U.S. Air Force photo by Tech Sgt. Sarah Guthrie
DPAA Director Kelly McKeague speaks with the family member of a missing service member during the Family Member Update in San Antonio, Texas, March 23, 2019.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) conducts periodic updates and annual government briefings for families of American servicemembers who are missing in action (MIA). These events are designed to keep family members informed of the U.S. government's worldwide mission to account for those still missing and to discuss in detail the latest information available about their specific cases.
At the annual and monthly update meetings, speakers include senior officials, experts, and scientists who work in the wide range of tasks associated with the POW/MIA mission. During the meetings, there are formal presentations, question and answer sessions, and one-one-one discussions between government officials and family members.
DoD has conducted these update programs since 1995, reaching more than 17,000 family members face-to-face.
U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Amara Timberlake
Personnel from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), conduct an honorable carry for the possible remains of unidentified U.S. service members at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, April 2, 2019. The possible remains were recently recovered from sites in Vietnam as a result of the largest Joint U.S.-Vietnam Field Activity (JFA) to ever be conducted in the 30-year history of such operations involving the two countries. The recently concluded JFA involved 139 U.S. Department of Defense personnel, along with members of DPAA's Vietnam counterpart organization, the Vietnamese Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP). The VNOSMP was established in the aftermath of the 1973 Paris Peace Accords to coordinate with the U.S. in the accounting mission. From its initial, tentative beginnings, the U.S. - Vietnam relationship to account for our missing personnel has matured into a full-fledged partnership, commemorated last December by a dinner in Hanoi attended by senior Vietnamese and U.S. officials. The JFA members divided into teams and dispersed to nine land sites and one underwater site. DPAA conducts four JFAs each year in Vietnam. During Fiscal Year 2019, the JFAs will involve 11 investigation teams and 23 recovery teams seeking to find information and recover material related to the 1,246 U.S. personnel who remain missing in Vietnam from the Vietnam War.
This work in Vietnam is part of DPAA's effort to account for a total of 1,589 U.S. personnel who remain missing throughout Indochina from the Vietnam War and part of the agency's overall mission to provide the fullest possible accounting for more than 82,000 U.S. personnel who remain missing from past conflicts dating back to World War II.
DoD Photo by Mr. Lee O. Tucker
Air Force Col. Richard A. Kibbey, 32, of Delmar, New York, killed during the Vietnam War, was buried today at Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington D.C.
On Feb. 6, 1967, Kibbey was a member of Detachment 5, 38th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, when he, along with three other service members, were crew members of an HH-3E helicopter on a rescue and recovery mission over North Vietnam. After rescuing the pilot of a downed aircraft, Kibbey’s helicopter was hit by enemy ground fire, resulting in an internal explosion and crash. Kibbey was subsequently reported missing in action. His status was later amended to deceased.
In March 2017, a Vietnamese Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP) team excavated a crash site associated with Kibbey’s loss, near Bai Dinh Hamlet, Dan Hoa Village, Quang Binh Province, Vietnam. A VNOSMP team continued excavation of the site between February and April 2018, recovering additional remains. These remains were sent to DPAA on April 16, 2018 and consolidated with the remains received in 2017.
To identify Kibbey’s remains, DPAA and the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, dental analysis, as well as material and circumstantial evidence.
U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tyler Thompson
U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Nicholas Kibbey, assigned to OL-C 1st Combat Camera Squadron at March Air Force Base, attends a chain of custody ceremony for his grandfather, Air Force Col. Richard "Dick" Kibbey, at the DPAA
laboratory in Hawaii, March 26, 2019. Col. Kibbey, lost during the Vietnam War in 1967 and accounted for on Aug. 6, 2018, will be buried March 29, 2019, in Arlington National Cemetery.
March 29 is National Vietnam War Veterans Day. Established in US law, on this day the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration recognizes all men and women who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces from November 1, 1955 to May 15, 1975. Nine million Americans, approximately
seven million living today, served during that period.
March 29th, is National Vietnam War Veterans Day when we honor the service and sacrifices of our Vietnam Vets. For the 1,589 who are still missing from the war, DPAA works to fulfill the sacred promise made to them and their families by finding, identifying, and returning their remains.
The DPAA Year in Review is an annual publication of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. It chronicles Worldwide mission of our world-class workforce working to fulfill our nation's obligation by providing the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel to their families and the nation. View the DPAA Year in Review now!
(DoD photo by Mr. Lee O. Tucker)
From left; Fred Downs, Former National Director, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service; Kelly McKeague, DPAA Director; Ambassador Pham Quang Vinh, Former Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States; and Robert Destatte, Vietnam Analyst, Defense Intelligence Agency, participate in a panel at the Overcoming War Legacies event at the United States Institute of Peace. At the event, the governments of the United States of America and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, in partnership with the United States Institute of Peace, examined the transformation from enemies to partners by the two countries since the end of the war in 1975.
U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Mikaley P. Kline
DPAA partners and potential partners attended a scientific and field skills familiarization provided by the DPAA Academy from March 18-22, 2019. This familiarization covered a variety of topics pertaining to forensic archaeology, scientific analysis, and investigation methodologies. The Academy represents a significant investment in partnerships by DPAA. These sessions bring together our personnel, from across the agency, to interact with partners in ways intended to convey the depth of our knowledge, and the specifications of our project needs, to them while also seeking to learn from these acknowledged experts.
U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Kristen Duus
U.S. Army Reserve Brig. Gen. Twanda (Tia) Young, right, deputy commanding general of the United States Army Human Resources Command, speaks with Marla Andrews, daughter of U.S. Army Air Forces Capt. Lawrence Dickson, while presenting her with the American Flag at Arlington National Cemetery, March 22, 2019. Dickson, 24, of New York, New York, was a pilot and Tuskegee Airman killed during World War II. He was accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency on July 26, 2018. In December 1944, Dickson was a pilot with the 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, in the European Theater. On Dec.23, 1944, Dickson departed Ramitelli Air Base, Italy on an aerial reconnaissance mission toward Praha, Czechoslovakia. On his return, Dickson’s P-51D aircraft suffered engine failure and was seen to crash along the borders of Italy and Austria, reportedly between Malborghetto and Tarviso, Italy. According to witnesses, Dickson’s plane had rolled over with the canopy jettisoned. He was not observed ejecting from the plane. Dickson’s remains were not recovered and he was subsequently declared missing in action. Dickson is the first Tuskegee Airman to be accounted for from those missing in action.
DPAA Public Affairs
DPAA is pleased to launch the "FamWeb"- an online space for sharing updates, content and new information with families of personnel who are unaccounted-for and recently identified from past conflicts.