November 20, 2005

Scientists Trying to ID Frozen WWII Airman

From the AP:
The airman's possessions, laid out on a table in a military lab, offer a glimpse of America circa 1942: a fountain pen, a black plastic comb, three badly damaged address books, and 51 cents in dimes, nickels and pennies, dated 1920 to 1942.

A neatly handwritten note tucked into one of the address books reveals the words "all the girls know," but the rest is deteriorated and illegible.

Forensic scientists at the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command are using these and other clues to help them identify a World War II airman whose remarkably well-preserved body was chipped out of a California glacier last month after two mountain climbers discovered his head and arm jutting out of the ice.