Hickam AFB, where scientists will analyze the remains.

(Story by Tech. Sgt. Chris Vadnais, Air Force News Agency.)

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