U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Saowalak Wester, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) linguist, pushes soil through a screen with a Lao worker during a recovery mission in Lao People’s Democratic Republic, July 29, 2024. Each recovery mission can involve up to 65 U.S. personnel plus Lao counterparts. Both countries work together on investigations and excavations throughout the country for 30 – 45 days per mission. Recovered remains believed to be those of Americans are transferred to DPAA’s laboratory in Hawaii for further analysis and identification by forensic anthropologists. Since 1985 the United States and Lao governments have worked closely together to find and recover unaccounted-for American service members.There are currently 1,575 missing and unaccounted-for Americans from the Vietnam War. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Lesley B. Cisneros)