American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 20, 2012 - An investigative team from the U.S. Joint POW/MIA
Accounting Command arrived in Alaska yesterday to investigate an apparent
aircraft crash site in the state's Knik Glacier area, according to a JPAC news
release issued today.
On June 10 an Alaskan Army National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crew
discovered what appeared to be an aircraft crash site while conducting a routine
training mission, the release said.
Following additional search and rescue missions by Joint Task Force-Alaska
and the Alaska National Guard at the suspected crash site, JPAC forward-deployed
a five-person team to further survey and assess the site and develop
recommendations for potential recovery operations in the future, according to
the release.
With full knowledge and cooperation of local military units and governmental
agencies in Alaska, the team will investigate the site for about three days,
searching for any evidence that may positively correlate the aircraft wreckage
to a known incident, the release said.
Falling directly under the U.S. Pacific Command and employing more than 500
joint military and civilian personnel, JPAC, based at Joint Base Pearl
Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, continues its search for the more than 83,000 Americans
still missing from past conflicts. The ultimate goal of JPAC, and of the
agencies involved in returning America's heroes home, is to conduct global
search, recovery, and laboratory operations in order to support the Department
of Defense's personnel accounting efforts.
