Central Identification Laboratory (CILHI) News Release
CILHI Team Leaves For Papua New Guninea To Recover WWII Remains
January 3, 2003
CILHI Official Homepage

HICKAM AFB, Hawaii - A search and recovery team from the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii will deploy next week to Papua New Guinea to excavate a crash site of a World War II B-24D aircraft that went down with nine service members.

CILHI located the crash site in the mountains of Bugiau Village in the upper Mumeng District in Lae Morobe Province during an investigation in November 2002. A Papua New Guinea local came across the site while hunting. The local later reported it to the officials who contacted the American Embassy. The information was passed to CILHI and an investigation element was deployed.

The investigative element surveyed the site and discovered human remains and personal affects from what is believed to be a B-24 bomber and a crew that belonged to the 360th Service Group. The aircraft had left Nadzab, New Guinea on a training mission in 1944 when it went missing. A pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier, aerial engineer, radio operator and three gunners were aboard when the aircraft crashed.

The nine-person CILHI team heading to Papua New Guinea consists of a team leader, team sergeant, medic, a forensic anthropologist, an explosive ordnance disposal technician, a photographer and several mortuary affairs specialists.

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