OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE -- A forensics lab has opened at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha with a special mission: identify the remains of missing soldiers, sailors and airmen from past wars.
The lab has been constructed inside a section of the massive former Martin bomber plant on the base, which is where the B-29 bomber Enola Gay was assembled before its crew dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan to help end World War II.
The lab is a satellite of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, known as JPAC, which is based in Hawaii. The command is overseeing the identification of the remains of more than 83,000 Americans who still are listed as missing from past wars. The accounting command's motto is "Until They Are Home."
The military said JPAC identified the remains of an MIA every 2½ days, on average.
"It's one of those missions of the highest importance to us," said Col. John Rauch, commander of the 55th Wing, which is the host unit at Offutt.
People are also reading…
The accounting command not only provides answers for the military about what happened to its members, it helps the service members' families find some peace after what often are decades of waiting and wonder.
Friends and relatives of Don Grella knew the Laurel man probably died when the Army helicopter carrying him and three crewmates went down in heavy jungle on Dec. 28, 1965, during the Vietnam War.
His mother, Alberta Sutton, didn't know for sure what had happened to him. A co-worker said Sutton always had hoped and prayed she'd learn his fate before she passed away. Sutton died in 2006 just after learning that the crash site had been found.
In July 2009, the accounting command notified Grella's sister, Shirley Haase, that some of the remains had been identified as her brother's. In October 2009, those remains were buried between the graves of his mother and father in Laurel.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, officials decided to establish a mainland forensics lab to react quickly when tragedy strikes or terrorists attack. Offutt was chosen after a search team reviewed several bases.
The accounting command said the new Offutt operation included nearly 23,000 square feet of space and contained equipment for historical, anatomical and dental analyses, DNA sampling and electronic imaging devices.
The current Offutt lab staff of more than a dozen people is expected to rise to 50 by 2016.
