RADFORD -- In July, a team of Radford University faculty and students will attempt to locate the remains of members of the US Marine Goettge Patrol killed during the August 1942 Battle for Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.  RU anthropologists Cliff and Donna Boyd, physicist Rhett Herman and RU students will use archeological techniques and geophysical equipment to survey the ground where the patrol could be buried in mass graves. This trip is a part of Radford University's Forensic Science Institute field school in archaeology and geophysical survey at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.

There have been several attempts to locate the remains of this patrol over the past 20 years.  Most recently, a private organization, Greatest Generation MIA Recoveries, has been collecting documentation on the patrol and its history.  This organization says it has located the most likely site for the recovery of these remains and has asked the RU Forensic Science Institute for assistance. 

Cliff Boyd and Herman will map the area where the graves are expected to be located and then use a ground penetrating radar and resistivity equipment to look for soil anomalies that indicate human remains.  Cliff Boyd will then excavate a small area to identify the anomoly’s cause.  If the anomaly is caused by human remains, Donna Boyd will determine if the remains are American and the approximate date of death.

The goal of the field school is to positively identify the location of the WWII marines' remains and the training of students in archaeological survey and geophysical remote sensing techniques.  If the remains are found, the U.S. Army Joint POW Command Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii will be notified to direct the removal of these individuals.