Crew sets out
to recover
World War II
remains
An 11-member crew will travel to Papua New Guinea this coming week to recover the remains of nine American servicemen who were on a B-24 bomber that went down during World War II, officials said Friday.
The 35-day mission comes just three months after a helicopter carrying recovery experts on the same mission crashed off the coast of the island state.
In May a helicopter chartered by the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii (CILHI), based at Hickam Air Force Base, crashed, killing the craft's Australian pilot.
The passengers -- three lab personnel and a representative from the Papua New Guinea National Museum -- survived, but the recovery mission was suspended and officials recalled the 13-member team to Hawaii.
The new team, including two forensic anthropologists and an explosive ordnance disposal technician, will travel to the bomber's rain-forest excavation site at an elevation of 10,800 feet.
The site was discovered in the mountains near Yalumet Village in Morobe province during an investigation in April 2002.
Investigators from the Army lab visited the site in November and discovered human remains and personal effects, including identification tags, officials said.
The bomber is believed to be from the Army Air Corps' 43rd Bomb Group that left Dobodura, New Guinea, on a reconnaissance mission in 1943.
The remains will be returned to the Army lab at Hickam, where they will be examined by forensic experts for positive identification.
CILHI spokeswoman Ginger Couden estimates there are about 200 additional crash sites in Papua New Guinea from World War II.
