Operation Colony Glacier completes identification of all 52 service members from 1952 Mount Gannett C-124 crash

Operation Colony Glacier was a joint mission involving multiple Defense Department organizations. Key participants included:

• Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations (AFMAO) – lead agency for recovering remains and returning them to families.
• Armed Forces Medical Examiner System (AFMES) and its Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory – responsible for forensic examination and DNA identifications.
• Alaskan Command (under U.S. Northern Command) – headquarters responsible for resourcing and executing the on‑ice operation.
• Alaska National Guard (especially the Alaska Army National Guard’s 1‑207th Aviation Battalion) – provided UH‑60 Black Hawk helicopter lift and support on the glacier.
• U.S. Army Alaska, 673d Air Base Wing, and 3rd Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf‑Richardson – provided personnel, logistics, weather, medical and mortuary support. These joint teams carried out the yearly search and recovery on Colony Glacier from 2012 onward.

Identifications used multiple modern forensic methods coordinated by AFMES:

• DNA analysis: Human remains recovered on the glacier were sampled and sent to the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, where DNA profiles were compared to reference samples from family members. AFMES uses mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequencing along with autosomal STR and Y‑STR testing for these historical identifications.
• Fingerprint comparison: In at least one case (Airman 3rd Class James Ronald Kimball), an exceptionally well‑preserved hand allowed AFMES to obtain fingerprints, which the FBI matched to his military fingerprint card, enabling identification despite lacking family DNA.
• Forensic anthropology / medicolegal examination and personal‑effects analysis: AFMES medicolegal death investigators and medical examiners triaged, photographed and examined remains and associated items (e.g., clothing, wallets, ID cards) to select the best specimens for DNA and to support identifications. Together, these methods produced positive identifications for all 52 service members.

The Air Force announced that all 52 service members from the 1952 C‑124 crash had been positively identified on January 12, 2026. AFMES reported that the 50th identification had been achieved earlier in 2025, meaning the last two were completed between mid‑2025 and January 2026. Operation Colony Glacier itself began in 2012, after crash debris was discovered on Colony Glacier. From 2012 through at least the 2025 summer season, joint teams deployed to the glacier each summer for several weeks to recover additional remains and wreckage. With the identification process now complete and no new material emerging, the Air Force is considering formally closing the operation.

Yes. AFMAO states that the purpose of Operation Colony Glacier has been to recover, identify, and return the fallen to their families “with dignity and honor,” and that the identified remains are repatriated to next of kin. Each year, after on‑ice recovery, remains are flown to Joint Base Elmendorf‑Richardson for temporary holding and then to Dover Air Force Base, where AFMES conducts forensic work and AFMAO prepares them for return and burial. AFMAO also organizes a “dignified departure” ceremony at the end of each season before transport to Dover. Public reporting notes that identified remains and personal effects are given back to families for burial or memorialization according to the families’ wishes.

There is no publicly released formal accident report, but the generally accepted cause is controlled flight into terrain in poor weather. Contemporary and later accounts describe the C‑124 flying from McChord AFB, Washington, to Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, encountering storm conditions and heavy clouds near its destination. The aircraft was reportedly off course and “flying blind” when it struck Mount Gannett; the impact likely triggered an avalanche that buried the wreckage in snow and ice. This explanation, based on weather, navigation error, and loss of situational awareness, is consistent across historical summaries and later reconstructions of the crash, though detailed original USAF investigation documents do not appear to be easily accessible in open sources.

Recovered remains follow a defined chain of custody rather than being held at a single permanent location:

• During each summer recovery season, remains located on Colony Glacier are first brought to Joint Base Elmendorf‑Richardson, where the base hospital provides refrigerated storage.
• They are then transported in a dignified departure to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. At Dover, AFMES conducts forensic examinations and DNA analysis, and AFMAO prepares the remains for return.
• Once identified, remains are released to the service members’ families for burial or interment at locations of the families’ choosing (for example, hometown cemeteries or national cemeteries). There is also ongoing public and military commemoration of the crash and recovery mission, but specific memorial locations vary by unit and installation rather than a single central memorial site for all 52.