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'{{short description|Military term describing someone reported missing during service}} {{About|the military term|other uses|Missing in action (disambiguation)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2011}} [[File:UnknownBritishSoldier.JPG|thumb|Grave of an unknown British combatant, killed in 1943 during the [[Battle of Leros]]. Because his identity is unknown, he is missing in action.]] [[File:12soldiers.JPG|thumb|Grave of 12 unknown British and/or Commonwealth soldiers. Buried in [[Stanley Military Cemetery]], [[Hong Kong]].]] [[File:Garden of the Missing in Action IMG 1290.JPG|thumb|right|The [[Garden of the Missing in Action]] in the National Military and Police Cemetery in [[Mount Herzl]] in [[Jerusalem]].]] <!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Thiepval names.jpeg|thumb|right|Some of the 72,000 names inscribed on the [[Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme]]]] --> '''Missing in action''' ('''MIA''') is a [[casualty (person)|casualty]] classification assigned to [[combatant]]s, [[military chaplain]]s, [[combat medic]]s, and [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] who are reported missing during [[war]]time or [[ceasefire]]. They may have been [[killed in action|killed]], [[Wounded in action|wounded]], [[prisoner of war|captured]], [[capital punishment|executed]], or [[Desertion|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 [[Dog tag (identifier)|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]], 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 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]] to outright disintegration), burned or buried by the type of high-explosive munitions routinely used in [[modern warfare]] or in destructions of vehicles. Additionally, the combat environment itself could increase the likelihood of missing combatants such as [[jungle warfare]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/820454--jungle-battlefield-lost-for-68-years-discovered |title=Jungle battlefield 'lost' for 68 years discovered |work=thestar.com |access-date=2012-10-11 |location=Toronto |date=June 8, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Justin R. Taylan |url=http://www.pacificwrecks.com/dogtags/army/odenthal/index.html |title=Pvt Martin Odenthal – Dog Tag & Grave Discovery on Guadalcanal |publisher=Pacific Wrecks |access-date=2012-10-11}}</ref> or [[submarine warfare]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,432102,00.html |title=U.S. Navy Confirms Lost WWII Sub Found Off Aleutians |publisher=Fox News |date=October 3, 2008 |access-date=2012-10-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021040017/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,432102,00.html |archive-date=October 21, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Landale |first=James |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8321516.stm |title=UK &#124; Sub's wartime grave discovered |work=BBC News |date=2009-10-23 |access-date=2012-10-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author={{Not a typo|NetherlandsInfo|mation}}|url=http://www.defencetalk.com/missing-submarine-k-xvi-found-after-70-years-38040 |title=Missing Submarine K XVI Found After 70 Years &#124; Navy & Maritime Security News at DefenceTalk |publisher=Defencetalk.com |date=2011-11-01 |access-date=2012-10-11}}</ref> or aircraft crashes in remote mountainous terrain,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.warhistoryonline.com/featured-article/remains-of-wwii-soilder-come-home-after-68-years.html |title=Remains of WWII airman come home after 68 years |publisher=Warhistoryonline.com |access-date=2012-10-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121116084512/http://www.warhistoryonline.com/featured-article/remains-of-wwii-soilder-come-home-after-68-years.html |archive-date=November 16, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> 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]]".<ref>{{cite news|last=Waterfield |first=Bruno |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/9550949/British-paratroopers-body-found-in-Holland-68-years-after-battle-of-Arnhem.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919014647/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/9550949/British-paratroopers-body-found-in-Holland-68-years-after-battle-of-Arnhem.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 19, 2012 |title=British paratrooper's body found in Holland 68 years after battle of Arnhem |publisher=Telegraph |date= September 18, 2012|access-date=2012-10-11 |location=London}}</ref> 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<ref>{{cite web |author=Reading Room Manchester |url=http://www.cwgc.org/news-events/news/two-unmarked-graves-in-popielow-cemetery-poland-discovered-to-be-those-of-two-british-servicemen.aspx |title=Two Unmarked Graves in Popielow Cemetery Poland Discovered To Be Those Of Two British Servicemen |publisher=CWGC |access-date=2012-10-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015055049/http://www.cwgc.org/news-events/news/two-unmarked-graves-in-popielow-cemetery-poland-discovered-to-be-those-of-two-british-servicemen.aspx |archive-date=October 15, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cwgc.co.uk/Hidden.htm |title=cwgc.co.uk |publisher=cwgc.co.uk |date=January 1, 2011 |access-date=November 14, 2011}}</ref> or obliterated e.g. the [[Battle of Fromelles#New cemetery|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 remains are interred with a tombstone which indicates their unknown status. The development of [[genetic fingerprinting]] 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.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4374611.stm |work=BBC News | title=Arnhem soldier buried 60 years on | date=March 23, 2005 | access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4755183.stm |work=BBC News | title=Family of dead WWII airman found | date=May 9, 2006 | access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4198304.stm |work=BBC News | title=Funeral for RAF crew, 61 years on | date=September 1, 2005 | access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/7745635.stm |work=BBC News | title=Mystery of soldier's grave solved | date=November 24, 2008 | access-date=May 12, 2010 | first=Julian | last=Sturdy}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/174121.stm |work=BBC News | title=British War hero finally gets hero's funeral | date=September 18, 1998 | access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/193380.stm |work=BBC News | title=German WWII pilot laid to rest on Teesside | date=October 14, 1998 | access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref> 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]]s and scant official records were retained. Notable examples include such [[medieval]] battles as [[Battle of Towton|Towton]],<ref>{{cite web |author=Armin Schmidt |url=http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/archsci/depart/resgrp/towton/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070907151242/http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/archsci/depart/resgrp/towton/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 7, 2007 |title=brad.ac.uk |publisher=brad.ac.uk |date=April 8, 2010 |access-date=November 14, 2011 }}</ref> the [[Hundred Years' War]], The [[Battle of Alcácer Quibir]] where King [[Sebastian of Portugal]] disappeared, the later [[English Civil War]]s, and [[Napoleonic Wars]]<ref>{{cite news| url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-waterloo-skeleton-idUKBRE85E0JM20120615 | work=Reuters | title=Rare remains of soldier found at Waterloo | date=June 15, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/sep/03/artsandhumanities.research |work=The Guardian |location=London | title=After 190 years the bones of Boney's army are unearthed in a mass grave in Lithuania | first=Ian | last=Traynor | date=September 3, 2002 | access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref> together with any battle taking place until around the middle of the 19th century. Starting around the time of the [[Crimean War]], [[American Civil War]], and [[Franco-Prussian War]], it became more common to make formal efforts to identify individual soldiers. However, since there was no formal system of [[Dog tag (identifier)|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 [[battle of Gettysburg|Gettysburg battlefield]], he would be interred in a single grave with a headstone which stated that he was an unknown [[Confederate soldier]]. This change in attitudes coincided with the [[Geneva Conventions]], the first of which was signed in 1864. Although the [[First Geneva Convention]] 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=== [[File:Seringes-et-Nesles Oise-Aisne American Cemetery - Unknown Soldier.jpg|thumb|Grave of an unknown American combatant in [[Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial|Oise-Aisne Cemetery]]. Killed in 1917]] The phenomenon of MIAs became particularly notable during World War I, where the mechanized nature of [[modern warfare]] 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]]. A total of 19,240 British and Commonwealth combatants were [[killed in action]] or died of wounds on the [[First day on the Somme|first day of that battle]] alone. It is therefore not surprising that the [[Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme]] in France bears the names of 72,090 British and [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] 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]] memorial in [[Belgium]] commemorates 54,896 missing Allied combatants who are known to have been killed in the [[Ypres Salient]]. The [[Douaumont ossuary]], meanwhile, contains 130,000 unidentifiable sets of [[France|French]] and [[Germany|German]] remains from the [[Battle of Verdun]]. Even in the 21st century, the remains of missing combatants are recovered from the former battlefields of the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] every year.<ref>[https://www.cwgc.org/learn/news-and-events/news/2018/07/19/09/58/burial-and-rededication-services-in-august CWGC News accessed 27 July 2018]</ref> These discoveries happen regularly, often during the course of agricultural work or construction projects.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Handmade-tag-offers-clue-to.2267079.jp |work=The Scotsman |location=Edinburgh, UK | title=Hand-made tag offers clue to identity of First World War soldier | date=October 15, 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aftermathww1.com/laidtorest.asp |title=aftermathww1.com |publisher=aftermathww1.com |access-date=November 14, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fylde.demon.co.uk/fraser.htm |title=fylde.demon.co.uk |publisher=fylde.demon.co.uk |access-date=November 14, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aftermathww1.com/pteclarke.asp |title=aftermathww1.com |publisher=aftermathww1.com |access-date=November 14, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hellfire-corner.demon.co.uk/monchy.htm |title=hellfire-corner.demon.co.uk |publisher=hellfire-corner.demon.co.uk |access-date=November 14, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927102923/http://www.hellfire-corner.demon.co.uk/monchy.htm |archive-date=September 27, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hellfire-corner.demon.co.uk/bosisto.htm |title=hellfire-corner |publisher=Hellfire-corner.demon.co.uk |access-date=November 14, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927102959/http://www.hellfire-corner.demon.co.uk/bosisto.htm |archive-date=September 27, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.daylife.com/photo/07OYcF36Y206d |title=daylife.com |publisher=daylife.com |date=2012-08-23 |access-date=2012-10-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318074653/http://www.daylife.com/photo/07OYcF36Y206d |archive-date=March 18, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> 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 [[Battle of Fromelles|Fromelles]] (excavated in 2009) which contained the skeletal remains of no less than 250 Allied soldiers.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8247278.stm |work=BBC News | title=Fromelles grave excavation ends | date=September 10, 2009 | access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.defence.gov.au/fromelles/ |title=defence.gov.au |publisher=defence.gov.au |access-date=November 14, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118052329/http://www.defence.gov.au/fromelles/ |archive-date=January 18, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/HistoryAndHonour/SoldiersFoundInFromellesWwiMassGraveToBeReburied.htm |title=mod.uk |publisher=mod.uk |access-date=November 14, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607213748/http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/HistoryAndHonour/SoldiersFoundInFromellesWwiMassGraveToBeReburied.htm |archive-date=June 7, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7430622.stm |work=BBC News | title=Remains found at WWI 'mass grave' | date=June 2, 2008 | access-date=May 12, 2010}}</ref> Another example is the excavation which took place at [[Carspach]] ([[Alsace]] 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]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/9074336/German-soldiers-preserved-in-World-War-I-shelter-discovered-after-nearly-100-years.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/9074336/German-soldiers-preserved-in-World-War-I-shelter-discovered-after-nearly-100-years.html |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | title=German soldiers preserved in World War I shelter discovered after nearly 100 years | date=February 10, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lyness-cemetery.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/known-unto-god.html|title=Lyness Royal Naval Cemetery|work=lyness-cemetery.blogspot.co.uk}}</ref> 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 (Scottish Rifles)|Cameronians]]" or "An Australian [[Corporal#United Kingdom|Corporal]]" 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. <gallery heights="160px" widths="200px"> 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]] at the [[Gallipoli]] 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]] War Cemetery </gallery> ===World War II=== [[File:Normandy 2013 (9214509834).jpg|thumb|Grave of an unknown British Lance Corporal of the 50th Division, killed on [[D-day]]. Buried in [[Bayeux War Cemetery]]]] [[File:Airborne grave, Arnhem 1945.jpg|thumb|German made grave of an unknown British [[paratrooper]], killed in the [[Battle of Arnhem]], 1944. Photographed in April 1945]] There are many missing combatants and other persons in service from World War II.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.hs.fi/english/archive/news.asp?id=20021022IE19 |title=hs.fi |publisher=hs.fi |access-date=November 14, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629165259/http://www2.hs.fi/english/archive/news.asp?id=20021022IE19 |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=10170 |title=defenselink.mil |publisher=defenselink.mil |access-date=November 14, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive.cfm?storyid=6BC35053-1143-EC82-2EF5E68633B0006B |title=raf.mod.uk |publisher=raf.mod.uk |date=August 17, 2011 |access-date=November 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091210213824/http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/archive.cfm?storyid=6BC35053-1143-EC82-2EF5E68633B0006B |archive-date=December 10, 2009 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/german-wwii-soldiers-get-proper-burial-after-60-years/2008/01/06/1199554485790.html |work=The Age |location=Melbourne, Australia | first1=David | last1=Keys | title=German WWII soldiers get proper burial after 60 years | date=January 7, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kokodaspirit.com/newsletters/kokoda-spirit-new-february%2027-2008.htm |title=kokodaspirit.com |publisher=kokodaspirit.com |access-date=November 14, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309052120/http://www.kokodaspirit.com/newsletters/kokoda-spirit-new-february%2027-2008.htm |archive-date=March 9, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mcquat.co.uk/las_unknown_german.htm |title=mcquat.co.uk |publisher=mcquat.co.uk |access-date=November 14, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309052120/http://www.mcquat.co.uk/las_unknown_german.htm |archive-date=March 9, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In the [[United States Armed Forces]], 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.<ref name="franklin-12">{{cite book | last=Franklin | first=H. Bruce | author-link=H. Bruce Franklin | title=M.I.A., Or, Mythmaking in America | publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] | year=1993 | isbn=0-8135-2001-0}} pp. 12–13.</ref> 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.<ref name="Gassend Jean-Loup">{{cite book|author=Gassend Jean-Loup |title=Autopsy of a Battle, the Liberation of the French Riviera |date = February 2014|publisher=Schiffer|isbn = 978-0764345807}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal|title= Repatriation and identification of the Finnish World War II soldiers.|pmc=2080560|pmid=17696308 | volume=48|issue=4|date=Aug 2007|journal=Croat Med J|pages=528–35|last1=Palo|first1=J. U.|last2=Hedman|first2=M.|last3=Söderholm|first3=N.|last4=Sajantila|first4=A.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw5T3TOdtEA |title=uk.youtube.com |publisher=uk.youtube.com |access-date=November 14, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-86873154.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104090022/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-86873154.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 4, 2012 |title= German soldier's remains exhumed|date=November 6, 2003|access-date=November 14, 2011|journal=The Record (Bergern County, NJ)|agency= Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://englishrussia.com/2008/07/19/russian-digging |title=Russian Digging |publisher=English Russia |date=2008-07-19 |access-date=2012-10-11}}</ref> 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. [[Villeneuve-Loubet mass grave|the mass grave at Villeneuve-Loubet]], which contained the remains of 14 [[Wehrmacht|German]] soldiers killed in August 1944.<ref name="Gassend Jean-Loup"/> Others are located at remote aircraft crash sites in various countries.<ref>[http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/0109/586609.html Wciv.com] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122082857/http://www.wciv.com/news/stories/0109/586609.html |date=January 22, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Beata Mostafavi | work=Flint Journal |url=http://www.mlive.com/living/flint/index.ssf/2008/04/world_war_ii_soldier_who_went.html |title=World War II soldier who went missing almost 65 years ago finally gets burial | date=April 23, 2008 |publisher=mlive.com |access-date=November 14, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmsW4Y_udfo |title=uk.youtube.com |publisher=uk.youtube.com |date=April 26, 2008 |access-date=November 14, 2011}}</ref> But in eastern Europe and Russia, [[World War II casualties]] 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]] is spearheading the effort.<ref>[http://www.ibiblio.org/wwii-buffalo/buffalo01/msg03042.html Ibiblio.org]{{dead link|date=October 2012}}</ref> Similarly, there are approximately 4 million missing Russian service personnel scattered across the former [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]], from [[Siege of Leningrad|Leningrad]] down to [[Battle of Stalingrad|Stalingrad]], though around 300 volunteer groups make periodic searches of old battlefields to recover human remains for identification and reburial.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25589709 | work=BBC News | title=Digging for their lives: Russia's volunteer body hunters | date=January 13, 2014}}</ref> 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.<ref name="nyt-ww2-missing">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/world/europe/06search.html | title=Teams Seeking Remains Dig Back to World War II | author=[[Elisabeth Bumiller]] |work=The New York Times | date=September 5, 2009}}</ref> 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]] and other governmental entities towards locating and repatriating the remains of Americans lost in the conflict.<ref name="nyt-ww2-missing"/> 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]], "Vietnam had advocates. This was an older generation, and they didn't know who to turn to."<ref name="nyt-ww2-missing"/> In 2008, investigators began to conduct searches on [[Tarawa]] atoll in the Pacific Ocean, trying to locate the remains of 139 [[USMC|American Marines]], missing since the [[Battle of Tarawa]] in 1943.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/27922629 |title=msnbc.msn.com |publisher=NBC News |date=November 26, 2008 |access-date=November 14, 2011}}</ref> Between 2013 and 2016 the remains of 37 US Marines were recovered from Tarawa. Among those recovered was Medal of Honor recipient [[Alexander Bonnyman]]. As of March 26,2023, according to the U.S. Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, there were still 72,104 U.S. servicemen and civilians still unaccounted for from World War II.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite web|url=http://www.dpaa.mil/Our-Missing/Past-Conflicts/ |title=DTIC Cold War Unaccounted For List by Last Name |format=PDF |access-date=April 12, 2024}}</ref> 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.{{Citation needed|date=December 2019}} Significantly, DPAA continues to list as "unaccounted for" the five [[Sullivan brothers]]—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 {{USS|Arizona|BB-39|6}} and most of the crew of the {{USS|Oklahoma|BB-37|6}} as both "missing" and "unaccounted for" it is likely that DPAA records keeping is irregular and prone to opinion rather than fact.{{clarify|date=August 2017}} <gallery heights="160px" widths="200px"> UnknownBritishSoldiers.JPG|Graves of 11 unknown British combatants killed during World War II, in [[Rhodes]] [[Commonwealth War Graves Commission|CWGC]] war cemetery Lae War Cemetery Indian Army Grave (4x3).jpg|Grave of an unknown [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]] combatant in [[Lae War Cemetery]], [[Papua New Guinea]] UnknownItalianSoldiers.JPG|Wall [[crypt]]s containing unknown [[Italy|Italian]] combatants killed during World War II, in a Rhodes cemetery Keren Battlefield 008.jpg|Graves of unknown [[Eritrean Ascari]]s killed in 1941 during the [[Battle of Keren]] Headstone_of_Three_Unknown_German_Soldiers.jpg|Grave of 3 unknown German soldiers killed during World War II, in [[Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery]] Denkmal Kriegsgefangener.jpg|Monument to prisoners of war and missing soldiers in [[Neustadt am Rübenberge]], 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]], [[Burma]] 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]], [[Burma]] </gallery> ===Korean War=== {{Cleanup|section|date=June 2022|reason=fragmented paragraphs, lack of focus, poor grammar}} {{main|Korean War POWs detained in North Korea}} ====Korean War US MIAs repatriation (1954–2023)==== {| class="wikitable floatright" |+ US Department of Defense Loss concentrations maps estimation of U.S. MIAs/POWs as being lost in North Korea in 1954<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dpaa.mil/portals/85/images/korea/map_remains.jpg|title=Department of Defense map of North Korea with estimated loss concentrations." dpaa.mil. Retrieved: December 17, 2015.|access-date=January 14, 2018}}</ref> and in 2017.<ref name="dpaa.mil">{{cite web|url=http://www.dpaa.mil/Resources/Fact-Sheets/Article-View/Article/569610/progress-on-korean-war-personnel-accounting/|title=Progress on Korean War Personnel Accounting|access-date=January 14, 2018}}</ref> |- ! Location!! 1954!! 2017 |- |POW CAMPS ||1,200–1,273 || 883–1,200<ref>Apex (270);Camp 5 (322}; Death Valley Camp {250); Valley #1 {41}</ref> |- |[[Battle of Unsan|Unsan]]/[[Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River|Chongchon area]]||1,109–1,559 ||1,294–1,549<ref>Unsan {250}; Kuryong {176}; Kujang {276}; Kunuri {403}; Pyongyang Cemetery {[https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/06/12/184-us-troops-korean-war-could-be-buried-pyongyang-cemetery.html 184]}</ref> |- |[[Korean Demilitarized Zone|DMZ]]||89||1,000 |- |[[United Nations Memorial Cemetery|UN Cemetery]]||266<ref>{Koto-Ri; Hungnam; Wonsam; Pyongyang}</ref>||[233]<ref>As of 2017 Pyongyang and Hungnam UN Cemeteries totals Listed under Unsan/Chongchan and Chosin Reservoir areas</ref> |- |[[Battle of Chosin Reservoir|Chosin Reservoir area]]||523–1,002||598–1,079<ref>Yudamni {196}; Sinhung {100};Twiggae {223}; Kotori Cemetery {30}; Hungnam Cemetery {49}</ref> |- |Suan Camps||0|| 185 |- |Totals||1,832–4,229|| 2,775–5,013 |} The US Department of Defense DPAA gives dates for the [[Korean War]] from June 27, 1950, to January 31, 1955.<ref>[https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaFamWebKorean DPAA Famweb accessed August 2, 2018]</ref> Between June and 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]] 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]] medal for valor in 1996.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dpaa.mil/OurMissing/KoreanWar/JohnnieJohnsonList.aspx|title=Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency|work=dpaa.mil}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://koreanwarpowmia.net/Reports/Tiger.htm|title=Korean War POW/MIA Network|work=koreanwarpowmia.net|access-date=December 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131201731/http://www.koreanwarpowmia.net/Reports/Tiger.htm|archive-date=January 31, 2017|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In August 1953, General [[James Van Fleet]], 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.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qnQKAAAAIBAJ&pg=5414,2382403 |title=U.S. Demands All POWs Be Turned Over|page=1|date=August 8, 1953|work=Ellensburg Daily Record}}</ref> (Coincidentally, General Van Fleet's own son Captain [https://www.koreanwar.org/html/korean_war_project_remembrance_search_6_2013.html?key=30835 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.<ref>[https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaFamWebKorean DPAA Famweb]. accessed August 2, 2018</ref> In 1954 during [[Operation Glory]], 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Keene |first=Judith |title=Below Ground: The Treatment of American Remains from the Korean War |journal=[[The Public Historian]] |date=February 2010 |volume=32 |issue=1 |pages=58–78 |doi=10.1525/tph.2010.32.1.59 |jstor=10.1525/tph.2010.32.1.59 |publisher=[[National Council on Public History]]|pmid=20503915 |issn=0272-3433}}</ref><ref>Another report is that during Operation Glory 4,219 remains were returned of which 2,944 were identified as American; 867 remains [416 from North Korea and 451 from DMZ/South Korea] were unidentified; in 2003 one set of remains were identified and 3 others were exhumed for possible identification; 862 were unknown see [http://www.koreacoldwar.org/history/remainsim.html "Remains Issue" by Irene L. Mandra]</ref> Between 1982 and 2016, 781 unknown remains were recovered from North Korea, South Korea, China, Japan, and [[Punchbowl Cemetery]] in Hawaii,<ref name="dpaa.mil"/> of which a total of 459 have been identified {{as of|2018|June|lc=y}}<ref>[https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-veterans-remember-dead-coffins-035815633.html Time June 2018]</ref> 950 sets of remains were uncovered in South Korea; of 20 sets of remains 11 were identified.<ref>[https://www.ncnk.org/resources/briefing-papers/all-briefing-papers/korean-war-powmias Korea War MIAS accessed August 4,2018]</ref> The U.S. [[Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command]] (now the [[Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency]]) and the equivalent South Korean command are actively involved in trying to locate and identify remains of both countries' personnel.<ref name="bbc-korean">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7679697.stm |title=War remains sought in Korea's DMZ |work=BBC News |date=2008-10-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081023152956/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7679697.stm |archive-date=October 23, 2008 }}</ref> Remains of missing combatants from the Korean War are periodically recovered and identified in both North and South Korea.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=8713 |title=defenselink.mil |publisher=defenselink.mil |access-date=November 14, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=11550 |title=defenselink.mil |publisher=defenselink.mil |access-date=November 14, 2011}}</ref> It is thought that 13,000 South Korean and 2,000 U.S. combatants are buried in the [[Korean Demilitarized Zone]] alone and never found.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7679697.stm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081023152956/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7679697.stm|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 23, 2008|title=Asia-Pacific – War remains sought in Korea's DMZ|date=October 23, 2008|publisher=BBC News – World |access-date=January 14, 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w172w4k9jmzm38l BBC programme June 2018]</ref> South Korea MIAs are believed to number 120,000.<ref name="stripes.com">[https://www.stripes.com/news/un-command-south-korea-honor-remains-of-2-soldiers-killed-in-korean-war-1.537461 Stars and Stripes Pacific edition July 13, 2018]</ref><br> In 2018 the remains of 1 North Korean were repatriated to North Korea from the U.S.<br> On Sept 27, 2018, the remains of 64 South Korean soldier MIAs were repatriated to South Korea from the United States.<ref>[https://www.dpaa.mil/Portals/85/Documents/Newsletters/YiR%20FINAL.pdf?ver=2018-12-10-114751-100 2018-12-10 DPAA.mil Year in review newsletter]</ref><br>On June 25, 2020, the remains of 147 South Korean soldier MIAs were repatriated to South Korea from the United States.<ref>[https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/In-The-News/Article/2232488/us-south-korea-repatriate-remains-of-147-korean-soldiers/ DPAA news remains of 147 South Korean soldier MIAs repatriated (Retrieved July 30,2020)]</ref><br>In July 2020 it is reported that 50,000 South Korean POWS were never repatriated from North Korea in 1953.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53511646 BBC News July 26,2020 The children of Korean War prisoners who never came home]</ref> 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.<ref name="report-exec"/> In 1996, the Defense Department stated that there was no clear evidence any of the U.S. prisoners were still alive.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/17/world/us-knew-in-1953-north-koreans-held-american-pow-s.html|title=U.S. Knew in 1953 North Koreans Held American P.O.W.'s.|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 17, 1996}}</ref> {{as of|2005|df=US}}, at least 500 [[Korean POWs detained in North Korea|South Korean prisoners of war]] were believed to be still detained by the North Korean regime.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/23/international/asia/23korea.html|title=Red Cross Officials to Discuss P.O.W.'s Still Alive in North Korea|author=James Brooke|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=August 23, 2005}}</ref> That same year the U.S. suspended talks with North Korea over the recovery of MIAs;<ref name="globalpost.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/120308/search-us-troops-mia-north-korea-resume-after-seven-year-b|title=Search for US troops MIA in North Korea to resume after seven-year break|author=Helene Hofman|work=GlobalPost}}</ref> the George W. Bush administration had broken off relations between the US and North Korea-claiming it couldn't guarantee Americans safety.<ref name="stripes.com"/> In 2007 New Mexico Governor [[Bill Richardson]] traveled to Pyongong and returned with six sets of remains.<ref name="stripes.com"/> In 2010, it was reported that the Obama administration was reversing the Bush administration's suspended talks in regard to North Korea MIAs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.navytimes.com/article/20100717/NEWS/7170303/Lost-Korean-War-battalion-awaits-MIA-decision|title=Lost Korean War battalion awaits MIA decision|work=Navy Times |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150115035640/http://archive.navytimes.com/article/20100717/NEWS/7170303/Lost-Korean-War-battalion-awaits-MIA-decision |archive-date=January 15, 2015|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In 2011 the [[Veterans of Foreign Wars]] (VFW) adopted Resolution # 423 calling for renewed discussions with North Korea to recover Americans missing in action.<ref name="VFW Feb 3, 2012">{{cite web |url=http://myvfw.org/newhampshire/tag/agent-orange/ |title=Agent Orange – VFW New Hampshire |work=myvfw.org |access-date=October 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025094301/http://myvfw.org/newhampshire/tag/agent-orange/ |archive-date=October 25, 2014 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref><br /> On July 27, 2011, Congressman [[Charles Rangel]] introduced a congressional resolution calling on North Korea to repatriate POW/MIAS and abductees from North Korea.<ref>[https://rangel.house.gov/news/press-releases/rangel-introduces-resolution-repatriate-powmias-and-abductees-north-korea Rangel Press Release July 27,2011] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104210051/https://rangel.house.gov/news/press-releases/rangel-introduces-resolution-repatriate-powmias-and-abductees-north-korea |date=November 4, 2016 }}</ref> 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 [[Battle of Unsan|Unsan]] & the [[Battle of Chosin Reservoir|Chosin Reservoir]] areas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=66958|title=Article View|work=defense.gov}}</ref> In February 2012 talks were going ahead between the US and North Korea to resume discussions to recover US MIAs after seven years.<ref name="VFW Feb 3, 2012"/> <br>On March 8, 2012, the US announced it would search for MIAs in North Korea,<ref name="globalpost.com"/> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/14/1083380/-So-Romney-as-CiC-Would-Abandon-the-Korean-War-MIA-s|title=So Romney as CiC Would Abandon the Korean War MIA's|work=Daily Kos}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.discovery.com/history/videos/remains-of-us-soldiers-still-in-north-korea-video-141020.htm|title=Explainer: Remains of U.S. Soldiers Still in North Korea : Discovery News|work=DNews|access-date=November 16, 2014|archive-date=November 4, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141104190048/http://news.discovery.com/history/videos/remains-of-us-soldiers-still-in-north-korea-video-141020.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2013 Korea War/Cold War Families Inc started an online petition to Obama to resolve Cold/Korean War mysteries.<ref>[http://www.koreacoldwar.org/pdf/2013/FEB2013-Issue-39VERSION.pdf Korea-Cold War Families Newsletters February 2013 pp.2-3]</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thejournal.ie/korean-war-bodies-north-korea-1720694-Oct2014/ |title=North Korea wants America to take home the bodies of 5,000 soldiers|author=Paul Hosford|work=TheJournal.ie|date=October 13, 2014 }}</ref> 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…"<ref>Statement published by the Korean Central News Agency October 13, 2014 "Obama Administration Assailed for Preventing Work to Unearth Remains of GIs," Quoted on [http://www.ncnk.org/resources/briefing-papers/all-briefing-papers/korean-war-pow-mias The National Committee on North Korea website]</ref> [[File:Trump-Kim Summit June 2018 results v1.jpg|thumb|After the 2018 Trump-Kim summit, [[North Korea]] searched for and returned the remains of U.S. [[Prisoner of war|POW]]s and MIAs from the [[Korean War]]. ]] [[File:Trump-Kim Summit June 2018 v8.jpg|thumb| The remains of US soldiers in [[DPRK]] start the journey to the U.S. after 65 years.]] [[File:Trump-Kim Summit June 2018 v6.jpg|thumb| The US war remains were delivered from [[Wonsan]], [[North Korea]] by U.S. military transport plane [[C-17 Globemaster]] to the [[Osan Air Base]] near [[Seoul]], [[South Korea]].]] As of December 2015 the DPAA "does not currently conduct" operations in North Korea.<ref>[http://www.dpaa.mil/Resources/FAQs.aspx DPAA Frequently Asked Questions: Does DPAA conduct recovery Operations in North Korea?] Retrieved December 17, 2015</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/03/25/ap-exclusive-us-remains-in-north-korea-lost-in-political-limbo.html|title=AP EXCLUSIVE: US remains in North Korea lost in political limbo |website=[[Fox News]] |date=March 25, 2016|access-date=January 14, 2018}}</ref> On June 24, 2016, Congressmen Rangel, [[John Conyers]], [[Sam Johnson]] introduced House Resolution No. 799<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-resolution/799?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22North+Korea%22%5D%7D&r=13|title=House Resolution#799|date=September 7, 2016|access-date=January 14, 2018}}</ref> calling on the U.S. Government to resume talks in regard to the US MIAs.<ref>[https://rangel.house.gov/news/press-releases/rangel-conyers-johnson-introduce-resolution-recover-powmia-remains-north-korea Rangel News release June 24, 2016] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161105032411/https://rangel.house.gov/news/press-releases/rangel-conyers-johnson-introduce-resolution-recover-powmia-remains-north-korea |date=November 5, 2016 }}</ref> On September 27, 2016, House Resolution No. 799 was referred to the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-resolution/799/committees?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22North+Korea%22%5D%7D&r=13|title=House Resolution #799|date=September 7, 2016|access-date=January 14, 2018}}</ref> It was not enacted.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hres799 |title=Calling on the United States Government to resume talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea regarding the research, investigation, recovery, and identification of missing and unaccounted members of the United States Armed Forces from the Korean War. (2016 – H.Res. 799) |website=GovTrack.us |access-date=January 14, 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.dailyjournal.net/2019/02/20/us-united-states-north-korea-war-remains/ The daily Journal Feb 20, 2019 accessed March 1, 2019]{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> As of September 28, 2021, 77 Korean War MIAs have been identified from these 55 boxes.<ref>[https://www.dpaa.mil/Resources/Fact-Sheets/Article-View/Article/569610/progress-on-korean-war-personnel-accounting/ DPAA.MIL Korean War Factsheet September 28,2021 accessed OCt 9,2021]</ref> 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.<ref name="ReferenceC">[https://www.dpaa.mil/Resources/Fact-Sheets/Article-View/Article/569610/progress-on-korean-war-personnel-accounting/ 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.<ref>[https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/2786804/first-ever-united-states-and-the-republic-of-korea-joint-repatriation-ceremony/ Department of Defense, September 23, 2021]</ref> On February 22, 2023, the second US-South Korean Joint repatriation service was held: U.S. received from South Korea the remains of 1 U.S. Soldier.<ref>[https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/3304699/south-korea-transfers-remains-to-us-for-identification/ dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/3304699/south-korea-transfers-remains-to-us-for-identification February 22,2023]</ref> On June 25, 2023, the third US-South Korean Joint repatriation service was held: South Korea received the remains of 7 ROK soldiers of whom 1 was identified; previous repatriation ceremonies in 2012, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2021 have returned over 200 ROK remains to South Korea.<ref>[https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/3473719/dpaa-and-rok-host-repatriation-ceremony/ July 27,2023]</ref> As of March 26,2024, according to the US Department of Defense the total of working number of MIA U.S. service members is 7,481.<ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref name="ReferenceC"/> ====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]], which is located in the [[Korean Demilitarized Zone]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_northkorea/864763.html|title = &#91;Reportage&#93; Joint mine removal operation begins in DMZ}}</ref> during minesweeping operations between October and November 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailyherald.com/article/20181025/news/310259972|title = South Korea finds likely war remains during border demining|date = October 25, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stripes.com/news/south-korea-unearths-nine-sets-of-war-dead-remains-during-dmz-mine-clearing-operation-1.557210|title=South Korea unearths nine sets of war dead remains during DMZ mine-clearing operation}}</ref> Arrowhead Hill had previously been selected for both Koreas to jointly conduct a pilot remains recovery project.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/01/world/asia/koreas-land-mines-dmz.html|title=Koreas Start Clearing Land Mines at DMZ in Effort to Ease Tensions|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 2018|last1=Sang-Hun|first1=Choe}}</ref> ====Australians MIA in Korea==== A number of Australian combatants and POWs have also never been recovered from Korea.<ref>{{cite news |author=Mark Dodd |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/call-for-search-for-korea-mias/story-fn59niix-1225901330757 |title=Call for search for Korea MIAs |work=The Australian |access-date=November 14, 2011 |date=August 5, 2010}}</ref> Of 340 Australian servicemen killed in the Korean War, 43 are listed as MIA.<ref>[https://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/korea/mia/ Australian War Memorial]</ref> ====North Korean unknowns==== Since 1996, the remains of [[Korean People's Army]] combatants recovered from battlefield exhumations across South Korea have been buried in the [[Cemetery for North Korean and Chinese Soldiers]], the majority of the over 770 burials are unknowns.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-korea-cemetery-idUSSEO739320080911|title=South Korean cemetery keeps Cold War alive|publisher=Reuters|date=10 September 2008|access-date=28 September 2014}}</ref> ===Vietnam War=== {{main|Vietnam War POW/MIA issue}} [[File:POW-MIA flag.jpg|thumb|POW☆MIA Flag.]] [[File:Georgia war casualties and U.S. POW-MIA figures plaque.jpg|thumb|The fate of American POW/MIAs from the [[Vietnam War]] spurred interest in POW/MIAs from all wars. Here a roadside plaque in the U.S. state of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] lists such figures.]] [[File:Missing in Action plaque, Rhome, TX IMG 7063.JPG|thumb|"Missing in Action" plaque at Veterans Memorial Park in [[Rhome, Texas|Rhome]] in north Texas]] Following the [[Paris Peace Accords]] of 1973, 591 U.S. [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] were returned during [[Operation Homecoming]]. 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.<ref name="dpmo-hist">{{cite web | url=http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/vietnamwar/vietnam_history.htm | title=Vietnam War Accounting History | publisher=[[Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office]] | access-date=2008-11-22 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081117195507/http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/vietnamwar/vietnam_history.htm | archive-date=November 17, 2008 | url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<ref name="franklin-12"/> This was by far the smallest proportion in the nation's history to that point.<ref name="franklin-12"/> 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.<ref name="franklin-12"/> 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]] by Communist forces in the two countries and kept as [[Vietnam War POW/MIA issue|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.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1DE1E30F93BA25757C0A965958260 | title=Old M.I.A. Theory Is Given a New Life | author=Engelberg, Stephen |work=The New York Times | date=1993-04-18}}</ref> 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]], [[Robert C. Smith|Bob Smith]], and [[John McCain]]. Its unanimous conclusion found "no compelling evidence that proves that any American remains alive in captivity in Southeast Asia."<ref name="report-exec">{{cite web | url=https://fas.org/irp/congress/1993_rpt/pow-exec.html | title=Executive Summary | work=Report of the Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs | publisher=[[United States Senate]] | date=1993-01-13 | access-date=2008-01-03}}</ref> 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]] 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."<ref>{{cite book | last=McConnell | first=Malcolm | author2=Schweitzer III | author3=Theodore G | title=Inside Hanoi's Secret Archives: Solving the MIA Mystery | publisher=Simon & Schuster | year=1995 | isbn=0-671-87118-8 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/insidehanoissecr00mcco }} p. 13.</ref> Believers reject such notions; as [[Pulitzer Prize]] winning journalist [[Sydney Schanberg]] 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."<ref name="schan94">{{cite news | url=http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0408,schanberg2,51267,1.html | title=Did America Abandon Vietnam War P.O.W.'s? | author-link=Sydney Schanberg | author=Schanberg, Sydney | work=[[Penthouse (magazine)|Penthouse]] | date=September 1994 | access-date=2007-06-01 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070321171551/http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0408%2Cschanberg2%2C51267%2C1.html | archive-date=March 21, 2007 | df=mdy-all }}</ref> There are also a large number of [[North Vietnamese]] and [[Viet Cong]] MIAs from the Vietnam war whose remains have yet to be recovered. In 1974, General [[Võ Nguyên Giáp]] stated that they had 330,000 missing in action.<ref>{{cite book | last=Sorley | first=Lewis | title=A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam | publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]] | year=2007 | isbn=978-0-15-601309-3}} p. 458.</ref> As of 1999, estimates of those missing were usually around 300,000.<ref name="nyt041999"/><ref name="te121802"/> This figure does not include those missing from former South Vietnamese armed forces, who are given little consideration under the Vietnamese regime.<ref name="nyt041999"/> 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.<ref name="nyt041999">{{cite news | url=http://www.mishalov.com/Vietnam_MIA.html | title=Of Soldiers Lost, but Not Forgotten, in Vietnam | author=Mydans, Seth |work=The New York Times | date=1999-04-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.vietnamembassy-usa.org/news/story.php?d=20020421233944 | title=Vietnamese and US veterans cooperate in seeking MIA | publisher=[[Government of Vietnam]] | date=2002-04-21}}</ref> 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."<ref name="nyt041999"/> In the 2000s, thousands of Vietnamese were hiring [[psychic]]s in an effort to find the remains of missing family members.<ref name="te121802">{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/vietnam/1416535/Vietnamese-use-psychics-to-find-graves-of-missing-relatives.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/vietnam/1416535/Vietnamese-use-psychics-to-find-graves-of-missing-relatives.html |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | title=Vietnamese use psychics to find graves of missing relatives | author=Johnson, Kay |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London | date=2002-12-18 }}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="bbc-psychics"/> The Vietnamese Army organizes what it considers to be the best of the psychics, as part of its parapsychology force trying to find remains.<ref name="bbc-psychics">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/4989480.stm|title=Communicating with Vietnam's war dead | author=Phua, Joe |work=BBC News | date=2006-05-17}}</ref> Additionally, remains dating from the earlier [[French Indochina|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.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7828287.stm | title=Fighters found in Vietnam grave | author=Pham, Nga |work=BBC News | date=2009-01-14}}</ref> As of March 26,2024, according to the U.S. Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, US Military and Civilian personnel still unaccounted for number 1,577.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> ===Cold War=== According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, as of March 26,2024 there were still 126 U.S. servicemen unaccounted for from the Cold War.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> * April 8, 1950, a U.S. Navy [[PB4Y-2 Privateer]], (Bureau Number : 59645), flying out of [[Wiesbaden, Germany]], was shot down by Soviet fighters over the [[Baltic Sea]]. The entire crew of 10 remains unaccounted for. * November 6, 1951, a U.S. Navy [[P2V Neptune]], (Bureau Number : 124283), was shot down over the [[Sea of Japan]]. The entire crew of 10 remains unaccounted for. * June 13, 1952, a U.S. Air Force [[RB-29 Superfortress]], (Serial Number : 44-61810), stationed at Yokota Air Base, Japan, was shot down over the [[Sea of Japan]]. The entire crew of 12 remains unaccounted for. * October 7, 1952, a U.S. Air Force [[RB-29 Superfortress]], (Serial Number : 44-61815), stationed at Yokota Air Base, Japan was shot down north of [[Hokkaido Island]], Japan. Of the eight crewmen on board, seven remain unaccounted for. * November 28, 1952, a CIA [[Civil Air Transport]] [[C-47 Skytrain]] aircraft flying over China was shot down, 2 captured and 2 killed; one of the two killed American civilian remains unaccounted for.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/607617/cold-war-missing-in-action-aviator-identified-snoddy/ |title=Cold War Missing In Action Aviator Identified (Snoddy)|access-date=January 14, 2018}}</ref> * January 18, 1953, a U.S. Navy [[P2V Neptune]], (Bureau Number : 127744), with 13 crewmen aboard was shot down by the Chinese, in the [[Formosa Straits]]. Six crew members remain unaccounted for. * July 29, 1953, a U.S. Air Force [[RB-50 Superfortress]], (Serial Number : 47-145), stationed at Yokota Air Base, Japan, was shot down over the [[Sea of Japan]]. Of the 17 crew members on board, 14 remain unaccounted for. * May 6, 1954, a CIA Air transport [[C-119 Flying Boxcar]] 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]], (Serial Number : 51-2054), based at Eielson Air Base, Alaska, was shot down near the southern point of [[Kamchatka Peninsula]], Russia. The entire crew of three remains unaccounted for. * August 22, 1956, a U.S. Navy [[P4M Mercator]], (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]], (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]], (Serial Number : 53-4281), stationed at RAF Brize Norton, England, was shot down over the [[Barents Sea]]. Of the six crew members on board, three remain unaccounted for. * December 14, 1965, a U.S. Air Force [[RB-57 Canberra]], (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]], (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]]). 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.<ref name="report-exec"/> In 1992, Russian President [[Boris Yeltsin]] told the committee that the Soviet Union had held survivors of spy planes shot down in the early 1950s in prisons or psychiatric facilities.<ref name="ttn92">{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nTAaAAAAIBAJ&pg=5725,4193942&dq=helms+letter+yeltsin | title=Helms aides react to reports of POWs in former Soviet Union | agency=Associated Press | newspaper=[[Times-News (Hendersonville, North Carolina)|Times-News]] | date=June 20, 1992 | page=8A }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="nyt061692">{{cite news | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE4DD103AF935A25755C0A964958260 | title=Gulag Held M.I.A.'s, Yeltsin Suggests | author=Barbara Crossette | newspaper=The New York Times | date=1992-06-16}}</ref> Russian [[Colonel General#Russia|Colonel General]] [[Dmitri Volkogonov]], 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.<ref name="report-exec"/> 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."<ref name="report-exec"/> === Indo-Pakistan War of 1971 === In the [[Indo-Pakistan War of 1971]], two companies of the Indian Army's [[Punjab Regiment (India)|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 [[Junior Commissioned Officer|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 [[Urdu]]) that ''Maj Waraich hamari hiraasat mein hain'' (Maj Waraich is in our custody). There was a subsequent report that Maj Waraich was in a [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|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]] stating that he was alive and well. Pakistan denies holding any of the soldiers missing in action. ===Iran–Iraq War=== {{expand section|date=July 2011}} The [[Iran–Iraq War]] of 1980–1988 left tens of thousands of Iranian and Iraqi combatants and prisoners of war still unaccounted for.<ref name="icrc-iiw"/><ref name="fox2008"/> Some counts include civilians who disappeared during the conflict.<ref name="fox2008"/> One estimate is that more than 52,000 Iraqis went missing in the war.<ref name="siasat">{{cite news | newspaper=[[The Siasat Daily]] | url=http://matrimonial.siasat.com/english/news/iraq-starts-looking-soldiers-missing-action-kuwait-iran | title=Iraq starts looking for soldiers missing in action in Kuwait, Iran | date=July 2, 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120326135859/http://matrimonial.siasat.com/english/news/iraq-starts-looking-soldiers-missing-action-kuwait-iran | archive-date=March 26, 2012 | df=mdy-all }}</ref> Officially, the government of Iran lists 8,000 as missing.<ref name="fox2008"/> Following up on these cases is often difficult because no accurate or surviving documentation exists.<ref name="icrc-iiw"/> 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.<ref name="icrc-iiw">{{cite news | url=http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/iran-iraq-missing-161008.htm | title=Twenty years after the end of the Iran-Iraq war, tens of thousands of combatants still unaccounted for | publisher=[[International Committee of the Red Cross]] | date=October 16, 2008 | access-date=July 4, 2011 | archive-date=November 11, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111111103208/http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/iran-iraq-missing-161008.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref> In addition, relations between the countries remained quite poor for a long time; the last POWs from the war were not exchanged until 2003<ref>{{cite news | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DEFDC113EF937A25750C0A9659C8B63 | work=The New York Times | first=Nazila | last=Fathi | title=Threats And Responses: Briefly Noted; Iran-Iraq Prisoner Deal | date=March 14, 2003}}</ref> and relations did not begin to improve until after the regime change brought on by the 2003 onset of the [[Iraq War]].<ref name="fox2008">{{cite news | url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,439181,00.html | title=Red Cross: Iran and Iraq Agree to Track Those Missing in 1980s Conflict | agency=[[Associated Press]] |publisher=Fox News | date=October 16, 2008}}</ref> Some cases are brought forward when mass graves are discovered in Iraq, holding the bodies of Iranians once held prisoner.<ref name="fox2008"/> Websites have been started to attempt to track the fates of members of the [[Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force]] shot down and captured over Iraq.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/country-by-country/The%20Iran%20-%20Iraq%20War%20Iranian%20POWS/iran__iraq_war_iranian_pows.htm |title=ejection-history.org.uk |publisher=ejection-history.org.uk |access-date=November 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928033937/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk/country-by-country/The%20Iran%20-%20Iraq%20War%20Iranian%20POWS/iran__iraq_war_iranian_pows.htm |archive-date=September 28, 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] (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.<ref name="fox2008"/> Families are still desperate for knowledge about the fate of their loved ones.<ref name="icrc-iiw"/> 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]], the [[Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran]], and the [[Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs]].<ref>[https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/feature/2008/iran-iraq-missing-161008.htm International Committee of the Red Cross]</ref> In Iraq, efforts are led by the [[Ministry of Human Rights (Iraq)|Ministry of Human Rights]].<ref name="icrc-iiw"/><ref name="siasat"/> ===Gulf War=== According to the [[Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office]], 47 Americans were listed as POW/MIAs at some point during [[Operation Desert Storm]].<ref name="dtic.mil">{{cite web|url=http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/gulf_war/documents/IRAQI05B.pdf|title=Desert Storm Captives/Unaccounted-for|work=dtic.mil|access-date=December 14, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629105924/http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/gulf_war/documents/IRAQI05B.pdf|archive-date=June 29, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> At the conclusion of the [[Gulf War]] 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/Iraq_Conflicts/|title=Two KIA-BNR from Desert Storm|work=dtic.mil|access-date=December 14, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227091728/http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/Iraq_Conflicts/|archive-date=February 27, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> That one MIA case, that of U.S. Lt. Cmdr. [[Michael Scott Speicher]], became quite well known. He was reported as missing after his [[F/A-18]] was shot down in northern Iraq on the first night of the war.<ref name="cnn-speicher">{{cite news | url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/04/23/sprj.irq.speicher.search/ | title=Initials may offer clue to missing Gulf War pilot | author=McIntire, Jamie | publisher=CNN | date=2003-04-23}}</ref> 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]]; ''[[The Washington Times]]'' ran five successive front-page articles about it in March 2002 and in September 2002, U.S. President [[George W. Bush]] mentioned Speicher in a speech to the [[United Nations General Assembly]] 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.<ref name="cnn-speicher"/><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ieRx69tRJygBw63QD3HaV-ST_NBAD95JNIR81 | title=Panel calls for continuing probe of lost pilot | author=Evans, Ben | agency=Associated Press | date=2009-01-09}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite press release | url=http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12862 | title=Remains Identified as Navy Captain Michael Scott Speicher | publisher=[[U.S. Department of Defense]] | date= August 2, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/02/us.gulf.war.remains/index.html | title=Remains found of first American shot down in Gulf War | publisher=CNN | date=August 2, 2009}}</ref> 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:<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=http://www.dpaa.mil/Our-Missing/Iraq-Other-Conflicts/ |title=Iraq Theater & Other Conflicts |work=dpaa.mil|access-date= December 10, 2016}}</ref> * 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 MArch 26,2024, 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]], Timothy E. Bell & Adnan al-Hilawi (Operation Iraqi Freedom - 2003–2010).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dpaa.mil/Our-Missing/Iraq-Other-Conflicts/|title=Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency > Our Missing > Iraq & Other Conflicts|website=www.dpaa.mil|access-date=January 29, 2021}}</ref> 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.)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dpaa.mil/Our-Missing/Past-Conflicts/ |title=DTIC Cold War Unaccounted For List by Last Name |format=PDF |access-date=September 27, 2018}}</ref> == Animals == [[Military animal]]s can also be officially declared missing in action.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8356224.stm Dog lost in Afghan battle returns], BBC News</ref> ==See also==<!-- ♦♦♦ Please respect alphabetical order ♦♦♦ --> * [[American Merchant Marine Veterans Memorial]] * [[DUSTWUN]] (abbreviation for ''duty status—whereabouts unknown'') * [[The Battery (Manhattan)|East Coast Memorial to the Missing of World War II]] * [[Garden of the Missing in Action]] * [[Known unto God]] * [[Honolulu Memorial]] * [[Tomb of the unknown soldier]] * [[West Coast Memorial to the Missing of World War II]] ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== * {{Commons category-inline}} * {{Wiktionary-inline}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110322205714/http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/130018p.pdf DoD Instruction 1300.18] "Personnel Casualty Matters, Policies, and Procedures" From the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, January 8, 2008 * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1nTdO30Pio Video presentation describing the discovery and identification of 14 German soldiers from a mas grave in Southern France] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20071006080545/http://www.aiipowmia.com/gulag/jcsdgulag4062002.html U.S.-Russia Joint MIA/POW Commission] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHGgGqH7Uw0 Documentary showing the recovery and reburial of missing soldiers in the area of Stalingrad] * [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/pow/senate_house/investigation_S.html Report of the State Senate Committee on POW/MIA Affairs at the Library of Congress] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yseqYvqIqGY&list=PLQlZwIXLWC7N-VkqtfDxW7CjEluplKBLB Video showing the recovery of several missing in action German soldiers from World War II in 2006] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Missing In Action}} [[Category:Military personnel missing in action| ]] [[Category:Military personnel]] [[Category:Military terminology]] [[Category:War casualties]]'