US army take remains of WWII soldiers home

Main Stories

A GROUP of United States (US) defence force personnel were recently in Buna to receive the remains of service members who fought and died during World War II along the northern beaches of Northern.
The skeletal remains were handed over by local villagers at the newly constructed Buna Community Museum and Trade Centre during formal ceremonies held on May 21-22.
The US Defense POW/MIA Account Agency (DPAA) has been working in the area for some time and were grateful to receive the remains from the community.
“DPAA would like to give a special thanks to the people and government officials of Papua New Guinea and the PNG National Museum and Art Gallery, whose combined efforts and dedication have enabled DPAA to further its progress in achieving the fullest possible accounting of our WWll missing,” DPAA team leader Captain Justin Harty said.
“DPAA relies heavily on our cooperative relationships in order to conduct these types of humanitarian efforts. We look forward to pursuing our accounting efforts for years to come.”
The handover ceremonies were also attended by representatives from the National Museum and Art Gallery (NMAG) and the Australian Army.
NMAG’s Principal Curator for Modern History, Gregory Bablis said the NMAG works closely with Australia, the USA and Japan on all recovery efforts.
“We are thankful to the communities of Buna and surrounding areas who have assisted in the repatriation of these remains from an area that witnessed some of the most intense engagement of US troops during the Kokoda campaign of World War II.”
Major Scott Heiman from the Australian Unrecovered War Causalities – Army office said the handover ceremonies are a key part of joint recovery and repatriation operations.
“The handover ceremony demonstrates the close ties between the United States, Australia and Papua New Guinea, as we work with communities across the country to account for our grandfathers who remain unrecovered from WWII.”