Ms Gilbert and Professor Oxenham with their awards. Photo: ANU
Two archeologists have been recognised by the Australian Army for their work in locating, recovering and identifying Australian Defence Force personnel who died in the service of their country.
Professor Marc Oxenham received an Army Silver Level commendation and Felicity Gilbert received recognition from the Unrecovered War Casualties–Army (UWC-A).
Both are from The Australian National University (ANU) School of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Professor Oxenham said his commendation recognised the strong partnership formed between the ANU and the Department of Defence by way of shared commitments to service and community engagement.
Professor Oxenham who has extensive practical experience in archaeological excavation and human skeletal anatomy, has been applying his skeletal anatomy skills for more than two decades in a range of pro bono forensic anthropology consulting tasks.
In 2009, he assisted with identifying remains believed to belong to an Australian Air Force crew who had died in a military plane crash during the Vietnam War in 1970.
His work has taken him to Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, West Timor and France.
Ms Gilbert, a PhD Candidate in Biological Anthropology, became involved in the work in May last year when her opinion was asked on a specific case, and has since been analysing remains and working on identifications.
“I was keen to volunteer for this type of work as it is extremely interesting and I feel it is a way to apply my research and experience to something that is very important to the relatives of those lost in past conflicts,” Ms Gilbert said.
The UWC-A is the Australian Army’s unit responsible for finding, recovering and identifying Australian servicemen and women who remain unaccounted for (missing or presumed deceased) from all past conflicts.
