missing in action

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More Than 50 Years Later, MIA US Pilot Is Now Accounted For

US Navy Reserve Lt. Cmdr. Larry R. Kilpatrick's plane was presumably shot down in Vietnam

(Newser) - A US war pilot will finally receive a proper burial more than 50 years after he was killed during a Vietnam War spy mission. The move was made possible by the 2018 discovery of the remains of US Navy Reserve Lt. Cmdr. Larry R. Kilpatrick, who disappeared in June 1972,...

Dentist's Handwritten Records End Mystery of Missing Marine

Independent researcher identifies remains of Richard Murphy

(Newser) - Gerard Murphy never met his uncle Richard. But the Potomac, Maryland, native grew up hearing stories of the former journalist who enlisted in the Marines during World War II and disappeared during the June 15, 1944, amphibious assault on the Pacific island of Saipan. "This was a mystery in...

North Korea Gave the US a Single Military Dog Tag

And no other information that could help US forensics experts ID the remains

(Newser) - When North Korea handed over 55 boxes of bones that it said are remains of American war dead, it provided a single military dog tag but no other information that could help US forensics experts determine their individual identities, a US defense official said Tuesday. The official, who discussed previously...

Report: N. Korea Ready to Return US War Dead

Officials say ceremony could happen very soon

(Newser) - The American military command in South Korea is preparing for the North Koreans to turn over the remains of an unknown number of US or allied service members who have been missing since the Korean War, US officials said Tuesday. Officials say the timing of a ceremony is uncertain, but...

Meet the Guy Whose Face Is on the POW Flag

Jeffrey Heisley wasn't actually a prisoner of war

(Newser) - Jeffrey Heisley was never a prisoner of war—but his silhouette has represented POWs for decades. Suffering from hepatitis, Heisley had to leave the Marine Corps' officer candidate program as a young man. In the course of the illness, he tells Fox News , "I had all my hair cut...

Secret Report Slams Inept MIA Recovery Effort

Suppressed Pentagon report says effort is approaching 'total failure'

(Newser) - An internal report that military leaders tried to bury is revealing serious concerns from within about the effort to account for those American troops still listed as missing in action. "The descent from dysfunction to total failure ... is inevitable" if action isn't taken to fix the program, says...

Soviet Soldier Found in Afghanistan—33 Years On

Rifleman now practices herbal medicine

(Newser) - Veterans' groups trying to track down the 264 Soviet soldiers still listed as missing in Afghanistan have scratched one off the list. Bakhretdin Khakimov, a rifleman who went missing months after the 1979 Soviet invasion, has been found living among Afghans in the western province of Herat, the BBC reports....

New Hope for MIA Search in Vietnam

Country opens 3 previously restricted sites to US to excavate

(Newser) - Fresh hope for the families of four troops missing in action in Vietnam. The country today announced that it will allow the US to search three restricted areas for the men's remains. The previously restricted areas include two likely plane crash locations and the site of a firefight in...

Search for North Korea MIAs Over Before It Began

$5.7M search for soldier remains was just days from restarting

(Newser) - A program to recover the remains of the 5,500 American soldiers missing in North Korea from the Korean War has been shut down again, just two weeks after being announced , due to renewed tensions over North Korea's planned satellite launch , reports the New York Times . The US was...

Search to Resume for MIAs in N. Korea

60 years after conflict, US hunts remains of 5,300 troops

(Newser) - For the first time in seven years, searchers will enter North Korea to track down the remains of thousands of troops who went missing in the Korean War 60 years ago. The US had previously shut down a decade-long operation, fearing for the safety of its officials in the country;...

Philippines, US to Search for WWII MIAs

The two countries hope to give fallen soldiers a proper burial after 65 years

(Newser) - The Philippines and the United States have signed an accord to jointly search for the remains of American troops missing in action in the Philippines during World War II. The "statement of intent" signed today by Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. was the...

WWI Vet Missing for 92 Years Is Finally Home

Remains identified in France and returned to Pennsylvania

(Newser) - The remains of a US soldier missing since World War I have been identified and returned to his family for burial, reports CNN . The 28-year-old-man was killed in a battle in France on September 16, 1918, and his body, along with those of two other soldiers, was buried nearby. The...

MIA Dog A-OK After Year in Afghanistan

Bomb-sniffer Sabi gone for a year after 2008 firefight

(Newser) - An Australian military bomb-sniffing dog that went missing during a firefight in Afghanistan in September 2008 has been reunited with one of her trainers. An American soldier found Sabi wandering near a remote base last week and realized the black Lab wasn’t a stray when she responded to commands....

13 Stories