An Army Golden Knight parachutist landed at Sheppard’s salute to America’s warfighters air show streaming the familiar black Prisoner of War/Missing in Action flag.

It was an emotional moment for many of the spectators at the Oct. 15 event.

But it was an especially emotional moment for Tech. Sgt. Tisha Gilmore. The 361st Training Squadron aircrew life support instructor had just spent 33 days in Laos searching for the remains of U.S. servicemembers still missing in action since the Vietnam War.

She was working at the event when she saw the flag in the air above her.

"It definitely made an impact on me," she said.

The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command -- based on Oahu, Hawaii -- chose Sergeant Gilmore to be a part of a 10-person team going to Laos to survey the site of an A-26A Invader crash. The mission was to recover any remains or personal effects at the site.

Sergeant Gilmore’s career field was one reason for her selection. But her successfully completion a life science investigation course also helped. Once done with the course, she went to the command’s Web site, volunteered for the special duty assignment and filled out an application. The command’s life support superintendent picked her.

She flew to Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, met her team, and then went to Bangkok, Thailand. She was the only Airman on the team of Soldiers, Sailors and Marines and a civilian anthropologist. After two nights there, they arrived in Laos.

The team spent the first couple of days in Laos surveying the aircraft accident site. They also built a work station and rest area at the scene for their day-to-day operations. Then the team went through the arduous task of clearing away trees, brush and grass that had grown over the landscape of the A-26A crash site during the past 40 years.

Anthropologist Dennis Danielson and an Army mortuary affairs troop developed a grid of the area. Then Mr. Danielson set the ground rules and the team literally got down and dirty, digging and filtering loads of soil through screens. All the while, they kept a keen eye out for potentially important discoveries.

"We would dig until we reached what’s called sterile ground," Sergeant Gilmore said. This is the point beneath surface the crash did not impact. In other words, an area not likely to contain any remnants or evidence.

Getting to that ground could mean digging for several inches in outlying areas, or toiling away until trenches grew to as much as six feet deep.

She said the team’s efforts uncovered clues that could prove fruitful later on.

"We found aircraft parts and possible human remains, which are still being tested back at the lab in Hawaii," she said.

Sergeant Gilmore said she felt honored to be part of the team. And it was rewarding to take part in the command’s mission in Laos.

"It was very worthwhile, even if it meant being away from my family," she said. "It's not something everyone gets to do."

She also related how searching for aircrew remains made her realize how important her own aircrew life support duties are.

"It's unique that I had this opportunity since we work so closely with aircrews on a daily basis,” she said. Being a part of this made me feel more proud of my job."

The sergeant said her experience in Laos helper her better appreciate why it is important to take care of the little details. 

"Taking every serial number down on equipment, why we put information on inspection cards that we put with the aircrew's gear,” she said. “If the gear is on the ground, the person wearing it is there, too."

The JPAC motto is "Until They Are Home." Sergeant Gilmore had a chance to live and breathe those words. She calls her experience “a once-in-a-lifetime” event.
And she encourages others to do what she did.

Then, she said, the black POW/MIA flag will never again look quite the same.

For more details, visit the JPAC Web site: www.jpac.pacom.mil

(Courtesy of Air Education and Training Command News Service)