![]() ![]() Most were identified by forensic experts as Japanese and cremated in the 1990s. He also found the bones of many soldiers. Army’s “deep and sincere appreciation.” It hangs in the museum next to photos of the ring. “Soldiers losing their dog tags is very common,” said Poul Erik Graversen, a historical archaeologist with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and lead researcher for the recovery effort in Indonesia and Malaysia.įor his effort, he received an official letter expressing the U.S. There, lying in plain sight, was the dog tag of an American soldier, Fred W. Wakum and a cousin, Firaun Koibur, 39, also a collector, searched a rugged area of coral outcroppings where American soldiers are believed to have camped during the monthslong battle for Biak. Biak, a heavily forested island about the size of Maui that lies off the northwest coast of New Guinea, will be a primary search site. Last year, the United States and Indonesian governments agreed to establish a joint operation to find and repatriate the remains of American soldiers lost in action across the vast archipelago. “But for researchers, writers, collectors of art and history lovers, this has meaning.” “People say I’m doing a stupid job because I don’t make money out of this,” he said. Sometimes his neighbors mock him for collecting what they deem “rubbish” or complain that he is stirring up ghosts of the war dead, who follow him home from his searches. ![]()
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