University of Arizona partners with Department of Defense to bring home missing service members
University of Arizona partners with Department of Defense to bring home missing service members
Richard Ingleby
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - University of Arizona ROTC cadets made history this summer, participating in a Defense Department POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) mission in Poland to recover the remains of missing service members, a first for students from the university.
ROTC Cadets Jonathan Ellwanger, Zachariah Ellwanger, and Carson Criswell spent three weeks in Poland, sifting through dirt as part of a pilot program designed to locate and identify service members still unaccounted for from conflicts ranging from World War II to Vietnam.
“We’re recovering the remains of these soldiers that passed away and made the ultimate sacrifice,” said Carson Criswell, an ROTC Cadet.
The agency’s overarching mission is to find the 81,000 service members still missing in action.
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Ingleby, University of Arizona Professor of Military Science, hand picked his top cadets for this mission. Criswell recounted the moment he was asked: “He starts telling me about this mission and really before I knew everything, I told him like 100% yes, I want to go to Poland.”
The group worked 6 hours a day, sifting through dirt and mud, examining one square millimeter of farmland at a time. They were able to make significant discoveries, including “A lot of little quarter size plane fragments. We found some uniform pieces, parachute fragments… the rank insignia that went on their shoulder at the time that one of the guys was definitely wearing that when the plane went down,” Ingleby said.
Beyond the physical artifacts, the cadets gained a deeper understanding of their work’s impact. “It made it feel like what we were doing wasn’t just pushing mud and it was, it reminds us of the bigger picture,” said Zachariah Ellwanger.
Lt. Col. Ingleby underscored the mission’s meaning: “It’s a way to kind of give back to those that are still out there. That promise of no soldier left behind, it means something.”
ROTC leaders are optimistic that this trip will pave the way for an expanded partnership between the Department of Defense and other Arizona universities.