My friend Andy Hoder (thanks Andy!) recently sent me an article about the locating and repatriating of an American from southern California who was lost during the Korean War. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) located the family through DNA samples submitted by close relatives and were able to return the remains to the family for a proper burial. This article stuck with me, and because we have men missing from the loss of the STRONG, I thought it would be wise to share this information with the families, as submission of your DNA is free. I emailed my contact at the National World War II Museum Jason Dawsey, who works with the DPAA through the museum. Jason provided more information and below is his response to my questions about how many men remain missing and those in possession of the DPAA that are unidentified to date from the WW2 and other war eras:

“Some answers/links with information for your questions. There are just under 73,000 Americans still unrecovered from WWII. 48,000 in Asia-Pacific and 21,000 in Europe-Mediterranean (the other 4000 or so are scattered including those killed in submarine attacks in American waters).  DPAA, formed in early 2015, was part of a merger of JPAC with the Defense Prisoner of War Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) and the Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory (LSEL). It is assigned by Congress to identify the remains of 200 service members a year. Including those from WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, there are about 83,000 unrecovered American service members.
I’m going to provide you two links. One is to a piece by my colleague, Clarise Soper, and I wrote about our participation in Family Member Updates (FMU).  I should note that, since we wrote this, DPAA has added another FMU—to be held on Nov. 17 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
 The other link is a post from April of this year from DPAA’s website concerning their operations. If you scroll down, it says quite a bit about what they have in mind for the Pacific.  They will have another update next month dealing with their operations in the second quarter, and, hopefully, more information about upcoming operations. If I hear anymore about what they are planning for the South Pacific, I will let you know. DPAA does work with the VA and with the American Battle Monuments Commission to examine unidentified remains that were buried in American cemeteries, either in the States or abroad.” 

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/accounting-unrecovered-service-members-2018-dpaa-and-families-gather
 http://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/Recent-News-Stories/Article/1498195/dpaa-2nd-quarter-2018-update/

 I’m attaching a JPEG from the article with information on submitting your DNA. I know many of you have a man missing from the loss of the STRONG, and on the chance that they actually get to search for them in the central Solomons some day (or have been found but are unidentified) it would be good to have your DNA on record. Some of you may also have a man or woman missing from the Korean War, Viet Nam or other conflict overseas. If your DNA is on record the identification process is easier. Not fast mind you, but easier. It’s easy to contact the personnel at the DPAA from this page. There are also some frequently asked questions with answers here at this link: http://www.dpaa.mil/Contact/Contact-Us/

If any of you have submitted your DNA and have not been contacted, it wouldn’t hurt to send an email and bring this to their attention. Their caseload is vast, but never hurts to try. Let me know if any of you have some success with this.  

​Tammi

The US version of The Shipwreck Hunter by David Mearns is out! The book was released June 4th and can be bought on any of the major book selling websites such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Borders. Check your local stores to see if they are carrying the book, and that includes any naval or maritime museum stores. Let me know what you find and once you read the book I'd love to have feedback to share with David. David's life and work have truly been extraordinary and challenging. He's a true pro at what he does and has an astounding 89% success rate in his finds. There's mystery, intrigue and real triumph in these stories, not to mention real connections to the people - the men, women and families of the lost are close to his heart. 

​Enjoy the read!