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News & Stories
News | Oct. 29, 2024

Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Marks Benchmark Fiscal Year

Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Public Affairs

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) concluded the 2024 fiscal year, achieving significant milestones in its mission to provide the fullest possible accounting of missing U.S. personnel to their families and the nation.

The agency accounted for 172 servicemembers from past conflicts, an increase from the 158 identifications made last year.  This year the 700th Korean War identification and the 100th identification from Cabanatuan, a World War II prisoner of war camp, were also made.

Throughout the year, DPAA and its partner organizations have conducted approximately 98 missions in 46 countries around the world.

The agency resumed operations in China that included an archival exchange and joint field activities at two sites. During these missions, the DPAA team was able to conduct recovery operations at a WWII crash site in Hunan Province and conduct a survey of Korean War sites in Liaoning Province.

In the Philippines, DPAA partnered with Marine Imaging Technologies (MITech) who excavated a site off the coast of Culasi, in search of a PBY Catalina amphibious aircraft crash site that is difficult to excavate because of the thick mud in which the aircraft sank. The DPAA benefited from 3D models MITech was able to create in 2023, which showed nearly intact aft and wing sections.

In Vanuatu, DPAA partners, Cosmos Archaeology and Professional Diving Services, began excavations on another PBY Catalina, which had been located by another partner, Sealark Maritime, in 2023. Both recoveries enjoyed close collaborative efforts and oversight from essential host nation organizations.

In September a team of 34 personnel returned from a 70-day mission in Papua New Guinea that supported one recovery mission and two investigation missions across 16 sites where they recovered four cases of osseous material and other evidence.

In Vietnam and Palau, DPAA conducted repatriation ceremonies in which possible remains were brought to the DPAA laboratory in Hawaii for examination.

DPAA completed phase-5 of the 7-phase Korean War Identification Project, disinterring 96 Korean War unknowns from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP) in Honolulu. DPAA also disinterred 92 World War II unknowns from the NMCP and the Manila American Military Cemetery and Memorial.

Mission highlights for the Europe-Mediterranean region include the disinterment of 91 unknowns from 14 American Battle Monuments Commission Cemeteries in seven countries, representing the highest total of unknowns disinterred in the Europe-Mediterranean area of responsibility in any fiscal year. DPAA also celebrated surpassing 500 Europe-Mediterranean unknowns disinterred by DPAA and predecessor organizations.

Also, this fiscal year, DPAA partner, SEARCH, successfully conducted the latest effort as part of lengthy, complex recovery activity on the Isle of Morgo, Italy to search for the unaccounted-for from a B-24H Liberator bomber that crashed in January 1944. The latest effort followed up on previous field work at the site and involved a team of archeologist and local laborers, using a prepositioned barge and heavy equipment to screen an extensive amount of mud and silt from a large duck pond for screening, leading to the discovery of significant evidence.  

In addition, DPAA partner, RPM Nautical Foundation, conducted their second recovery effort at the deepest underwater recovery site to date (90-m [295-ft]). This activity involved the search for unaccounted for from a B-24 crash located in waters off Bisevo Island, near Vis, Croatia. A team of underwater archaeologists supervising above the water and highly trained technical divers were able to find valuable evidence using a dredge system, sediment-catchment basket system, and top-side wet-screening assembly on the partner’s 120’ fully equipped research vessel.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, or on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaahttps://www.linkedin.com/company/dodpaa, https://www.instagram.com/dodpaa/, or https://x.com/dodpaa.

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Public Affairs Contact Information


Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency PAO
Washington, D.C.
2300 Defense Pentagon
Attn: Outreach and Communications
Washington, D.C. 20301-2300
Email: dpaa.ncr.oc.mbx.public-affairs@mail.mil