Staff Sergeant John R.

Simonetti
Official Army Report
Identification of Remains and Historical Findings

The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), charged with the verification and
identification of the remains of all United States Armed Forces Personnel, is
based at Hickam, AFB and located in Hawaii.
The mission of JPAC is to achieve the fullest possible accounting of all
Americans missing as a result of the nationís past conflicts.
It is startling to discover that there are just over 74,000 American servicemen
and women who are still missing from WWII battles. Of these, approximately
35,000 are considered ìrecoverableî while the vast majority of the rest were
lost at sea.
You can understand the workload, and enormous responsibilities that JPAC
undertakes each and every day.
They do take on their jobs with a great deal of care and respect for members of
our missing Armed Forces Personnel. As an indicator of that care and respect,
once the remains of potential missing U. S. Armed Forces personnel is located an
extensive investigation is conducted to attempt to verify the identity of that
individual and to return him/her to their families for burial. This
investigation encompasses over 400 personnel dedicated to this mission.
Scientific methods of identification, including DNA testing, can be utilized
depending upon the requirements of each case. Dental and skeletal remains are
thoroughly analyzed and compared to existing personnel and medical files.
Physical evidence is examined and finally, a report is issued by a Forensic
Anthropologist, confirming the identity of the remains.
Following this, a world-wide search to locate the next of kin commences. Often
this takes years of intensive digging and many times, the search proves
fruitless.
We are blessed that our family was found so soon after his remains were
discovered in a shallow gravesite in the town of St. Germain-díElle, France.
Fred and Pat Salernoís visit there in 1994 began the discovery process which
culminated in 2009 when Fred received a call from Mr. Bruce Biggs to whom we owe
so much.