Air Force saves native remains

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Tim Hoffman
  • Alaskan Command Public Affairs
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (AFPN) --  Quick action and the use of high-tech radar at an old radar site allowed an Air Force team to find 15 unmarked graves of Alaska natives that were in danger of being washed out to sea this winter.

Earlier in the year, the rural village of Port Heiden, Alaska, saw their old graveyard get torn apart by a winter storm.

“The first big wave took out the cross that marked the grave, and the second took the coffin out to sea,” said Gerda Kosbruk, the village administrator for Port Heiden.

She and the other 100 or so members of this traditional Alutiiq community watched as six gravesites in the old town cemetery were washed out into Bristol Bay by a storm in late November. The savage storms and high tides of the Bering Sea in the early 1980s had forced the village to relocate several miles inland, but the old cemetery along the ocean bluffs had never been relocated.

Now, a winter storm and a high tide forced the residents of this remote village to spend their Thanksgiving Day moving remains from the old cemetery that were still in danger of being washed away.

“It was traumatic for all of us,” said Lynn Carlson, mayor of Port Heiden. “It was a job no one wanted to do, but we had to do. We relocated all the remains to the new town cemetery.”

The village is only accessible by a gravel airstrip or by water in the summer. So no one could help them with the task. They did it on their own using “a dozer, shovels, rakes -- whatever we could find,” Ms. Carlson said.

Residents were also concerned about another cemetery and a possible mass gravesite that was thought to be located on an old Air Force radar site about a quarter mile down the coast.

"The mayor immediately contacted the state," said 1st Lt. KayLynn Meeker, 611th CES chief of environmental planning.

The Alaska Department of Emergency Services then held a meeting in Anchorage that brought together 17 state and federal agencies to find a way to help save the remaining sites.

"It became clear that is was the Air Force's responsibility to protect the grave sites under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act," said Lieutenant Meeker. "We decided the best way to protect them was to move them."

However, time was a problem.

"We had to move fast," said Maj. Marc Hewett, 611th Civil Engineer Squadron’s environmental flight commander. "They were predicting another 24-foot high tide right before Christmas and we were not sure where or how many graves might be there. There were no written records, only the oral history of the village."

“My great grandpa told me of the Spanish flu epidemic around 1918,” Ms. Kosbruk said. “He talked about how he froze his feet helping bury everyone. No one kept an exact count, but there is said to be a mass grave of 200 people some where on or near the Air Force site.”

Air Force historians had been working on an on-going history project for several years on the cemetery before this crisis. A search of the documents found territorial records showing 21 people died of the Spanish influenza. So they knew they were looking for a mass grave, they just did not know exactly how many remains would be found in it, Major Hewett said.

To speed the process of finding the gravesites the Air Force team brought in two contract forensic archeologists and a new ground-penetrating radar to supplement their in-house staff.

“There was an old chapel on the site, so that was the logical starting point,” Major Hewett said.

The Air Force team arrived Dec. 17 and by Dec. 23, they had found eight sets of remains.

“The ground-penetrating radar was a great tool,” said Karlene Leeper, 611th CES cultural resources program manager. “It wouldn’t necessarily show a gravesite on the display screen, but it would give indications of previous ground disturbances and a better idea where to dig.”

The radar sat on a baby carriage-sized platform and took an image just a foot or two wide and about eight feet deep.

“The only other way to search is to dig test excavations, which is not the most efficient method in this type of environment,” Ms. Leeper said.

The area usually has mild winters, but not this year. The team had to battle cold temperatures and strong winds that combined to send the wind chill to minus 45. Plus, several large packs of wolves, some numbering up to 30, had been reported by Port Heiden residents. Luckily, no wolves were seen, but the howling coastal wind did take a toll.

“We had to take breaks every 45 minutes,” Ms. Leeper said. “We tried to warm up the best we could, but with only six hours of daylight we didn’t want to waste too much time. Thankfully, everyday someone from the village checked on us and always brought something to eat or drink -- coffee cake, soup; it was wonderful. Their support was tremendous.”

The Air Force team, confident they had found all the sites near the bluffs, took a break for Christmas. They returned Jan. 5 and exhumed seven more sets of remains, but found no mass gravesite. After searching nearly a square acre, their efforts were considered complete Jan. 11. All the remains were put in simple coffins and turned over to village for reburial.

“It’s disappointing we were not able to find the mass grave site,” Major Hewett said. “That means the site is likely not on Air Force property, was disturbed earlier, or already washed away.”

Although the team did not find the mass grave, they did find understanding from the community.

“We appreciate their efforts and their constant communication with us,” Ms. Carlson said. “They consulted us and kept us informed. They even took the time to give a demonstration of the ground-penetrating radar to the high-school students and explained their project to them. Sometimes it’s hard to get government agencies to act at all, let alone act as fast as the Air Force did. So we all thank them for their efforts to help.” (Courtesy of Pacific Air Forces News Service)