EXCLUSIONARY ANALYSIS

The understanding that the primary purpose of providing FRS to the U.S. authorities is to exclude the possibility that Australian remains are being held in Hawaii is fundamental to ensuring that false expectations are not created amongst family members and others. The remains in the custody of JPAC are often fragmented; traditional methods of identification by themselves may not be capable and contextual evidence associated with the initial recovery of the remains from Vietnam is often lacking. MtDNA analysis is simply another technique, although an important one, that can assist in the identification process.

MtDNA is used in over 50% of the Identifications by JPAC.

(As an aside, you will notice that remains are also being recovered from Korea at this time. Australia has 21 servicemen missing from that conflict. FRS could be required in due course to assist with these cases.)

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This page was last updated on 19 November 2003.

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