Big Ugly Fellows

About the Book

Big Ugly Fellows is a real-life story of Barbara X. Crittendon, a novice Army Forensic Anthropologist, who is on only her second mission to search for and recovery Missing in Action servicemens’ remains from the Vietnam War. In this operation, she must work with her military team — active duty soldiers, airmen, and marines all — to formulate and execute a plan to find evidence of two B-52 crew who had been lost in Operation Rolling Thunder back in December 1972. When she and her team arrive in 1996, the only observable sign of a crash is an odd-shaped fish pond in the middle of a vast expanse of agricultural fields. What they find below the still and placid water’s surface shocks them all and changes lives forever.

About the Author

Barbara X. Crittendon is a forensic anthropologist and a college professor. She holds a PhD in anthropology; she worked on archaeological sites in the Near East and South America to attain her degree. Along with holding academic positions, Dr. Crittendon worked for the US Army as a civilian forensic anthropologist in the 1990s and early 2000s. In this position she participated in search and recovery missions in Southeast Asia and other remote locations. With a team of active-duty service members, she investigated numerous places of interest for the remains of missing-in-action service men and women from the Vietnam War and prior conflicts. These actual adventures serve as the basis for this story.