U.S troops killed in action have a last ally

U.S troops killed in action have a last ally
By Misty Showalter, CNN
updated 8:33 AM EST, Thu January 26, 2012

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Scientists and historians, military and civilians aim to recover all missing U.S. service personnel
The Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command digs at battle sites and crash sites for remains
In the lab they use dental records, photo recognition software and DNA tests to put a name to the remains
They call it the most honorable mission in the military

Editor's note: A team dedicated to finding, recovering and identifying every missing U.S. service member opens its doors to CNN International. Watch "World's Untold Story" Friday January 27 at 2330 ET, Saturday at 1630 ET and Sunday at 2330 ET.

Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii (CNN) -- There is a skull here, hundreds of fragments of bones there. Table after table is lined with human remains. One holds a near-complete skeleton, another has hundreds of tiny pieces of bone that could come from many different people.

Together, it tells the story of life and death in the military.

At the world's largest skeletal identification laboratory more than 30 forensic anthropologists, archaeologists and dentists of Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command are working to put names to the remains.

Based at Hickam Air Force Base -- site of the Pearl Harbor attack -- in Honolulu, Hawaii, JPAC is made up of all branches of the U.S. military and civilian scientists, united in the goal of bringing back all 84,000 U.S. service members who went missing during war or military action.
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