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.
November 20, 2005
Scientists Trying to ID Frozen WWII Airman
From the AP: