casualty
Casualty may refer to:
*Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster
**Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare
* The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...
classification assigned to
combatant
Combatant is the legal status of an individual who has the right to engage in hostilities during an armed conflict. The legal definition of "combatant" is found at article 43(2) of Additional Protocol I (AP1) to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It ...
s,
military chaplain
A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations.
Although the term ''cha ...
s,
combat medic
A combat medic, or healthcare specialist, is responsible for providing emergency medical treatment at a point of wounding in a combat or training environment, as well as primary care and health protection and evacuation from a point of injury ...
s, and
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
who are reported missing during
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
time or
ceasefire
A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state act ...
executed
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
, or deserted. If deceased, neither their remains nor grave have been positively identified. Becoming MIA has been an occupational risk for as long as there has been warfare.
Problems and solutions
Until around 1912, service personnel in most countries were not routinely issued with ID tags. As a result, if someone was killed in action and their body was not recovered until much later, there was often little or no chance of identifying the remains unless the person in question was carrying items that would identify them, or had marked their clothing or possessions with identifying information. Starting around the time of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, nations began to issue their service personnel with purpose-made identification tags. These were usually made of some form of lightweight metal such as aluminium. However, in the case of the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
the material chosen was compressed fiber, which was not very durable. Although wearing identification tags proved to be highly beneficial, the problem remained that bodies could be completely destroyed (ranging from
total body disruption
Total body disruption is the immediate and nonsurvivable destruction of the body.
Commonly referred to as being "blown up", "blown apart", turned into "a (pink or red) mist" in modern culture, or "dashed to pieces" in older literature, total bod ...
to outright
vaporization
Vaporization (or vaporisation) of an element or compound is a phase transition from the liquid phase to vapor. There are two types of vaporization: evaporation and boiling. Evaporation is a surface phenomenon, whereas boiling is a bulk phenomen ...
), burned or buried by the type of high-explosive munitions routinely used in
modern warfare
Modern warfare is warfare that is in notable contrast with previous military concepts, methods, and technology, emphasizing how combatants must modernize to preserve their battle worthiness. As such, it is an evolving subject, seen different ...
or in destructions of vehicles. Additionally, the combat environment itself could increase the likelihood of missing combatants such as
jungle warfare
Jungle warfare is a term used to cover the special techniques needed for military units to survive and fight in jungle terrain.
It has been the topic of extensive study by military strategists, and was an important part of the planning for bo ...
, or
submarine warfare
Submarine warfare is one of the four divisions of underwater warfare, the others being anti-submarine warfare, mine warfare and mine countermeasures.
Submarine warfare consists primarily of diesel and nuclear submarines using torpedoes, missi ...
, or aircraft crashes in remote mountainous terrain, or at sea. Alternatively, there could be administrative errors; the actual location of a temporary battlefield grave could be misidentified or forgotten due to the "
fog of war
The fog of war (german: links=no, Nebel des Krieges) is the uncertainty in situational awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding one's own capability, adversary capability, ...
". Finally, since military forces had no strong incentive to keep detailed records of enemy dead, bodies were frequently buried (sometimes with their identification tags) in temporary graves, the locations of which were often lost or obliterated e.g. the forgotten mass grave at Fromelles. As a result, the remains of missing combatants might not be found for many years, if ever. When missing combatants are recovered and cannot be identified after a thorough forensic examination (including such methods as DNA testing and comparison of
dental records
The Ballistics were a ska band from Ipswich, England. Formed in 2002, they have built up a healthy following across the UK and have garnered airplay in the U.S., Germany, Argentina and Brazil. The band's first album, '' Go Ballistic'', was releas ...
) the remains are interred with a tombstone which indicates their unknown status.
The development of
genetic fingerprinting
DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's DNA characteristics. DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is called DNA barcoding.
DNA profiling is a forensic tec ...
in the late 20th century means that if cell samples from a cheek swab are collected from service personnel prior to deployment to a combat zone, identity can be established using even a small fragment of human remains. Although it is possible to take genetic samples from a close relative of the missing person, it is preferable to collect such samples directly from the subjects themselves. It is a fact of warfare that some combatants are likely to go missing in action and never be found. However, by wearing identification tags and using modern technology the numbers involved can be considerably reduced. In addition to the obvious military advantages, conclusively identifying the remains of missing service personnel is highly beneficial to the surviving relatives. Having positive identification makes it somewhat easier to come to terms with their loss and move on with their lives. Otherwise, some relatives may suspect that the missing person is still alive somewhere and may return someday. However, many of these identifying procedures are not typically used for combatants who are members of militias, mercenary armies, insurrections, and other irregular forces.
History
Before the 20th century
The numerous wars which have occurred over the centuries have created many MIAs. The list is long and includes most battles which have ever been fought by any nation. The usual problems of identification caused by rapid decomposition were exacerbated by the fact that it was common practice to loot the remains of the dead for any valuables e.g. personal items and clothing. This made the already difficult task of identification even harder. Thereafter the dead were routinely buried in
mass grave
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...
s and scant official records were retained. Notable examples include such
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
battles as
Towton
Towton is a small village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England. It was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until 1974.
History
In 2010 and 2011 a pair of gold torcs dating ...
, the
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...
, The
Battle of Alcácer Quibir
The Battle of Alcácer Quibir (also known as "Battle of Three Kings" ( ar, معركة الملوك الثلاثة) or "Battle of Wadi al-Makhazin" ( ar, معركة وادي المخازن) in Morocco) was fought in northern Morocco, near the t ...
where King
Sebastian of Portugal
Sebastian ( pt, Sebastião I ; 20 January 1554 – 4 August 1578) was King of Portugal from 11 June 1557 to 4 August 1578 and the penultimate Portuguese monarch of the House of Aviz.
He was the son of João Manuel, Prince of Portugal, and hi ...
disappeared, the later
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
s, and
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
together with any battle taking place until around the middle of the 19th century. Starting around the time of the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
,
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, and Franco-Prussian War, it became more common to make formal efforts to identify individual soldiers. However, since there was no formal system of ID tags at the time, this could be difficult during the process of battlefield clearance. Even so, there had been a notable shift in perceptions e.g. where the remains of a soldier in Confederate uniform were recovered from, say, the
Gettysburg battlefield
The Gettysburg Battlefield is the area of the July 1–3, 1863, military engagements of the Battle of Gettysburg within and around the borough of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Locations of military engagements extend from the site of the first shot ...
, he would be interred in a single grave with a headstone which stated that he was an unknown
Confederate soldier
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
. This change in attitudes coincided with the
Geneva Conventions
upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864
The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conven ...
, the first of which was signed in 1864. Although the
First Geneva Convention
The First Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field, held on 22 August 1864, is the first of four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It defines "the basis on which rest the rules of internatio ...
did not specifically address the issue of MIAs, the reasoning behind it (which specified the humane treatment of wounded enemy soldiers) was influential.
World War I
The phenomenon of MIAs became particularly notable during World War I, where the mechanized nature of
modern warfare
Modern warfare is warfare that is in notable contrast with previous military concepts, methods, and technology, emphasizing how combatants must modernize to preserve their battle worthiness. As such, it is an evolving subject, seen different ...
meant that a single battle could cause astounding numbers of casualties. For example, in 1916 over 300,000 Allied and German combatants were killed in the
Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...
. A total of 19,240 British and Commonwealth combatants were killed in action or died of wounds on the first day of that battle alone. It is therefore not surprising that the
Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme
The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a war memorial to 72,337 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave. It is near the ...
in France bears the names of 72,090 British and
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
combatants, all of whom went missing in action during the Battle of the Somme, were never found and who have no known grave. Similarly, the
Menin Gate
The Menin Gate ( nl, Menenpoort), officially the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, is a war memorial in Ypres, Belgium, dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient of World War I and whose graves a ...
memorial in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
commemorates 54,896 missing Allied combatants who are known to have been killed in the
Ypres Salient
The Ypres Salient around Ypres in Belgium was the scene of several battles and an extremely important part of the Western front during the First World War.
Ypres district
Ypres lies at the junction of the Ypres–Comines Canal and the Ieperlee. ...
. The Douaumont ossuary, meanwhile, contains 130,000 unidentifiable sets of
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
remains from the
Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun (french: Bataille de Verdun ; german: Schlacht um Verdun ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front in France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...
.
Even in the 21st century, the remains of missing combatants are recovered from the former battlefields of the
Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to:
Military frontiers
*Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany
*Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...
every year. These discoveries happen regularly, often during the course of agricultural work or construction projects. Typically, the remains of one or several men are found at a time. However, occasionally the numbers recovered are much larger e.g. the mass grave at
Fromelles
Fromelles () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. it had a population of 1,041; its inhabitants are called ''Fromellois''. It is located about to the west of Lille.
First World War
The village of Fromelles was captured by a ...
(excavated in 2009) which contained the skeletal remains of no less than 250 Allied soldiers. Another example is the excavation which took place at
Carspach
Carspach (; german: Karspach) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.
Etymology
Carspach has historically been attested as ''Charoltespach'' in 877 and ''Karolspach'' in 1266. The toponym ''Carspach'' is of G ...
(
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
region of France) in early 2012, which uncovered the remains of 21 German soldiers, lost in an underground shelter since 1918, after being buried by a large-calibre British
artillery shell
A shell, in a military context, is a projectile whose payload contains an explosive, incendiary, or other chemical filling. Originally it was called a bombshell, but "shell" has come to be unambiguous in a military context. Modern usage ...
. Regardless, efforts are made to identify any remains found via a thorough forensic examination. If this is achieved, attempts are made to trace any living relatives. However, it is frequently impossible to identify the remains, other than to establish some basic details of the unit they served with. In the case of British and Commonwealth MIAs, the headstone is inscribed with the maximum amount of information that is known about the person. Typically, such information is deduced from metallic objects such as brass buttons and shoulder flashes bearing regimental/unit insignia found on the body. As a result, headstones are inscribed with such information as "A Soldier of The Cameronians" or "An Australian
Corporal
Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...
" etc. Where nothing is known other than the soldier's national allegiance, the headstone is inscribed "A Soldier of The Great War". The term "Sailor" or "Airman" can be substituted, as appropriate.
Thiepval Anglo-French Cemetery (September 2010) 2.JPG, Graves of unknown French soldiers killed during World War One. Each concrete cross has a metal plaque bearing the word "Inconnu" i.e. "Unknown"
Gallipolifrenchossuary.jpg,
Ossuary
An ossuary is a chest, box, building, well, or site made to serve as the final resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. A body is first buried in a temporary grave, then after some years the ...
at the
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...
battlefield, containing the remains of 3000 unidentified French soldiers who died in 1915
File:Tyne_cot_german_graves_01.jpg, Grave of 2 unknown German soldiers at
Tyne Cot
Tyne Cot Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery and Memorial to the Missing is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) burial ground for the dead of the First World War in the Ypres Salient on the Western Front. It is the largest cemetery for Commo ...
War Cemetery
World War II
There are many missing combatants and other persons in service from World War II.
In the
United States Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
, 78,750 personnel missing in action had been reported by the end of the war, representing over 19 percent of the total of 405,399 killed during the conflict. pp. 12–13.
As with MIAs from the First World War, it is a routine occurrence for the remains of missing personnel killed during the Second World War to be periodically discovered. Usually they are found purely by chance (e.g. during construction or demolition work) though on some occasions they are recovered following deliberate, targeted searches. As with the First World War, in western Europe MIAs are generally found as individuals, or in twos or threes. However, sometimes the numbers in a group are considerably larger e.g. the mass grave at Villeneuve-Loubet, which contained the remains of 14
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
soldiers killed in August 1944. Others are located at remote aircraft crash sites in various countries.
But in eastern Europe and Russia,
World War II casualties
World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history. An estimated total of 70–85 million people perished, or about 3% of the 2.3 billion (est.) people on Earth in 1940. Deaths directly caused by the war (including military and civ ...
include approximately two million missing Germans, and many mass graves remain to be found. Almost a half million German MIAs have been buried in new graves since the end of the Cold War. Most of them will stay unknown. The
German War Graves Commission
The German War Graves Commission ( in German) is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of German war graves in Europe and North Africa. Its objectives are acquisition, maintenance and care of German war graves; tending to next of kin; youth ...
is spearheading the effort. Similarly, there are approximately 4 million missing Russian service personnel scattered across the former Eastern Front, from
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
down to
Stalingrad
Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...
, though around 300 volunteer groups make periodic searches of old battlefields to recover human remains for identification and reburial.
During the 2000s, there was renewed attention within and without the U.S. military to finding remains of the missing, especially in the European Theatre and especially since aging witnesses and local historians were dying off. The group World War II Families for the Return of the Missing was founded in 2005 to work with the
Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command
The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (often referred to as JPAC) was a joint task force within the United States Department of Defense (DoD) whose mission was to account for Americans who are listed as Prisoners of War (POW), or Missing in Act ...
and other governmental entities towards locating and repatriating the remains of Americans lost in the conflict. The president of the group said in reference to the far more publicised efforts to find remains of U.S. dead from the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, “Vietnam had advocates. This was an older generation, and they didn’t know who to turn to.”
In 2008, investigators began to conduct searches on
Tarawa
Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati ''
American Marines, missing since the
Battle of Tarawa
The Battle of Tarawa was fought on 20–23 November 1943 between the United States and Japan at the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, and was part of Operation Galvanic, the U.S. invasion of the Gilberts. Nearly 6,400 Japanese, Koreans, an ...
in 1943. Between 2013 and 2016 the remains of 37 US Marines were recovered from Tarawa. Among those recovered was Medal of Honor recipient
Alexander Bonnyman
Alexander "Sandy" Bonnyman Jr. (May 2, 1910 – November 23, 1943) was a United States Marine Corps officer who was killed in action on Betio Atoll in the Gilbert Islands during World War II.
A combat engineer, he received the Medal of Honor ...
.
As of December 30, 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, there were still 72,550 U.S. servicemen and civilians still unaccounted for from World War II.
According to official US Department of Army and Department of Navy casualty records, submitted to Congress in 1946 and updated in 1953, the combined possible total of missing service personnel worldwide is closer to approximately 6600 and probably considerably fewer. Significantly, DPAA continues to list as "unaccounted for" the five
Sullivan brothers
The five Sullivan brothers were World War II sailor brothers of Irish American descent who, serving together on the light cruiser , were all killed in action during and shortly after its sinking around November 13, 1942.
The five brothers, t ...
—arguably the single most accounted-for group of WWII casualties ever recorded. Since DPAA alone designates such WWII personnel as the entire crew of the and most of the crew of the as both "missing" and "unaccounted for" it is likely that DPAA records keeping is irregular and prone to opinion rather than fact.
UnknownBritishSoldiers.JPG, Graves of 11 unknown British combatants killed during World War II, in
Rhodes
Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...
CWGC
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...
war cemetery
Lae War Cemetery Indian Army Grave (4x3).jpg, Grave of an unknown
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
combatant in
Lae War Cemetery
The Lae War Cemetery, established in 1944, is located adjacent to the Botanical Gardens in the centre of the city of Lae, the capital of Morobe Province, in Papua New Guinea. The cemetery is managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
In ...
,
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
UnknownItalianSoldiers.JPG, Wall
crypt
A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics.
Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...
s containing unknown
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
combatants killed during World War II, in a Rhodes cemetery
Keren Battlefield 008.jpg, Graves of unknown
Eritrean Ascari
The Royal Corps Of Eritrean Colonial Troops were indigenous soldiers from Eritrea, who were enrolled as askaris in the Royal Corps of Colonial Troops (''Regio Corpo di Truppe Coloniali'') of the Royal Italian Army (''Regio Esercito'') during the pe ...
s killed in 1941 during the
Battle of Keren
The Battle of Keren ( it, Battaglia di Cheren) took place from 3 February to 27 March 1941. Keren was attacked by the British during the East African Campaign of the Second World War. A force of Italian regular and colonial troops defended th ...
Headstone_of_Three_Unknown_German_Soldiers.jpg, Grave of 3 unknown German soldiers killed during World War II, in
Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery
The Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery () is on Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, England. The cemetery contains nearly 5,000 burials from both the First and Second World War. The burials are mainly German and Austrian nationals with a very small ...
Denkmal Kriegsgefangener.jpg, Monument to prisoners of war and missing soldiers in
Neustadt am Rübenberge
Neustadt am Rübenberge ( nds, Niestadt) is a town in the district of Hannover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. At , it is the 9th largest settlement in Germany by area (following Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne), though only about 45,000 inhabitants live ...
, Germany
Grave_of_Unknown_Indian_Army_Soldier_-_Taukkyan_War_Cemetery_-_Taukkyan_-_North_of_Yangon_(Rangoon)_-_Myanmar_(Burma)_(11816857663).jpg, Grave of unknown Indian Army soldier,
Taukkyan War Cemetery
The Taukkyan War Cemetery ( my, ထောက်ကြံ့ စစ်သင်္ချိုင်း) is a cemetery for Allied soldiers from the British Commonwealth who died in battle in Burma during the Second World War. The cemetery is in th ...
,
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
Grave_of_Unknown_Soldier_-_Taukkyan_War_Cemetery_-_Taukkyan_-_North_of_Yangon_(Rangoon)_-_Myanmar_(Burma)_-_01_(11816839553).jpg, Grave of unknown British or Commonwealth soldier,
Taukkyan War Cemetery
The Taukkyan War Cemetery ( my, ထောက်ကြံ့ စစ်သင်္ချိုင်း) is a cemetery for Allied soldiers from the British Commonwealth who died in battle in Burma during the Second World War. The cemetery is in th ...
,
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
Korean War
Korea War US MIAs repatriation (1954–2021)
; Death Valley Camp
The US Department of Defense DPAA gives dates for the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
from June 27, 1950, to January 31, 1955. Between June to October 1950, an estimated 700 civilian and US military POWs had been captured by the North Koreans. By August 1953 only 262 were still alive; one of the survivors was
Private First Class
Private first class (french: Soldat de 1 classe; es, Soldado de primera) is a military rank held by junior enlisted personnel in a number of armed forces.
French speaking countries
In France and other French speaking countries, the rank (; ) ...
Wayne A. "Johnnie" Johnson, who secretly documented the deaths of 496 US military and Korean/European civilian POWs. Johnson would later be awarded the
Silver Star
The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an e ...
medal for valor in 1996.
In August 1953, General
James Van Fleet
General James Alward Van Fleet (March 19, 1892 – September 23, 1992) was a United States Army officer who saw service during World War I, World War II and the Korean War. Van Fleet was a native of New Jersey, who was raised in Florida and gradu ...
, who had led US and UN forces in Korea, estimated that "a large percentage" of those service members listed as missing in action were alive. (Coincidentally, General Van Fleet's own son Captai James Alward Van Fleet Jr was MIA from a United States Air Force mission over North Korea April 4, 1952.)
The total number of Korean War MIAS/remains not recovered was 8,154. In 1954 during
Operation Glory
Operation Glory was an American effort to repatriate the remains of United Nations Command casualties from North Korea at the end of the Korean War. The Korean Armistice Agreement of July 1953 called for the repatriation of all casualties and priso ...
, the remains of 4,023 UN personnel were received from North Korea, of which 1,868 were Americans; of the recovered US remains, 848 could not be identified.
Between 1982 and 2016, 781 unknown remains were recovered from North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, and Punchbowl Cemetery in Hawaii, of which a total of 459 have been identified 950 sets of remains were uncovered in South Korea; of 20 sets of remains 11 were identified.
The U.S.
Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command
The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (often referred to as JPAC) was a joint task force within the United States Department of Defense (DoD) whose mission was to account for Americans who are listed as Prisoners of War (POW), or Missing in Act ...
(now the
Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense whose mission is to recover American military personnel listed as prisoners of war (POW) or missing in action (MIA) from designated past conflicts, ...
) and the equivalent South Korean command are actively involved in trying to locate and identify remains of both countries' personnel. Remains of missing combatants from the Korean War are periodically recovered and identified in both North and South Korea. It is thought that 13,000 South Korean and 2,000 U.S. combatants are buried in the
Korean Demilitarized Zone
The Korean Demilitarized Zone (Korean: ; Hanbando Bimujang Jidae) is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula near the 38th parallel north. The demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a border barrier that divides the peninsula roughly in ha ...
alone and never found. In the summer of 2018 President Moon Jae-in of South Korea expressed his hopes to recover the remains of Korean soldiers from the DMZ. South Korea MIAs are believed to number 120,000.Stars and Stripes Pacific edition July 13, 2018 /ref> In 2018 the remains of 1 North Korean were repatriated to North Korea from the U.S. On Sept 27, 2018, the remains of 64 South Korean soldier MIAs were repatriated to South Korea from the United States. On June 25, 2020, the remains of 147 South Korean soldier MIAs were repatriated to South Korea from the United States. In July 2020 it is reported that 50,000 South Korean POWS were never repatriated from North Korea in 1953.
The 1991–1993 United States Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs investigated some outstanding issues and reports related to the fate of U.S. service personnel still missing from the Korean War. In 1996, the Defense Department stated that there was no clear evidence any of the U.S. prisoners were still alive.
, at least 500 South Korean prisoners of war were believed to be still detained by the North Korean regime. That same year the U.S. suspended talks with North Korea over the recovery of MIAs; the George W. Bush administration had broken off relations between the US and North Korea-claiming it couldn't guarantee Americans safety.
In 2007 New Mexico Governor
Bill Richardson
William Blaine Richardson III (born November 15, 1947) is an American politician, author, and diplomat who served as the 30th governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. He was also the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Energy Secretary ...
traveled to Pyongong and returned with six sets of remains.
In 2010, it was reported that the Obama administration was reversing the Bush administration's suspended talks in regard to North Korea MIAs.
In 2011 the
Veterans of Foreign Wars
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an organization of US war veterans, who, as military service members fought in wars, campaigns, and expeditions on foreign land, waters, or a ...
(VFW) adopted Resolution # 423 calling for renewed discussions with North Korea to recover Americans missing in action. On July 27, 2011, Congressman
Charles Rangel
Charles Bernard Rangel (, ; born June 11, 1930) is an American politician who was a U.S. representative for districts in New York from 1971 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the second-longest serving incumbent member of the Ho ...
introduced a Congressional Resolution calling on North Korea to repatriate POW/MIAS and abductees from North Korea.
In January 2012 it was announced that members of JPAC would go to North Korea in the spring to search for an estimated 5,000 MIAs in the
Unsan
Unsan County is a ''kun'', or county, in eastern North P'yŏngan province, North Korea. Within the province, it borders Hyangsan in the east, Kujang and Nyŏngbyŏn in the south, and Tongch'ang and T'aech'ŏn in the west. In addition, it ...
& the
Chosin Reservoir
The Chosin Reservoir (), formally known as Lake Changjin () is a lake located in Changjin County, North Korea. It is most famously known for being the site of the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, which was an important battle in the Korean War.
...
areas.
In February 2012 talks were going ahead between the US and North Korea to resume discussions to recover US MIAs after seven years. On March 8, 2012, the US announced it would search for MIAs in North Korea, however on March 21, 2012, US President Obama's administration suspended talks with North Korea over the recovery of US servicemen killed and missing in North Korea.
In 2013 Korea War/Cold War Families Inc started an online petition to Obama to resolve Cold/Korean War mysteries.
In October 2014, North Korea announced it was going to move the remains of about 5,000 U.S. combatants en masse in an apparent attempt to force the U.S. to restart MIA recovery. North Korea also gave a warning that "... North Korea blamed the United States 'hostile policy' for causing the remains recovery missions to end. The statement warned that "remains of American soldiers would soon be lost", as they were being "carried away en masse due to construction projects of hydro-power stations, land rezoning and other gigantic natureremaking projects, flood damage, etc…"
As of December 2015 the DPAA "does not currently conduct" operations in North Korea.
On June 24, 2016, Congressmen Rangel,
John Conyers
John James Conyers Jr. (May 16, 1929October 27, 2019) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1965 to 2017. The districts he represented always included part of western Detroit. ...
,
Sam Johnson
Samuel Robert Johnson (October 11, 1930May 27, 2020) was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for in Congress from 1991 to 2019. He was a member of the Republican Party. In October and November 2015, he was the acting ...
introduced House Resolution No. 799 calling on the U.S. Government to resume talks in regard to the US MIAs. On September 27, 2016, House Resolution No. 799 was referred to the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. It was not enacted.
In the wake of the June 2018 meeting between U.S. President Trump and North Korean leader Kim, the U.S. received 55 boxes of MIA remains on July 27, 2018—the 65th anniversary of the Korean War truce. As of September 28, 2021, 77 Korean War MIAs have been identified from these 55 boxes. As of April 1, 2022 82 remains have been identified from 55 boxes; the total of remains recovered from 1996 to 2005 are 612 of whom 16 are yet unknown.Progress on Korea War remains 23 June 2022 /ref>
On September 22, 2021, the first US-South Korean Joint repatriation service was held: U.S. received the remains of 1 of 6 U.S. soldiers to be repatriated; South Korea received remains of two of 68 ROK Soldiers to be repatriated.
As of June 23, 2022, according to the US Department of Defense the total of working number of MIA U.S. service members is 7,541. The total of unaccounted remains is also given as 7,544.
Arrowhead Hill MIA
Remains of nine sets of remains of Korean War MIA servicemen have also been discovered at Arrowhead Hill, aka Hill 281
Battle of White Horse
The Battle of White Horse ( ko, 백마고지 전투 or Baengma-goji, ), was a battle during the Korean War hill in the Iron Triangle, formed by Pyonggang at its peak and Gimhwa-eup and Cheorwon-eup at its base, a strategic transportation route ...
, which is located in the
Korean Demilitarized Zone
The Korean Demilitarized Zone (Korean: ; Hanbando Bimujang Jidae) is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula near the 38th parallel north. The demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a border barrier that divides the peninsula roughly in ha ...
, during minesweeping operations between October and November 2018. Arrowhead Hill had previously been selected for both Koreas to jointly conduct a pilot remains recovery project.
Australians MIA in Korea
A number of Australian combatants and POWs have also never been recovered from Korea. Of 340 Australian servicemen killed in the Korean War, 43 are listed as MIA.
North Korean unknowns
Since 1996, the remains of
Korean People's Army
The Korean People's Army (KPA; ) is the military force of North Korea and the armed wing of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). Under the ''Songun'' policy, it is the central institution of North Korean society. Currently, WPK General Sec ...
combatants recovered from battlefield exhumations across South Korea have been buried in the
Cemetery for North Korean and Chinese Soldiers
Cemetery for North Korean and Chinese Soldiers (; also known as the ''Enemy Cemetery'') located in Jajang-Ro, Papyeong-myeon (파평면), Paju, South Korea, is a burial ground for North Korean casualties of the Korean War and North Korean agents ...
, the majority of the over 770 burials are unknowns.
Vietnam War
Following the
Paris Peace Accords
The Paris Peace Accords, () officially titled the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Viet Nam (''Hiệp định về chấm dứt chiến tranh, lập lại hòa bình ở Việt Nam''), was a peace treaty signed on January 27, 1 ...
of 1973, 591 U.S.
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
were returned during
Operation Homecoming
Operation Homecoming was the return of 591 American prisoners of war (POWs) held by North Vietnam following the Paris Peace Accords that ended U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
Operation
On January 27, 1973, Henry Kissinger (then assistant ...
. The U.S. listed about 1,350 Americans as prisoners of war or missing in action and roughly 1,200 Americans reported killed in action and body not recovered. By the early 1990s, this had been reduced to a total of 2,255 unaccounted for from the war, which constituted less than 4 percent of the total 58,152 U.S. service members killed. This was by far the smallest proportion in the nation's history to that point.
About 80 percent of those missing were airmen who were shot down over North Vietnam or Laos, usually over remote mountains, tropical rain forest, or water; the rest typically disappeared in confused fighting in dense jungles. Investigations of these incidents have involved determining whether the men involved survived their shootdown and, if not, efforts to recover their remains. POW/MIA activists played a role in pushing the U.S. government to improve its efforts in resolving the fates of the missing. Progress in doing so was slow until the mid-1980s, when relations between the U.S. and Vietnam began to improve and more cooperative efforts were undertaken. Normalization of U.S. relations with Vietnam in the mid-1990s was a culmination of this process.
Considerable speculation and investigation has gone to a theory that a significant number of these men were captured as
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
by Communist forces in the two countries and kept as live prisoners after the war's conclusion for the United States in 1973. A vocal group of POW/MIA activists maintains that there has been a concerted conspiracy by the Vietnamese government and every American government since then to hide the existence of these prisoners. The U.S. government has steadfastly denied that prisoners were left behind or that any effort has been made to cover up their existence. Popular culture has reflected the "live prisoners" theory, most notably in the 1985 film '' Rambo: First Blood Part II''. Several congressional investigations have looked into the issue, culminating with the largest and most thorough, the United States Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs of 1991–1993 led by Senators
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
. Its unanimous conclusion found "no compelling evidence that proves that any American remains alive in captivity in Southeast Asia."
This missing in action issue has been a highly emotional one to those involved, and is often considered the last depressing, divisive aftereffect of the Vietnam War. To skeptics, "live prisoners" is a
conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a nega ...
unsupported by motivation or evidence, and the foundation for a cottage industry of charlatans who have preyed upon the hopes of the families of the missing. As two skeptics wrote in 1995, "The conspiracy myth surrounding the Americans who remained missing after Operation Homecoming in 1973 had evolved to baroque intricacy. By 1992, there were thousands of zealots—who believed with cultlike fervor that hundreds of American POWs had been deliberately and callously abandoned in Indochina after the war, that there was a vast conspiracy within the armed forces and the executive branch—spanning five administrations—to cover up all evidence of this betrayal, and that the governments of Communist Vietnam and Laos continued to hold an unspecified number of living American POWs, despite their adamant denials of this charge." Believers reject such notions; as
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
winning journalist
Sydney Schanberg
Sydney Hillel Schanberg (January 17, 1934 July 9, 2016) was an American journalist who was best known for his coverage of the war in Cambodia. He was the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, two George Polk awards, two Overseas Press Club awards, a ...
wrote in 1994, "It is not conspiracy theory, not paranoid myth, not Rambo fantasy. It is only hard evidence of a national disgrace: American prisoners were left behind at the end of the Vietnam War. They were abandoned because six presidents and official Washington could not admit their guilty secret. They were forgotten because the press and most Americans turned away from all things that reminded them of Vietnam."
There are also a large number of
North Vietnamese
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
and
Viet Cong
,
, war = the Vietnam War
, image = FNL Flag.svg
, caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green.
, active ...
MIAs from the Vietnam war whose remains have yet to be recovered. In 1974, General
Võ Nguyên Giáp
Võ Nguyên Giáp (; 25 August 1911 – 4 October 2013) was a Vietnamese general and communist politician who is regarded as having been one of the greatest military strategists of the 20th century. He served as interior minister in President H ...
stated that they had 330,000 missing in action. As of 1999, estimates of those missing were usually around 300,000. This figure does not include those missing from former South Vietnamese armed forces, who are given little consideration under the Vietnamese regime. The Vietnamese government did not have any organized program to search for its own missing, in comparison to what it had established to search for American missing. The discrepancy angered some Vietnamese; as one said, "It's crazy for the Americans to keep asking us to find their men. We lost several times more than the Americans did. In any war there are many people who disappear. They just disappear." In the 2000s, thousands of Vietnamese were hiring
psychic
A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, ...
s in an effort to find the remains of missing family members. The Vietnamese Army organizes what it considers to be the best of the psychics, as part of its parapsychology force trying to find remains. Additionally, remains dating from the earlier French colonial era are sometimes discovered: in January 2009, the remains of at least 50 anti-French resistance fighters dating from circa 1946 to 1947 were discovered in graves located under a former market in central Hanoi.
As of December 30, 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, US Military and Civilian personnel still unaccounted for number 1,584.
Cold War
According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, as of December 30, 2021, there were still 126 U.S. servicemen unaccounted for from the Cold War.
* April 8, 1950, a U.S. Navy
PB4Y-2 Privateer
The Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer is an American World War II and Korean War era patrol bomber of the United States Navy derived from the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. The Navy had been using B-24s with only minor modifications as the PB4Y-1 Lib ...
, (Bureau Number : 59645), flying out of
Wiesbaden, Germany
Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...
, was shot down by Soviet fighters over the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
. The entire crew of 10 remains unaccounted for.
* November 6, 1951, a U.S. Navy
P2V Neptune
The Lockheed P-2 Neptune (designated P2V by the United States Navy prior to September 1962) is a maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. It was developed for the US Navy by Lockheed to replace the Lockheed PV-1 Ventura and P ...
, (Bureau Number : 124283), was shot down over the
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...
. The entire crew of 10 remains unaccounted for.
* June 13, 1952, a U.S. Air Force
RB-29 Superfortress
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a WWII era long range, strategic heavy bomber that was produced in many experimental and production models.
XB-29
: ''Section source: Baugher''
The XB-29, Boeing Model 345, was the first accepted prototype or e ...
, (Serial Number : 44-61810), stationed at Yokota Air Base, Japan, was shot down over the
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...
. The entire crew of 12 remains unaccounted for.
* October 7, 1952, a U.S. Air Force
RB-29 Superfortress
The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is a WWII era long range, strategic heavy bomber that was produced in many experimental and production models.
XB-29
: ''Section source: Baugher''
The XB-29, Boeing Model 345, was the first accepted prototype or e ...
, (Serial Number : 44-61815), stationed at Yokota Air Base, Japan was shot down north of
Hokkaido Island
is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel.
The la ...
, Japan. Of the eight crewmen on board, seven remain unaccounted for.
* November 28, 1952, a CIA
Civil Air Transport
Civil Air Transport (CAT) was a Nationalist Chinese airline, later owned by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), that supported United States covert operations throughout East and Southeast Asia. During the Cold War, missions consisted in ...
C-47 Skytrain
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...
aircraft flying over China was shot down, 2 captured and 2 killed; one of the two killed American civilian remains unaccounted for.
* January 18, 1953, a U.S. Navy
P2V Neptune
The Lockheed P-2 Neptune (designated P2V by the United States Navy prior to September 1962) is a maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. It was developed for the US Navy by Lockheed to replace the Lockheed PV-1 Ventura and P ...
, (Bureau Number : 127744), with 13 crewmen aboard was shot down by the Chinese, in the
Formosa Straits
The Taiwan Strait is a -wide strait separating the island of Taiwan and continental Asia. The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north. The narrowest part is wide.
The Taiwan Strait is itself a s ...
. Six crew members remain unaccounted for.
* July 29, 1953, a U.S. Air Force
RB-50 Superfortress
The Boeing B-50 Superfortress is an American strategic bomber. A post–World War II revision of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, it was fitted with more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines, stronger structure, a taller tail fin, and ot ...
, (Serial Number : 47-145), stationed at Yokota Air Base, Japan, was shot down over the
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...
. Of the 17 crew members on board, 14 remain unaccounted for.
* May 6, 1954, a CIA Air transport
C-119 Flying Boxcar
The Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar (Navy and Marine Corps designation R4Q) was an American military transport aircraft developed from the World War II-era Fairchild C-82 Packet, designed to carry cargo, personnel, litter patients, and mechaniz ...
aircraft flown by James B. McGovern, Jr. flying over Northern Vietnam was shot down. One of the two Americans onboard remains unaccounted for.
* April 17, 1955, a U.S. Air Force
RB-47 Stratojet
The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long-range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft. ...
, (Serial Number : 51-2054), based at Eielson Air Base, Alaska, was shot down near the southern point of
Kamchatka Peninsula
The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and we ...
, Russia. The entire crew of three remains unaccounted for.
* August 22, 1956, a U.S. Navy
P4M Mercator
The Martin P4M Mercator was a maritime reconnaissance aircraft built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. The Mercator was an unsuccessful contender for a United States Navy requirement for a long-range maritime patrol bomber, with the Lockheed P2V ...
, (Bureau Number : 124362), was shot down off the coast of China. Of the 16 crew members on board, 12 remain unaccounted for.
* September 10, 1956, a U.S. Air Force
RB-50 Superfortress
The Boeing B-50 Superfortress is an American strategic bomber. A post–World War II revision of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, it was fitted with more powerful Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engines, stronger structure, a taller tail fin, and ot ...
, (Serial Number : 47-133), based at Yokota Air Base, Japan, with a crew of 16, was lost in Typhoon Emma over the Sea of Japan. The entire crew remains unaccounted for.
* July 1, 1960, a U.S. Air Force
RB-47 Stratojet
The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long-range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft. ...
, (Serial Number : 53-4281), stationed at RAF Brize Norton, England, was shot down over the
Barents Sea
The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...
. Of the six crew members on board, three remain unaccounted for.
* December 14, 1965, a U.S. Air Force
RB-57 Canberra
The Martin B-57 Canberra is an American-built, twin-engined tactical bomber and reconnaissance aircraft that entered service with the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1953. The B-57 is a license-built version of the British English Electric ...
, (Serial Number : 63-13287), was lost over the Black Sea, flying out of Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. The entire crew of two remains unaccounted for.
* April 15, 1969, a U.S. Navy
EC-121 Warning Star
The Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star was an American airborne early warning and control radar surveillance aircraft operational in the 1950s in both the United States Navy (USN) and United States Air Force (USAF).
The military version of the Lock ...
, (Bureau Number : 135749), was shot down by North Korean fighters. Of the 31 men on board, 29 remain unaccounted for. (see
1969 EC-121 shootdown incident
On 15 April 1969,DPRK supreme leader Kim Il-sung's 57th birthday a United States Navy Lockheed EC-121M Warning Star of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One (VQ-1) on a reconnaissance mission was shot down by a North Korean MiG-21 aircraft over ...
).
The 1991–1993 United States Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs investigated some outstanding issues and reports related to the fate of U.S. service personnel still missing from the Cold War. In 1992, Russian President
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
told the committee that the Soviet Union had held survivors of spy planes shot down in the early 1950s in prisons or psychiatric facilities. Russian
Colonel General
Colonel general is a three- or four-star military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, and was a ra ...
Dmitri Volkogonov
Dmitri Antonovich Volkogonov (russian: Дми́трий Анто́нович Волкого́нов; 22 March 1928 – 6 December 1995) was a Soviet and Russian historian and colonel general who was head of the Soviet military's psychological warf ...
, co-leader of the U.S.–Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs, said that to his knowledge no Americans were currently being held against their will within the borders of the former Soviet Union. The Select Committee concluded that it "found evidence that some U.S. POWs were held in the former Soviet Union after WW II, the Korean War and Cold War incidents," and that it "cannot, based on its investigation to date, rule out the possibility that one or more U.S. POWs from past wars or incidents are still being held somewhere within the borders of the former Soviet Union."
Indo-Pakistan War of 1971
In the
Indo-Pakistan War of 1971
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the
Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 Decemb ...
, two companies of the Indian Army's 15th Punjab (formerly First Patiala) were attacked by four brigades of the Pakistan Army on 3 December 1971 at 1835 hours. Nearly 4,000 Pakistani men attacked the Indian side with 15 tanks and heavy artillery support. The Indian commanders included Major Waraich, Major Singh's and Major Kanwaljit Sandhu, who was badly injured. Major SPS Waraich was reported captured, as were many JCOs and men as the squadrons were taken by surprise and had little time to get to their bunkers. A Pakistani radio news telecast reported (in
North West Frontier jail. Their current status is unknown. They are listed as missing by the Indian Government along with 52 others including a Maj Ashok Suri who wrote a letter to his father in 1975 from
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
stating that he was alive and well. Pakistan denies holding any of the soldiers Missing in Action.
Iran–Iraq War
The
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...
of 1980–1988 left tens of thousands of Iranian and Iraqi combatants and prisoners of war still unaccounted for. Some counts include civilians who disappeared during the conflict. One estimate is that more than 52,000 Iraqis went missing in the war. Officially, the government of Iran lists 8,000 as missing.
Following up on these cases is often difficult because no accurate or surviving documentation exists. The situation in Iraq is additionally difficult because unknown hundreds of thousands persons are missing due to Iraq's later conflicts, both internal and external, and in Iran due to its being a largely closed society. In addition, relations between the countries remained quite poor for a long time; the last POWs from the war were not exchanged until 2003 and relations did not begin to improve until after the regime change brought on by the 2003 onset of the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
. Some cases are brought forward when mass graves are discovered in Iraq, holding the bodies of Iranians once held prisoner. Websites have been started to attempt to track the fates of members of the
Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force
, patron =
, motto = , "Skyhigh is my place"
, colours = Ultramarine blue
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot ...
shot down and captured over Iraq.
The
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
(ICRC) has been active in trying to resolve MIA issues from the war; in October 2008, twenty years after the end of the war, the ICRC forged a memorandum of understanding with the two countries to share information collected in pursuit of resolving cases. Families are still desperate for knowledge about the fate of their loved ones.
In Iran, efforts at answering families' questions and identifying remains are led by the POWs and Missing Commission of the
Islamic Republic of Iran Army
, founded =
, current_form = ( Islamic Republic)
, disbanded =
, branches =
, headquarters = Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters, Tehran
, website =
, commander-in-chief = Maj. Gen ...
, the
Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS), officially the Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran ( fa, جمعیت هلال احمر جمهوری اسلامی ایران, Jamʿiyyat-e Helâl-e Ahmar-e Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Irân) is a n ...
, and the
Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs
The Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs ( fa, بنیاد شهید و امور ایثارگران ''Bonyad Shahid va Omur-e Ithargaran'') is an Iranian foundation that receives its funding directly from the national budget. Amir-Hossein Ghazi ...
Operation Desert Storm
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
. At the conclusion of the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
of 1991, U.S. forces resolved all but one of those cases : 21 Prisoners of War were repatriated, 23 bodies were recovered and 2 bodies were lost over the Gulf and therefore classified as Killed-In-Action, Body Not Recovered. That one MIA case, that of U.S. Lt. Cmdr.
Michael Scott Speicher
Michael Scott Speicher (July 12, 1957 – January 17, 1991) was a naval aviator in the United States Navy who was shot down over Iraq during the Persian Gulf War becoming the first American combat casualty of the war. His fate was not known ...
, became quite well known. He was reported as missing after his
F/A-18
The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twin-engine, supersonic, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft (hence the F/A designation). Designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part ...
was shot down in northern Iraq on the first night of the war. Over the years his status was changed from missing to killed in action to missing-captured, a move that suggested he was alive and imprisoned in Iraq. In 2002, his possible situation became a more high-profile issue in the build-up to the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
; ''
The Washington Times
''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...
'' ran five successive front-page articles about it in March 2002 and in September 2002, U.S. President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
mentioned Speicher in a speech to the
United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
as part of his case for war. However, despite the 2003 invasion of Iraq and U.S. military control of the country, Speicher was not found and his status remained under debate. It was eventually resolved in August 2009 when his remains were found in the Iraq desert where, according to local civilians, he was buried following his crash in 1991.
How many Iraqi forces went missing as a result of the war is not readily known, as estimates of Iraqi casualties overall range considerably.
The two cases KIABNR:
* Lt. Cmdr. Barry T. Cooke, U.S. Navy, was lost on February 2, 1991, when his A-6 aircraft went down in the Persian Gulf.
* Lt. Robert J. Dwyer, U.S. Navy, was lost on February 5, 1991, when his FA-18 aircraft went down in the Persian Gulf.
Other conflicts
As of December 30, 2021, according to the US Department of Defense, the total of unaccounted for from the category of the Iraqi Theater and other conflicts is at 6. This includes Captain Paul F. Lorence (Operation El Dorado Canyon - 1986), Lt. Cmdr. Barry T. Cooke & Lt. Robert J. Dwyer (Operation Desert Storm - 1991) and civilian contractors
Kirk von Ackermann
Kirk von Ackermann ( – 9 October 2003) was an American contractor who disappeared in Iraq in 2003. His family was given a "presumption of death of a citizen abroad" certificate three years later. He has not been officially declared dead.
Earl ...
, Timothy E. Bell & Adnan al-Hilawi (Operation Iraqi Freedom - 2003-2010). The US Defense POW/MIA website has the following remarks:
"...more than 82,000 Americans remain missing from WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the Gulf Wars/other conflicts. Out of the 82,000 missing, 75% of the losses are located in the Indo-Pacific, and over 41,000 of the missing are presumed lost at sea (i.e. ship losses, known aircraft water losses, etc.)
Animals
Military animal
Military animals are trained animals that are used in warfare and other combat related activities. As working animals, different military animals serve different functions. Horses, elephants, camels, and other animals have been used for both tran ...
American Merchant Marine Veterans Memorial
The American Merchant Marine Veterans Memorial in John S. Gibson Park, San Pedro, California, was commissioned to honor American merchant marine veterans from all wars. It contains the bronze sculpture ''Jacob's Ladder'' by Jasper D'Ambrosi as ...
*
DUSTWUN DUSTWUN (abbreviation for ''duty status—whereabouts unknown'') is a transitory casualty status assigned to United States service members who cannot be located but have not been confirmed dead or captured. A service member can have DUSTWUN status ...
Honolulu Memorial
The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (informally known as Punchbowl Cemetery) is a national cemetery located at Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu, Hawaii. It serves as a memorial to honor those men and women who served in the United Stat ...
*
Tomb of the unknown soldier
A Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Tomb of the Unknown Warrior is a monument dedicated to the services of an unknown soldier and to the common memories of all soldiers killed in war. Such tombs can be found in many nations and are usually high-prof ...
*
West Coast Memorial to the Missing of World War II
The West Coast Memorial to the Missing of World War II is a monument dedicated to missing soldiers, sailors, marines, coast guardsmen, and airmen of World War II. It is a curved wall of California granite set in a grove of Monterey pine and cy ...
References
External links
*
*
DoD Instruction 1300.18 "Personnel Casualty Matters, Policies, and Procedures" From the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, January 8, 2008