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Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago help search for MIA remains.
Episode 3221 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about how the University of Illinois – Chicago is helping find Vietnam MIA’s. The featured story appeared on the WTTW website and is titled: Chicago Researchers on a Mission to Bring Home Remains of Fallen American Soldiers. It was submitted by Joanna Hernandez
Hernandez reported that researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago are helping solve decades-old wartime mysteries by locating and identifying the remains of American service members who never returned home. At the university’s Center for the Recovery and Identification of the Missing (CRIM), scientists partner with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) to recover and identify troops still missing from conflicts such as World War II and the Vietnam War.
Researchers including Rick Elliott and Jessica Bishop conduct historical research, field investigations, and archaeological excavations in remote locations across the world. Their work often takes them to rugged terrain with no cell service, where teams rely on satellite phones and advanced detection technology to search for aircraft crash sites or burial locations. CRIM teams have supported missions in places such as the Philippines, Vietnam, and Italy.
A major breakthrough occurred last year when investigators located the remains of five American service members along a remote mountainside in Laos near Vietnam. One of those recovered was Willis R. Hall, whose son Steve Hall described the emotional moment he learned his father had finally been found after nearly sixty years.
Hall was among the 19 men assigned to Lima Site 85, a secret U.S. radar installation used to guide bombing missions during the Vietnam War. In 1968, enemy forces overran the site, killing eleven American personnel. Among them was Melvin Arnold Holland, whose son Rick Holland continues to work with the DPAA to locate the remaining missing men.
Despite harsh weather, steep terrain, and constant danger, recovery teams remain committed to their mission: bringing closure to families who have waited generations for answers. Today, four men from Lima Site 85 are still unaccounted for, and the search continues one mission at a time.
Listen to Episode 3221 and discover more about how the University of Illinois – Chicago is helping find Vietnam MIA’s.
