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US team resumes tracing remains of WWII soldiers

DPAA is entrusted with providing all possible accounting for the missing US personnel to their families and the nation

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Remains of US military personnel being sent back to US in 2016
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Investigators from the United States are back in India to search for remains of military personnel who went missing during World War II. This is the team's fifth mission since 2013 when they were allowed to come to carry out search operations in high altitude regions in Northeast India for the first time.

Investigators from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) will be carrying out the search mission and survey several sites in the mountainous areas of Northeast.

DPAA is entrusted with providing all possible accounting for the missing US personnel to their families and the nation.

Mary Kay Carlson, the Chargé d'Affaires at the US Embassy in New Delhi said, "The United States works with governments around the world to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel to their families. This is the fifth DPAA mission in India since 2013. It demonstrates successful cooperation between the governments of India and the US. This positive relationship also underscores the dedication each nation brings to this humanitarian mission."

A team had carried out a similar operation last year, but this time it will survey regions that could not be covered last time.

"Last year, DPAA deployed a team to Northeast India for 30 days in search of remains for unaccounted-for US airmen," the US Embassy in Delhi said in a press statement.

It is estimated that there nearly 400 US airmen who had gone missing in India during World War II. The United States provided supplies to the Chinese Army by flying over the Himalayas, a route known as 'The Hump' and many of these aircraft went missing and could not be traced in the tough mountainous terrain.

"During DPAA's missions in 2015 and 2016, remains were recovered and are in the process of being identified through DNA testing. One set of remains from the 2015 recovery mission was positively identified as US Army Air Forces 1st Lt Robert E Oxford," the US Embassy added.

In 2016, a local villager turned over additional remains thought to be associated with another US crash site.

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