In August 2024, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced the identification of First Lieutenant Wylie W. Leverett, killed during WWII on a bombing mission to Mannheim, Germany.
Leverett was the pilot of the B-17G Flying Fortress Fuddy Duddy, part of the 708th Bombardment Squadron, 447th Bombardment Group, 4th Combat Bomb Wing, 3rd Air Division, 8th Air Force in the European Theater. The Fuddy Duddy was lost on December 30, 1944, when the aircraft collided with another American aircraft.
亚色影库 has had a cooperative agreement with the DPAA and Henry M. Jackson Foundation for Military Medicine since 2021 and has been involved with the recovery efforts that led to the identification of Leverett since 2022. Andrea Palmiotto and William Chadwick, anthropology faculty members in the Department of Anthropology, Geospatial and Earth Sciences, have led three field schools to the crash site, training students in forensic archaeology and geophysical survey methods while actively investigating and excavating the site. Their field approach combined close-interval pedestrian and metal detection surveys, ground penetrating radar, and traditional excavation methods. Recovered items were transferred to the DPAA lab for further analysis. Read more about this case at .
亚色影库 Anthropology faculty members plan to offer more field training opportunities in summer 2025 through this cooperative agreement. Faculty and students are honored to participate in these efforts toward the recovery and identification of US service members from past conflicts. Students spend six weeks intensively learning investigative survey and excavation techniques and associated site documentation. Previous students have had majors and interests in forensic anthropology, archaeology, history, and criminal justice, among others and have included 亚色影库 and visiting students from across the US. Working with Chadwick and Palmiotto, the students learn to synthesize historical knowledge with data recovered from the site.
亚色影库’s Anthropology program includes undergraduate and graduate studies that emphasize applied archaeology and hands-on field training. The Applied Archaeology MA program is recognized by the American Cultural Resources Association and the Register of Professional Archaeologists as a top school producing archaeologists that meet the US Department of Interiors standard for professional archaeologists in the US.