BGuthrie Photos: MD -- Silver Spring -- Natl Museum of Health and Medicine (Forest Glen Annex) -- Exhibit: Identifying Human Remains

MD -- Silver Spring -- Natl Museum of Health and Medicine (Forest Glen Annex) -- Exhibit: Identifying Human Remains:

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[1] NMHMID_191031_001.JPG	[2] NMHMID_191031_005.JPG	[3] NMHMID_191031_009.JPG
[4] NMHMID_191031_012.JPG	[5] NMHMID_191031_014.JPG	[6] NMHMID_191031_017.JPG
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[19] NMHMID_191031_047.JPG	[20] NMHMID_191031_048.JPG	[21] NMHMID_191031_051.JPG
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. NMHMID_191031_005.JPG: Identifying Human Remains "The true patriot willingly loses his life for his country -- these poor men have lost not only their lives, but the very record of their death. Common humanity would plead that an effort be made to restore their identity." -- Clara Barton The large number of casualties during the Civil War prompted a new societal obligation -- the proper identification of fallen service members. Each of the nation's subsequent conflicts has led to improvements in identifying human remains through scientific advances and improved procedures.
2. NMHMID_191031_009.JPG: The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten. -- Calvin Coolidge
3. NMHMID_191031_012.JPG: I will never leave a fallen comrade. -- U.S. Army Soldier's Creed
4. NMHMID_191031_017.JPG: DNA Evidence In 1994, the military began collecting blood samples from service members and archiving them in a central repository. When a service member dies, the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) extracts DNA from the recovered remains and compares it to DNA from the blood card. In the early 1990s, collaborative research proved that mitochondrial DNA could be extracted from bones 125 years after death, enabling DNA evidence to be used as a method for identifying unknown service members killed during World Wars I and II,Korea, and Vietnam.
5. NMHMID_191031_022.JPG: Civil War bones used by AFDIL to Extract DNA
6. NMHMID_191031_030.JPG: DNA Collection Kit with Antemortem Blood Card Blender Cup Antemortem DNA Collector, Cheek Swab 10, 100, and 1,000 uL Pipettes used to move small volumes for DNA analysis
7. NMHMID_191031_033.JPG: Blender Cup Blender cups are used to turn solid bone into a powder. Powdered bone undergoes a series of chemical washes to free the DNA from the bone.
8. NMHMID_191031_035.JPG: Gene Amp 9600 Themocycler A thermocycler is used to amplify DNA using an enzymatic reaction called the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
9. NMHMID_191031_042.JPG: Colonel Charles J. Scharf After U.S. Air Force pilot Charles Scharf's plane was shot down during the Vietnam War, his body was not recovered. When a bone fragment was found at the crash site in 1992, efforts to match its DNA with family reference samples failed. In 2006, however, AFDIL specialists were able to positively match DNA extracted from the bone to DNA extracted from envelopes of love letters he mailed to his wife during the war. Col. Scharf's remains were laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery in November 2006.
10. NMHMID_191031_044.JPG: Envelope, Charles Scharf to Patricia Scharf, posted July 31, 1965
11. NMHMID_191031_045.JPG: Periapical Radiograph
12. NMHMID_191031_047.JPG: Dental Prosthetic Recovered at Crash Site
13. NMHMID_191031_051.JPG: Anthropological Evidence Forensic anthropologists recover and analyze skeletal remains in order to establish a biological profile. This includes an estimation of sex, age-at-death, stature, ancestry, pathology, and evidence of trauma. This information may help identify the remains by excluding any potential candidates that do not match the profile. Matching an individual to a biological profile often establishes a tentative identification. Experts then used additional lines of evidence such as fingerprinting, dental, and nuclear DNA to confirm or reject the tentative identification.
14. NMHMID_191031_058.JPG: Skull, Adult Male Skull, Adult Female
15. NMHMID_191031_061.JPG: Femur, Adult Male An individual's stature is estimated by using known correlations between long bone lengths and a person's height.
16. NMHMID_191031_063.JPG: Pelvis, Adult Male The most useful bones in estimating sex are those of the pelvis due to the functional and structural differences related to childbirth. Male bones are generally more robust with more prominent landmarks. Female bones tend to be more gracile with less prominent features.
17. NMHMID_191031_066.JPG: Pelvis, Adult Female
18. NMHMID_191031_069.JPG: Skull, Blunt-force injuries caused by a ball-peen hammer Skull, multiple sharp-force injuries caused by a saber
19. NMHMID_191031_080.JPG: Age-at-Death Estimation Estimating age-at-death using anthropological evidence can be extremely challenging. Forensic scientists at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology developed new techniques in the 1960s to assign with the endeavor. Their work evaluated age-related microscopic changes of bone, which has become one of the more referenced works in adult age estimation by microscopy.
20. NMHMID_191031_082.JPG: Microscope Slides with Cross-sections of Long Bones Ellis R. Kerley used these slides to quantify microscopic age changes and establish a method of age estimation.
21. NMHMID_191031_086.JPG: Ellis R. Kerley's Lab Notes Kerley's research concluded that there are measurable microscopic age changes in the cortex of the major long bones of the leg that can be used to estimate the age of an individual.
22. NMHMID_191031_091.JPG: 1965 publication figure plate 2b The life cycle of bone.
23. NMHMID_191031_092.JPG: 1965 publication figure plate 2a Cross-sectional age changes in the femoral cortex.
24. NMHMID_191031_095.JPG: Laboratory Light Microscope, American, ca 1960
25. NMHMID_191031_098.JPG: Humerus, 1.5-2 years Humerus, 16-20 years
26. NMHMID_191031_104.JPG: Dental Evidence An individual's dental characteristics, such as the pattern of extractions, restorations, and caries, are unique. Dental X-rays provide detailed evidence that may help identify a fallen service member. Forensic dentists compare dental remains with antemortem dental records of missing individuals. Today, all U.S. service members are required to have an annual dental examination, which provides dental charts and radiographs that can be matched with postmorten evidence.
27. NMHMID_191031_121.JPG: Portable Dental X-ray Prototype, ca late 1990s Challenges of transporting heavy equipment around the world led U.S. military dentists to evaluate portable devices. In the late 1990s, a portable radiation capture device was used as a tool that allowed dentists to perform identification work in the field.
28. NMHMID_191031_136.JPG: Virtual Autopsy In 2004, the Radiology Assisted Autopsy Program integrated multidetector computer tomography (MDCT) into the Armed Forces Medical Examiner's routine autopsy process. The 3-D images created by the MDCT technology provide the medical examiner with a detailed map of injuries and foreign objects in the body. This technology permits direct recovery of evidence and eliminates the need to perform exploratory dissections.
29. NMHMID_191031_145.JPG: Response to: 9/11 After the September 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon, the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner examined remains and collected evidence during its postmortem examination of the recovered bodies. On the day following the attack, 38 pouches of human remains and 13 boxes of unidentified remains were flown to the Port Mortuary at Dover Air Force Base. Antemortem records for the presumed victims were collected from across the country and also flown to Dover. By November 16, 2001, all but five of the 189 decedents had been scientifically identified.
30. NMHMID_191031_150.JPG: Aerial view of the Pentagon showing emergency crews responding to destruction caused when a hijacked commercial aircraft crashed into the building on September 11, 2001.
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