THE CONTINUING efforts to recover the remains
of American soldiers and airmen who died during World War II in
PNG will be the subject of a multinational conference that starts
today in Port Moresby. The three-day conference is being sponsored
by the US Embassy and the US Army's Central Identification Laboratory
in Hawaii (CILHI).
The conference will be attended
by representatives of the PNG Defence Force and the National Museum. Also taking part are members of the Australian
military, historians specialising in WWII operations in PNG and
other specialists involved in this endeavour.
CILHI commander Colonel Pagano
said in a statement that the aim of the conference is to enhance
the already productive relationship between the US and the various
PNG agencies responsible for the recovery operations. He said:
"The conference would be extremely helpful in keeping everyone
informed of our intentions, as well as helping us be more efficient
in finding American WWII servicemen's remains."
The colonel said the working
relationship his unit has with the PNG people "is exceptional,
and servicemen and anthropologists enjoy the recovery operations
in PNG because of the excellent working cooperation the teams
received from everyone in the country".
This was evident in Milne
Bay recently where a recovery team from the CILHI spent 28
days recovering the remains of eight airmen killed in November
1943 near Alotau. The eight died when their B-17 "Flying
Fortress" bomber crashed during bad weather on a ridge near
Nigila village while on a bombing run. Fifty-seven years later,
a boy from the village found the wreckage and alerted authorities.
Captain Howard Coe, whose recovery
team returns to Hawaii with the remains this week, told a gathering
in Alotau that they have had an excellent time here and are looking
forward to coming back soon. The conference at the Airways Hotel
ends on Thursday.