William Chadwick
Anthropology faculty members William Chadwick and Andrea Palmiotto from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Department of Anthropology, Geospatial and Earth Sciences, were honored to be invited by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III to the National POW/MIA Recognition Day at the Pentagon in Washington, DC on September 20, 2024.
The National POW/MIA Recognition Day is observed every year on the third Friday in September. It honors those who were Prisoners of War and those who are still Missing in Action from past US conflicts. Chadwick attended the event, representing IUP as a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) Partner. Other attendees include staff from DPAA, Henry M. Jackson Foundation for Military Medicine (HJF), families of POW/MIA, and other partner agencies. The event included speeches from General Charles Q. Brown, Jr., USAF Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense in recognition of the sacrifices made by our US service members and their families and the mission of DPAA to bring home those missing from past conflicts
IUP has been a partner with DPAA and HJF since 2021. Under the partnership, IUP Anthropology faculty and students have conducted recovery missions each year related to World War II aircraft crash sites in Germany. These field activities are organized as Forensic Archaeological Field Schools where future forensic anthropologists and archaeologists are trained on procedures for the recovery of the missing while contributing to this humanitarian mission. This opportunity has attracted students from across the US, many of whom are involved in ROTC, have family members who served in past conflicts, or plan to work in cultural resource management or with forensic anthropological agencies after graduation.
IUP is honored to partner on this meaningful work and provide this opportunity to students, which aligns with our program’s goals of offering practical experiences to support our students as they enter the workforce.