An Alaska Army National Guard UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter lands to pick up Operation Colony Glacier recovery team members after a day of searching for human remains, personal effects and equipment at Colony Glacier, Alaska, June 16. The operation is an effort to recover the remains of service members and wreckage from a C-124 Globemaster II that crashed in November 1952 with 52 military members on board. The recovery effort has taken place every summer since 2012 by personnel from Alaskan Command, Alaska National Guard, Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations, U.S. Army Alaska, 673rd Air Base Wing, 3rd Wing and Detachment 1, 66th Training Squadron. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Don Hudson
The 52 service members who died in a Nov. 22, 1952, plane crash on Mount Gannett, Alaska, were never forgotten — but for more than 60 years, their loved ones had no remains to grieve over or bury.
That changed after an Alaska National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk crew conducting routine training in 2012 spotted aircraft wreckage on Colony Glacier. Recovery operations confirmed it was debris from the Air Force C-124 that crashed six decades earlier with 42 Airmen, eight Soldiers, one Marine and one Sailor on board.
Every summer since, service members have searched the area in an effort to find the remains of the crash victims, identify them and bring them home.
The mission, Operation Colony Glacier, continued this June, with a team of military and civilian personnel working to uphold the nation’s sacred pledge to leave no service member behind.
A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter from the Alaska Army National Guard prepares to drop off members of the 3rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron’s Crash Recover team on Colony Glacier, Alaska July 10, 2012. The recovery team responded to a sighting by the National Guard that appeared to be an aircraft wreckage. (US Army photo/Staff Sgt. Brehl Garza)
The icy terrain, unpredictable weather and constantly changing nature of the glacier require careful planning for the operation and special training and expertise for its participants.
In addition to possible remains, they search for flight equipment and personal effects.
In 2014, the Defense Department announced 17 of the lost service members had been identified and would be returned to their families for burial with full military honors. By June 2017, the number of those identified was 37.
As of June of last year, the operation’s 10th anniversary, 44 of the 52 service members had been recovered and identified.
After team members inventory the items found each year, military honor guard members conduct an honorable carry and honorable departure for the remains, which are escorted to Dover Air Force Base, Del., for identification.
Army Capt. Daniel Perpich and Staff Sgt. Joshua Richardson, of US Army Northern Warfare Training Center, search Colony Glacier for debris July 10, 2012. The Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson recovery team responded to a sighting by the Alaska Army National Guard that appeared to be an aircraft wreckage. (US Army photo/Staff Sgt. Brehl Garza)
Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Wand chips away at the glacier ice to recover aircraft debris at Colony Glacier, Alaska, June 16. Operation Colony Glacier is an effort to recover the remains of service members and wreckage from a C-124 Globemaster II that crashed in November 1952 with 52 military members on board. Wand is one of 11 recovery team members supporting the on-ice operations. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Don Hudson
Recovery team members cross a glacier ridge returning to the landing zone after a day of recovering possible human remains, personal effects and equipment at Colony Glacier, Alaska, June 16. Operation Colony Glacier is an effort to recover the remains of service members and wreckage from a C-124 Globemaster II that crashed in November 1952 with 52 military members on board. Following the inventory of items found, an honorable carry and dignified departure for the remains is conducted by the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Honor Guard and 673rd Medical Group personnel before being escorted to Dover Air Force Base, Del. Photo by Tech. Sgt. Don Hudson
U.S. Air Force Airmen with the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Honor Guard carry the transfer case of a service member recovered during Operation Colony Glacier at JBER, Alaska, June 26, 2022. The transfer cases will go to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, for identification of remains and personal effects before being returned to families. Operation Colony Glacier is an effort to recover the remains of service members and wreckage from a 1952 flight which had 52 military members on board. As of June 2022, 47 of the 52 service members’ remains have been recovered and identified. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Shelimar Rivera Rosado)
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