MONDAY, Nov. 11, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- After 34 years of waiting and wondering, an American family has finally learned the fate of their loved one, a soldier who died in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp.
How they confirmed his death highlights advances in forensic science.
But it also illustrates the determination and lasting pain of the 1,900 U.S. families with missing and unaccounted for Vietnam veterans.
"In their minds, they thought the person might still be a prisoner someplace. It's horrible to think a family member may be going through that. But this gave them closure," says John Gobetti, a dentistry professor at the University of Michigan who helped identify the man.
"It shows us that we're still interested in our servicemen, even this much later," he says.
The veteran's family has asked not to be identified. But several months ago, the Vietnamese government gave the family the soldier's partial remains -- a piece of a leg bone and a tooth with bridgework attached. Soon afterward, a family member visited his gravesite in Vietnam and uncovered a second tooth.
DNA tests on the remains proved inconclusive. So Gobetti, a specialist in forensic dentistry, was called in to examine the two teeth, and hopefully match them to the serviceman, who had disappeared in 1968. Because they are the hardest substance in the body, teeth don't decay as quickly as other remains.
Gobetti's first look was promising.
"I was positive it was a molar from a Caucasian because there are differences in tooth structure among different ethnic groups," he says.
Moreover, the bridgework done on the tooth was identical to the type of dental work performed during the 1960s in the United States, which differed from work done in other countries.
"So this confirmed, at least in my mind, that I was on the right track," Gobetti says.
Then he compared the teeth with the U.S. military's meticulous dental records. The match was clear, he says, adding that there is a one in 2 billion chance that a person will have the same dental work and dental growth pattern as another person.
"The family has been very gracious and cooperative and I was happy, in some way, to help them achieve closure," Gobetti says.
Ann Mills Griffiths is executive director of the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia. She says the work done by Gobetti -- identity confirmation from minimal remains -- would have been very difficult 10 or 15 years ago.
As the science improves, more and more families will have the chance to finally learn what happened to their missing loved one, she says.
"You wouldn't believe the difference it makes to have that peace of mind," says Griffiths, who is still missing her own brother from the war and counsels other families with missing veterans.
"It's not that you wake up crying at night or can't sleep, but it never leaves until you have that finality," she says. "When you have the person's remains, you can grieve and go on because you know what happened."
Since accurate dental records are necessary for any forensic identification, Gobetti urges people to keep their dental records with other health records.
What To Do
To learn about the U.S. government's efforts to gain a full accounting of service personnel missing in Southeast Asia, visit the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office. This PBS site has more information about "Vietnam's Missing in Action." And you can visit the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia.
