PSU's Jeremy Spoon, a research professor of anthropology, has partnered with the DPAA to investigate and excavate crash and burial sites in an attempt to recover unaccounted-for U.S. service members from past wars. This summer, the team excavated a World War II crash site in western Germany. (Courtesy of Jeremy Spoon)
More than 80 years after a U.S. bomber was shot down in western Germany, a team led by a Portland State University professor is working to bring closure and healing to the families of the missing crewmen and surrounding communities.
In partnership with the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), archaeologists, cultural and biological anthropologists, historians, students and volunteers from PSU, University of California, Berkeley, Texas A&M University and Argentina's CONICET research council spent six weeks this summer excavating the forested crash site of a B-17. The plane, with 10 airmen on board, crashed in western Germany in 1943 while on a bombing mission. At least four remain missing.
The mission is part of a global effort to locate and identify the remains of the some 80,000 American service members still unaccounted for from the nation's past wars and conflicts. DPAA and its partners like PSU conduct archaeological investigations and recoveries around the world.
PSU's Jeremy Spoon, a research professor of anthropology, offers a unique skill set to the mission as a cultural anthropologist whose work often brings together local people and government agencies around heritage, disaster recovery, environment and public education. He says the mission has been as much about sifting through the crash site to find remains and artifacts that can help bring closure to the families as it has been about creating space to learn and heal together with the Germans.
"We're taking a progressive multifaceted approach and PSU is leading that charge with our usual community-based, ethically driven way of doing things," Spoon said.
Spoon says the team spent time building rapport and trust with local community members, facilitating what he calls "knowledge exchange events" which included a local World World II aviation history expert and former military aviator, an archaeologist who supervises regional heritage sites and the Forstmeister or forest supervisor of the area.
"I met with them one-on-one to explain and learn and listen, and then I brought them together with the team on site and had them exchange knowledge about who they are, what they do, and what their passions are with these students and young professionals," Spoon said.
He says the 15 students and professionals came from four different points of view — archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology and history — and each brought a unique lens to the mission.
"We had four different ways of looking at the same thing and then we brought in the people who know the land and care about this area," Spoon said. "It enhances our understanding of what happened and what to do next."
Sometimes, a single dog tag is all that’s recovered. In those moments, even the smallest details can help families begin to piece together the story.
These onsite gatherings were also an opportunity to remember and honor the crewmen and their families, who remain the focus of the mission. At another event, one student profiled each aviator, helping bring their stories to life, while Spoon later recited the Mourner's Kaddish, a Jewish memorial prayer to honor the lives of the dead and emphasize the promise for a better future.
"It's honoring the fallen crewmen while also respecting this living landscape with intention as a special place," he said.
Spoon also co-led outreach and mission enhancement events offsite, including a museum tour led by a World War II local ground battle expert and mayor of a nearby town, experiences at sites with American and German humanitarian war exchanges and visits to a regional archaeological laboratory and heritage festival. He also led outreach to the local and regional German Jewish community — which as a Jewish American with ties to Holocaust survivors hit close to home.
"It's been healing and it's healing for others because I am representative of something so difficult to talk about and I'm going through that directly," Spoon said.
On their last field day, the team met local partners on site for a final debrief and knowledge exchange event and interpretive forest hike with the Forstmeister that culminated in the planting of a "peace tree" in honor of the aviators and their families, the DPAA missions focused on returning them home and German-American partnership and healing.
But the multi-year mission isn't over yet — and the team is still making connections. They are in the early stages of working with the Rhein/Mosel Air War History Working Group, which is planning to open an innovative exhibition next summer on the grounds of a former Nazi facility that will present the history of air warfare in the region and its consequences. The hope is that select airplane fragments unearthed from the wreckage can become part of an interactive exhibit to continue fostering a culture of remembrance in the present and future.
"Because war can be so devastating and traumatic, especially when a family member serving their country never returns home, providing a forum for material items to live on as educational tools can be tangible forms of memorialization that give some closure," Spoon said. "At the same time, they can teach difficult history from multiple perspectives to current and future generations through meaningful hands-on experiences."