A 25-member team from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency is in the Normandy region of France searching for three missing airmen, whose C-47A aircraft was presumably shot down by German antiaircraft fire on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
The forensic archaeologist on the team is Kristen Baker, a scientific recovery expert with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
Excavation of the site involves a lot of planning, she said.
The first step for the archaeologist or anthropologist is to determine the site perimeter and areas of highest potential interest, she said.
"We're fortunate in the fact that it most likely attempted to make a belly landing and did not explode. So, it's a little bit more concentrated than some other aircraft crash sites," she said, referring to the aircraft wreckage.
Once a site perimeter and areas of highest interest have been defined, the archaeologist establishes a grid system and marks or sections the site with stakes and string. Each section is then excavated one unit of the grid system at a time, she said.
Every inch of soil that comes out of the site is screened for any potential remains, life support equipment or material evidence, she said.
In this case, the soil is clay, which necessitates wet screening with high-pressure hoses to remove the clay that clings to objects.
At the start of each day, Baker briefs the team on the tasks ahead.
Throughout the day, she'll assist with screening and work with the local contractor who uses a front-end loader to excavate. She also monitors the excavation at all times and the screening process to ensure any remains are recovered, be they human or animal.
The reason for this is so they don't assume whether the bones are human or not. The DPAA Central Identification Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska will make the final analysis using advanced techniques not available in the field, she said.
Baker has been with the agency since 2008, and this is her 28th mission. She's also been involved in recovery missions to sites in Panama, Lithuania, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Tarawa, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam and South Korea.
The Watkinsville, Georgia, native now lives close to Crystal City, Virginia, where DPAA has an office.
Baker said she loves her work and is blessed to be able to put her forensic science skills to good use for a very noble cause.
Some of her family members have served in the military, including her grandmother, who was a second lieutenant in the Women's Army Air Corps, and her dad, who was in the Army Reserve.
One of the aspects that makes this mission meaningful, she said, is that her grandfather was an Army medic who served in France in WWII.