Photo By Seaman Lawrence Whaley III | Carson Criswell, an Army ROTC cadet from the University of Arizona, uses a metal...... read more read more
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POLAND – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency recently piloted a unique partnership with the University of Arizona’s Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps from July 24 to Aug. 18.
Three cadets, Jonathan Ellwanger, Zachariah Ellwanger, and Carson Criswell, along with their Professor of Military Science, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Rich Ingleby, joined a DPAA recovery team in Poland to assist in field operations.
This marked the first time cadets from the University of Arizona were given the opportunity to directly support a DPAA recovery mission. When Ingleby was selecting cadets for this mission, he wanted cadets who were driven and committed to embrace the rigor of the work.
“I wanted cadets that were going specifically for this mission, cadets that understood the importance of it,” he said. “It was not going to be a vacation to Europe; we were working long hours in a farm field.”
Each day the team worked from morning to late afternoon, digging, shoveling, and screening soil in search of material evidence and possible remains.
“We dug, shoveled, and screened dirt from buckets from around 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day for six days a week,” said Ellwanger. “It was a lot of manual labor, but expectations were definitely met.”
Despite the physical demands, the cadets embraced the challenge, finding meaning in the hard work and in the connections forged with a seasoned DPAA archaeologist and other members of the team.
For Ellwanger, the mission carried personal significance. his grandfather, a Vietnam veteran, had once been shot down while serving as a helicopter gunner. Though he survived with shrapnel wounds, his story gave Ellwanger a deeper appreciation for the families who still wait for answers.
“It could have been him that didn’t come home,” Ellwanger reflected. “People could still be out there looking for his remains.”
The site had previously been worked on in 2019 and had yielded possible remains. Six years later, while the cadets from Arizona were on site, DPAA was able to identify one of the crew members from remains recovered. The timing underscored the significance of their contribution, helping continue the painstaking process of bringing long-missing Americans home.
While this was DPAA’s first collaboration with the University of Arizona, it builds on earlier engagements with officer candidates from other institutions. For example, two U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen joined a DPAA recovery mission in South Korea earlier this year. According to Stephanie Colby, DPAA’s chief of integration for partnerships and innovation, these partnerships are invaluable.
“They provide DPAA with access to highly motivated and skilled individuals while simultaneously offering cadets unparalleled, hands-on experience in our mission of bringing our fallen heroes home,” said Colby.
The experience instilled in the cadets the values of selfless service, sacrifice, teamwork, and dedication to mission-driven work that will guide them as future officers. Beyond the physical labor, they gained a firsthand understanding of DPAA’s promise to never leave a fallen comrade behind.
“What better way to teach Army values of selfless service and never leaving a fallen comrade, than for them to see the effort that goes into fulfilling that promise 80 years later,” Ingleby said.
As DPAA continues to innovate in its partnerships, the success of this pilot effort hints at more opportunities for ROTC cadets across the country. For the cadets who joined this mission, the lessons learned in the fields of Poland will follow them into their future careers as officers, shaping not only how they serve, but also how they lead.
| Date Taken: | 09.22.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 09.22.2025 17:31 |
| Story ID: | 548973 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 26 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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