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Lost and Found
By Scott Harrup | July 18, 2008
Years ago I signed up for Defenselink, the Department of Defense’s online and e-mail news service. As stories hit my inbox, I take a moment to reflect on soldiers and their families and say a prayer when casualty reports come in from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Several times a year I’ll see a news story on a subject that never fails to amaze me. The remains of soldiers missing in action for years, even decades, are found and identified and returned to their families for burial with military honors. Consider these selections from an April 25, 2008, news item.
Headline: Missing WWII Airmen are Identified
“The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of 11 U.S. servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
“They are Capt. Robert L. Coleman, of Wilmington, Del.; 1st Lt. George E. Wallinder, of San Antonio, Texas; 2nd Lt. Kenneth L. Cassidy, of Worcester, Mass.; 2nd Lt. Irving Schechner, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; 2nd Lt. Ronald F. Ward, of Cambridge, Mass.; Tech. Sgt. William L. Fraser, of Maplewood, Mo.; Tech. Sgt. Paul Miecias, of Piscataway, N.J.; Tech. Sgt. Robert C. Morgan, of Flint, Mich.; Staff Sgt. Albert J. Caruso, of Kearny, N.J.; Staff Sgt. Robert E. Frank, of Plainfield, N.J.; and Pvt. Joseph Thompson, of Compton, Calif; all U.S. Army Air Forces. The dates and locations of the funerals are being set by their families. …
“On Dec. 3, 1943, these men crewed a B-24D Liberator that departed Dobodura, New Guinea, on an armed-reconnaissance mission over New Hanover Island in the Bismarck Sea. The crew reported dropping their bombs on target, but in spite of several radio contacts with their base, they never returned to Dobodura. Subsequent searches failed to locate the aircraft.”
The rest of the article reports that New Guinea hunters found the wreckage in 2000, and scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons to identify the remains.
I see in this story a metaphor for God’s redemption available to all of us.
The Bible describes the effect of sin in this world as “death,” and then uses a lot of historical narrative and periodic symbolism to point to the gift of eternal life God offers through His Son. When I hear of a soldier’s body being recovered and sent home to loved ones to be honored for his or her sacrifice, I think of the infinite effort God invested to “find” me and bring me into His family. And, of course, the rest of that story promises that after I die my earthly remains will someday experience new life in His presence.
Metaphors aside, I also reflect on the joy families experience when they can finally close a sad chapter in life and welcome a loved one home.
