UW MIA RIP Ten Year Anniversary
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This year marks the 10th anniversary for the University of Wisconsin Missing in Action Recovery and Identification Project (UW MIA RIP). Founded in 2015 after a team of researchers from the UW led by Mr. Charles Konsitzke assisted in the identification of Private First Class Lawrence Gordon, UW MIA RIP has spent the last ten years working tirelessly to locate and identify Wisconsinites missing in action since the Second World War. In the years that followed, the UW became the first academic institution to partner with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), the federal agency responsible for locating and identifying America’s wartime missing; and the UW MIA RIP assisted DPAA with nine overseas recovery and scouting missions, facilitating in the recovery of four American service members lost during the Second World War.
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The UW MIA RIP’s success over the past decade would not have been possible without its growing community of dedicated volunteers and donors. The project currently boasts 25 current student volunteers, employees, and interns, over 100 student alumni, and partnerships with international, federal, state, and non-profit agencies and institutions, including most recently the University of Papua New Guinea. Despite the passage of time, the UW MIA RIP remains unwavering in its dedication to recovering missing American military personnel, educating students and communities about the MIA cause, and, above all else, bringing closure to the families of America’s wartime missing.
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Marathon County Case
In June, members of the UW MIA RIP team assisted with the exhumation of an unknown World War I veteran interred at Pine Grove Cemetery in Wausau, Wisconsin. The man, who died by suicide in 1930, was found with a note that identified him only as a veteran of World War I. Efforts to identify him at the time were unsuccessful and his identity has been unknown since. The local VFW and American Legion posts buried the man with full military honors under a headstone simply marked “Unknown Soldier.” The exhumation this past summer was the first step in a contemporary effort to identify the unknown soldier and reunite him with his family. During the exhumation, UW MIA RIP team members provided on-site support and guidance to the field team on excavation and screening processes.
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UW MIA RIP will also be responsible for the identification process. “Our hope is that we will find a living relative somewhere who is a match so we can identify this gentleman and return him to his family,” Dr. Ryan Wubben, a UW MIA RIP team member, told a Wisconsin Public Radio reporter. UW MIA RIP team members assisted the Marathon County Medical Examiner’s Office, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, Wisconsin State Crime Laboratories, Mountain Bay and Wausau police departments, Peterson Kraemer Funeral Home, and Schreiner Excavating with the excavation. The project would also like to thank Brian Dettle for volunteering and assisting the UW MIA RIP team that day.
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Papua New Guinea
This summer the UW MIA RIP team, on project for DPAA, conducted their first recovery mission in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The first academic partner to work in PNG, the UW MIA RIP team spent six weeks in the country excavating an aircraft crash site from World War II. This mission held special significance for the UW team as many Wisconsin National Guardsmen, majority from the 32nd “Red Arrow” Infantry Division who saw combat in PNG during the Second World War, remain unaccounted for. Being the UW MIA RIP’s first trip to PNG, the team was small; led by Dr. Gregg Jamison (Lead Archaeologist) with Dan Joyce, Michael MacLaren, Eric Morefield, Eric Nordstrom, and Kristin Schneider.
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This first mission also brought to bear the unique challenges of conducing field work in PNG! The climate, environment, and logistics all tested the team throughout their time in the country. But with perseverance and assistance from our local partners, the mission was a success. The team had excellent support from our partners at Our Nation’s Promise, who have been working in PNG for over 10 years, Professor Matthew Leavesley of the University of Papua New Guinea, and an outstanding team of Papua New Guinean nationals. The mission would not have been possible without the support and participation of Mr. Noriega Igara of the National Museum and Art Gallery, CPLs Henley Meassia and Danny Manis, PO Daniel Koim, and LS Richard Murri of the Papua New Guinea Defense Force, and Mr. Uri Fong, our logistics manager. The UW MIA RIP team also worked closely with the people who live near the site developing positive relationships with all of them, and learning a great deal about the people and cultures of the region. The team members attest that getting to know and work with the local people was the best part of the mission to PNG.
The UW MIA RIP team hopes to return to PNG next year to continue working at the site. More broadly, we hope to expand our footprint in PNG and, in partnership with DPAA, someday investigating Wisconsin’s MIA there. Though recovery missions are extremely important to the UW MIA RIP team and the families we serve, we recognize that they also matter to those who live in the areas where we work, including Papua New Guinea. This is best exemplified by a phrase the PNG team began every day on site with: “wanpela tim, wanpela mak.” Translated into English, it means “one team, one goal.”
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The UW MIA Project welcomed three interns to the team during the 2025 Summer Semester, two Criminal Justice Certificate interns and one History Department intern. The History Department and the Criminal Justice Certificate Program at the University of Wisconsin support the UW MIA RIP through a partnership which trains students in historical and investigative research methods. Participating students dedicate 20 hours a week to researching cases concerning missing Wisconsinites. Following completion of their internship, many students continue their casework with UW MIA RIP as volunteers.
This past summer, the UW MIA RIP also brought three student employees onto the team to continue casework and begin new mapping initiatives. While the summer can be a slower time for student researchers, the team of interns and employees progressed seven investigations and made significant headway in reviewing and mapping files regarding unidentified service members. The UW MIA RIP is thrilled that the entire summer student team is remaining with the project for the fall semester to continue case investigations and mapping work, providing invaluable knowledge, resources, and skills to the new academic year’s student volunteers.
Some of the things our summer interns wanted to share about their experience with UW MIA RIP:
“I joined the project because I was looking for something to do over the summer, and I have a particular interest in US military history, and this is an interesting avenue to explore that academic interest from.”
“Some of the highlights included the incredibly holistic experience and variety of research methods, working with the National Archives, going through and processing data and muster rolls, watching videos looking for my soldier in the frames, a diversity of interesting projects to explore in my case.”
“People should take away that this was an incredibly worthwhile way to spend my summer.”
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Military Community Advocate
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This academic year, the National Veteran Leadership Foundation, by way of the University Veterans Services Office at the UW-Madison, provided funding for a new role known as a Military Community Advocate (MCA). MCAs work to support, empower, and provide a voice for military-connected students, including veterans, reservists, National Guardsmen, and their dependents. At the UW MIA RIP specifically, the MCA will also serve as a liaison between the project, the families it works with, and the public.
This fall, Eyan Ven Roy joins the UW MIA RIP as the program’s inaugural MCA. Eyan is a senior at UW-Madison studying Biology with a certificate in Health and the Humanities. He is also a Staff Sergeant in the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 128th Civil Engineering Squadron out of the 128th Air Refueling Wing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Eyan’s grandfather, uncle, and brother all serve or have served in the United States armed forces and military service is a major focus of both Eyan’s family’s way of life and his own. Welcome to the UW MIA RIP team, Eyan!
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Student Volunteer Profile
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Adelie Ehlert is a Student Researcher with the UW MIA RIP. Adelie joined the project in February 2024, when an interest in the project’s historical forensic research brought her to the “War Room.” She has since remained, serving as both a Criminal Justice Intern and History Intern with the UW MIA RIP. As a Student Researcher with the project, Adelie currently works on creating research tools for other student volunteers alongside casework. Adelie is a senior at UW-Madison studying History, Legal Studies, and Political Science. She hopes to attend law school after graduation and plans to pursue a career in public interest law.
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This past July, Dr. Gregg Jamison joined the UW MIA RIP team supporting both the UW MIA’s and the DPAA’s missions. The Lead Archaeologist with the project since 2018, Dr. Jamison has worked with the UW team on field missions to help recover and repatriate the remains of missing American service members from World War II. Dr. Jamison earned his PhD in Anthropology from UW-Madison in 2017. Since then, he has taught a variety of introductory and upper-level anthropology courses at five Universities of Wisconsin campuses, conducted archaeological fieldwork in Bahrain, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Papua New Guinea, and across the midwestern United States, and co-edited two volumes and authored or co-authored of over twenty peer-reviewed publications. We are excited to have Dr. Jamison in the UW MIA RIP “War Room.”
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ACKNOWLEDGING OUR GENEROUS DONORS
The work we do at the UW MIA Recovery and Identification Project would not be possible without the generous support of our donors.
‧New Glarus Brewing
‧Grand Appliance
‧Oxford VFW Post 6003
‧Madison VFW Post 7591
‧Wisconsin VFWs and Auxiliaries
‧Wisconsin American Legions and Auxiliaries
‧Rolling Thunder Wisconsin Chapters 3 & 5
‧All Our Individual Donors
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