Halifax university's technology to help U.S. find missing soldiers on ex-battlefields
An archeological team from Saint Mary's University will travel to France this summer to use ground-penetrating radar and other technology to assist a United States defence agency recover and identify military personnel missing since the Second World War.
The team from the anthropology department at the Halifax university has agreed to work with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which is responsible for identifying the remains of missing soldiers, sailors and aircrew from past conflicts.
Anthropology professor Jonathan Fowler, one of Canada's leading researchers in archeological geophysics and remote sensing, said he received an email "kinda out of the blue" from the director of the U.S. agency in 2017.
The email, he said, "told us that their mandate is so vast that they are always looking for partners to help do this work," Fowler said in an interview. "Word had gotten out on what we were doing so we came up on their radar and they reached out."
The professor works with ground-penetrating radar, which uses radio waves to locate the depth of buried objects. He also uses magnetic surveys and aerial lidar mapping, which uses lasers to map the surface of the earth.
Fowler's previous research was used to map burials associated with the 1873 sinking of the SS Atlantic near Lower Prospect, N.S., and to identify nearly 300 unmarked graves in the pre-deportation Acadian cemetery at Grand-Pre National Historic Site. He was also called to help the Sipekne'katik First Nation in Nova Scotia locate potential graves at the former Shubenacadie Indian Residential School site.
"We worked with Saint Mary's to create a proper memorandum of understanding with our American colleagues, and now we are embarking on this new collaboration," Fowler said.
Fowler said the university's technology was intriguing to the U.S. agency, which doesn't normally use radar or magnetic surveys at most of its dig sites.
"They initially came to us looking for traditional boots on the ground, field technician-type assistance," he said. "In our conversations with them we pointed out that there are all sorts of things you might gain from trying these (relatively) new technologies."
Saint Mary's adjunct professor Aaron Taylor is to direct the first field project, scheduled for July, which will focus on a Second World War bomber crash site in northwestern France. Taylor said he will be taking with him a crew of 16, including eight of the most qualified students from across Canada.
It's likely the team will find some remains, he said, because of the meticulous research the U.S. agency has already done in France.
"This site has been investigated and based on the records and the mission report it's been viewed that there is someone in the debris," Taylor said. "We are assigned to try to find enough bone material to make an identification."
The professor said any material found at the site will be sent to a lab in Hawaii, which will conduct the painstaking process of identification.
Taylor, who has a passion for military history, said it frustrates him that Canada doesn't have a similar program to find its missing in action. Instead, he said, Canada employs a forensic anthropologist -- working with a small budget -- to identify remains of missing military personnel who are unintentionally unearthed, usually by farmers and construction developers and mostly in European battlefields.
Taylor said there are 1,855 Canadian aircrew who are listed as missing in action.
"We know where a lot of these crashes are, they're in after-action mission reports," he said. "So my ultimate goal is to have a program for Canada. We have a sacred duty to when possible bring our missing home and provide closure to their families."
According to its website, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency searches for missing personnel from the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf Wars and other recent conflicts. The agency says more than 81,500 American service personnel remain missing.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.