Repatriation and identification of the Finnish World War II soldiers.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

To present a summary of the organization, field search, repatriation, forensic anthropological examination, and DNA analysis for the purpose of identification of Finnish soldiers with unresolved fate in World War II.

Methods

Field searches were organized, executed, and financed by the Ministry of Education and the Association for Cherishing the Memory of the Dead of the War. Anthropological examination conducted on human remains retrieved in the field searches was used to establish the minimum number of individuals and description of the skeletal diseases, treatment, anomalies, or injuries. DNA tests were performed by extracting DNA from powdered bones and blood samples from relatives. Mitochondrial DNA sequence comparisons, together with circumstantial evidence, were us

SUBMITTER: Palo JU 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2080560 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature