It's been 73 years since a C-124 Globemaster II,
carrying 52 military members, tragically crashed into Mount Gannett in
the Chugach Mountains of eastern Alaska, 40 miles from its destination
of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
It's believed the crash created an avalanche that, in some places,
caused debris to be covered in hundreds of feet of drifted snow. Because
of extremely challenging conditions, recovery efforts were terminated
after one week, leaving the service members and their memories frozen in
time for six decades. Then, in 2012, a survival raft was discovered on
the north-flowing Colony Glacier, roughly 12 miles from the original
crash site, just above Lake George.
Since the discovery, members from numerous organizations have
gathered every summer to search the glacier for more remains in
Operation Colony Glacier, an effort to identify and bring home the men
who perished. Among the organizations that are a part of the operation,
the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System plays a crucial role.
For the past eight years, Carlos Colon, Armed Forces Medical Examiner
System medicolegal death investigator, has been a part of the
operation.
"So, 2017 was the first time I flew onto Colony Glacier," Colon said.
"That trip was basically a site visit where we assessed a number of
things. After that trip, we started discussions about the benefits of
having somebody from AFMES being involved in the search and recovery."
Colon was chosen to participate in the operation not only as subject
matter expert on the identification and collection of remains, but also
because of his background in search and recovery.
"As medicolegal investigators we have training in search and recovery
and we do response to aircraft mishaps," Colon said. "A lot of our
aircraft mishaps have highly fragmented remains. It can be difficult to
discern those remains from things like rocks or wood, especially when
they have been exposed to extreme elements for so long. By the time I
went to Colony Glacier, I had already seen remains being sampled here at
AFMES for two years, so I was already very familiar with what to look
for out there."
Along with the type of knowledge that investigators like Colon bring,
comes the continuity that is essential to an operation like Colony
Glacier.
"Most people on the team are only there for one year," Colon said.
"Usually, the officers in charge of ground forces and the commander from
the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations will have been on the team
two years at max. So, we're [medicolegal investigators] really bringing
that knowledge of not only what human remains look like, but also
bringing insight on how remains are triaged, sampled and tested here at
AFMES. It's extremely beneficial for the people on the ground to be
speaking the same language as the people doing the sampling, and the DNA
folks actually doing the testing because we're always thinking, 'how
can we maximize our chances of getting new identifications?' Whether
that be advising on refocusing efforts to find more osseous material,
teeth or soft tissue, or concentrating on other locations that have
samples we know will likely produce a good DNA profile. We are always
thinking more about the identifications and the forensic sciences behind
the recovery."
The glacier, however, presents a special set of challenges that make traditional recovery methods extremely difficult.
"With the glacier, everything is ephemeral," Colon said. "Things
shift on the glacier and the glacier itself moves; it's basically a
moving river of ice. We found pretty quickly that a lot of prior methods
being used, which are typically really thorough and great for
documenting a scene, documenting a recovery and knowing exactly where
everything was found, were not working well and it's because those
traditional techniques are for sites that are static."
New methods had to be employed along with a different mindset of how
to navigate the recovery in this desolate and ever-changing landscape.
"Together, AFMAO and AFMES, realized that there has to be a little
bit more urgency," Colon said. "AFMAO is primarily concerned with
finding as many personal effects as possible and for AFMES, we want to
get as many remains and samples as possible. So, we started refocusing
our priorities on getting as many samples from different parts of the
glacier with as much variety as possible, to hopefully increase the
chances of making new identifications."
This forensic approach has helped shape ongoing recovery efforts;
everything from training, managing timelines and resources and bringing a
new perspective to the operation as a whole.
"Before we even go out, I'll provide necessary training to our
folks," Colon said. "I'll give presentations, show them what things look
like, inform about what happens at AFMES post-recovery, how remains get
to Dover, how our mortuary affairs specialists, medical examiners and
medicolegal death investigators triage, photograph, sample and submit to
DNA. I also provide summaries on adipocere, mummification,
skeletonization and patterns of decomposition that are more relevant to
what we see on the glacier."
This methodology means that time and resources are amplified to the fullest extent.
"We've lost a lot of the glacier," Colon explained. "It's very
dynamic compared to a standard anthropological site, and the way we're
operating now is more focused on knowing that we have limited amount of
time and resources. We only have four weeks each year to conduct this
recovery so we're always trying to get the most out of the time we have
left with the debris field, because it's moving further down-glacier.
Our goal is always to be more conscious of how we spend our time. We
know if we are not efficient with our resources at the site, it will
lead to our medical examiners and DNA technicians' time not being used
properly back at AFMES. Having said that, every year our lab gets
better, there is always a new process or new technology, so in the field
we try and adjust and be more efficient and better every year as well."
The samples collected in the field are sent back to the AFMES where
the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory will compare extracted
DNA against a robust database of family member references that have been
gathered over decades. Family members can donate DNA samples through
requesting a sample kit or attending a family member update or an annual
government briefing hosted by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
To date, 50 of the 52 fallen members have been identified. The 50th identification was made just this year.
Army Air Forces Airman 3rd Class James Ronald Kimball, a flight
steward, a career field similar to a modern-day crew chief, was assigned
as a crew member on the flight.
"This was a big deal," Colon said. "Kimball was the one that we were
told we had very little shot of identifying because he had no family
member DNA reference; he was adopted with no children. But what he did
have was a very specific fingerprint pattern on his right thumb and what
looks like a burn scar on his right index finger. Fortunately, we knew
this because of the fingerprints that were on file."
Even more fortunate, his personnel files survived a devastating 1973
fire, which destroyed between 16-18 million official military personnel
files in the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis.
"During our second trip out there, I received a radio call from one
of the team members, [Air Force 1st Lt. Mason] Tarkenton," Colon said.
"They were searching a smaller debris field, that was not previously
found, in the upper limits of our established area. He said 'Carlos, I
found a right hand up here near what looks like a crew jacket,' and I
was like 'there is no way,' because Kimball was the last crew member
that was still missing. The hand was so well preserved that, once I got
back to the morgue, I was able to send pictures to our fingerprint
expert at the FBI, and within six hours they were able to make a
positive ID. That was exciting; it was the fastest identification we've
made."
Prior to the AFMES' involvement, 585 specimens were recovered for
sampling over a period of five years. In the first five years of the
AFMES' involvement, 4,520 specimens were recovered, with a total of
6,528 specimens recovered since 2017. This year alone, 373 samples were
collected and accessioned for DNA testing in a record five days. Each
year the team becomes more exact in carrying out this mission, as they
strive to bring closure to families who have had to wait so long.
"We've had really great collaboration with our partners at AFMAO,"
Colon said. "We always go out there as Team Dover, and ultimately, we
want the same exact thing, which is for all of the members on board to
be accounted for."
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