Dr. Thomas D. Arkle Jr., vice president at large for National Programs of the Arizona-based MIA Charities Inc., said in an email to the Variety that they sent requests for information under the CNMI Open Government Act to both the Historic Preservation Office and the Division of Environmental Quality 10 days ago.
“We are now waiting for the responses from HPO and DEQ,” Arkle said.
He said that MIA (Missing In Action) Charities have asked for several confirmations regarding the procedures of the cremation from HPO and from the tour company that facilitated the excavation and cremation.
“They had all agreed to send the requested documents — and none did,” Arkle said.
He said they also placed a request with the National Park Service for all matters regarding NPS and HPO. They have received from NPS a voluminous set of documents detailing all activities of HPO under grants received from NPS since 2000 and a spreadsheet of all money awarded since 1985.
He said these are currently being analyzed.
“We suspect that many rules of such operations may have been violated or ignored by ‘Kuentai’ and others,” Arkle said, referring to the Japanese group that facilitated the cremation.
Arkle said some laws may have actually been broken including those of the Graves Registration Division of the U.S. military and the Native Americans Graves Protection Act of 1990.
“There has been some outrage expressed by some professional people here on the mainland. Therefore, we are investigating and will provide a report soon,” Arkle said.
He said many people are assisting MIA Charities Inc. in the investigation including a world-renowned forensic archaeologist from Canada, two forensic specialists from Arizona, the USO, Stars and Stripes, two U.S. senators and several nationally recognized veterans groups.
Arkle said the Japanese and the Philippine governments are also investigating Kuentai for alleged “bones for money” schemes throughout the Pacific war theater.
“There are rules of procedure that must be followed for disinterment of any remains on U.S. soil, and that assuredly includes the CNMI,” Arkle said.
He said foreign entities must also follow the established procedures while visiting the U.S. just as they do when visiting a foreign sovereign site.
“Simply hiring a local company to oversee the process is usually not sufficient to satisfy requirements,” Arkle said.
He added that while it is possible that the removal of bones by Kuentai will meet necessary requirements and that HPO and DEQ may have followed correct procedures, they believe there are several serious deficiencies at hand, one being the fact that an independent and qualified forensic anthropologist to represent the families of Americans missing in action was not present, nor was there confirmation of the fact that all remains cremated were of Japanese origin or even of soldiers by independent duly licensed forensic experts in the field.
He said university level historians who volunteer their time to MIA Charities have reviewed first-hand the accounts of the battle area and serious questions have arisen.
MIA Charities is currently conducting at least 27 missions in over 24 foreign countries, including the first and only authorized recovery missions ever inside the People’s Republic of China.
Arkle said the missions can take years and remains usually undergo a confirmation process that can take up to another year.
“What has occurred under the auspices of untrained and non-professional personnel of the CNMI government’s agencies is the removal of over 500 sets of unconfirmed remains and their ultimate destruction by fire, thus rendering any further possible confirmations moot,” Ankle said.
The Kwentai group cremated the remains of what said described as 575 Japanese individuals at the old Banadero airport in Marpi on Sept. 11, 2011. The ashes were placed in six containers and flown to Japan the following day.
