San Antonio Lab Works to Identify Missing Servicemembers Remains

Department of Defense Photo Essay

  • John A. Goines III explains the work the Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory, that he runs, does to identify missing servicemembers, Nov. 10, 2008. The lab, located at Brooks City-Base in San Antonio, provides the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command a last-ditch opportunity to identify missing servicemembers when there are few or no remains. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III
  • An equipment analyst at the Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory inspects fabric recovered from a site in an attempt to identify a servicemember lost in a crash, Nov. 10, 2008. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III
  • Equipment Analyst Neill Smith inspects a glove sample, Nov. 10, 2008, that was recovered from an aircraft crash site in an attempt to identify the servicemember lost in the crash. The analysts at the Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory at Brooks City-Base in San Antonio use equipment at the lab as comparisons to the artifacts shipped to the lab from a recovery site. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III
  • Equipment Analyst Alexander King compares a corroded belt buckle recovered from a crash site to that of a buckle that would have been worn by the pilot., Nov. 10, 2008. At the Life Sciences Equipment Lab, clues from the artifacts are pieced together like a puzzle and matched with historical reports, witness accounts, military records and other evidence in hopes of identifying a missing servicemember from a past war. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III
  • Equipment Analyst Alexander King examines artifacts recovered from a crash site by teams from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, Nov. 10, 2008. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III
  • Equipment Analyst Jim Hodges walks past rows of ejection seats at the 21,000-square-foot Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory at Brooks City-Base in San Antonio, Nov. 10, 2008. The lab is home to more than 50,000 uniforms and pieces of equipment dating as far back as World War I. About 250 ejection seats line the walls. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III
  • Robert S. Browning III, an equipment analyst at the Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory, looks into the cockpit of an F-4 Phantom II fighter jet, Nov. 10, 2008. The lab has rebuilt cockpits of a dozen Vietnam War-era aircraft that are used to help make identifications of missing servicemembers. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III
  • On Nov. 10, 2008, John A. Goines III, chief of the Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory, shows Sallie Stratton the remains that were recovered from the site where her husband, Air Force Lt. Col. Charles W. Stratton, crashed in his bomber Jan. 3, 1971, over Laos. The lab, at Brooks City-Base in San Antonio, helps the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, based in Hawaii, identify servicemembers still missing from past wars. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III