Military DNA Fingerprinting

In the past, identifying dead soldiers without ID tags was difficult - especially if the body was badly damaged (because of fire or decay or bullet holes, and so on) or dental records weren't available. Within the past several years, however, the job has become much easier thanks to DNA fingerprinting.

At the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, United States Army scientists can now extract mitochondrial DNA (DNA only from the mother, originally in the egg cell) from a skeleton, analyze it to determine the base pair sequences, and then compare it with the soldier's maternal relatives (member's of the mother's family) to find a match. This process has enabled the military to identify many MIAs - those Missing In Action. In 1997, 161 bones from American servicemen were recovered from a small island off the Vietnamese coast where one of the last battles of the Vietnam War took place; the Army was able to identify the bodies thanks to DNA fingerprinting (although it wasn't the only method used in the identification process, it still provided conclusive evidence). The Central Identification Lab is currently studying the remains of another 300 soldiers.

The Pentagon (headquarters for the United States military in Washington D.C.) has allowed the remains of the last Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery to be unearthed for DNA testing. Debate ensues as to whether the man was Lt. Michael J. Blassie or Capt. Rodney L. Strobridge; Blassie's relatives claim that he is the Unknown Soldier because his ID tag was found near the body, but others believe it is Strobridge, whose helicopter crashed near the body's location sight. DNA tests will soon clear the matter.

All United States military personal have been required to give blood to be placed in cold storage for future DNA testings.