80,000 military personnel remain unaccounted for overseas, dating back to World War II. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, or PWAA, hopes to identify as many as possible.
One of our missions, our primary mission, in fact, our purpose is to honor that warrior ethos of never leave a fallen comrade,” says Jennifer Walsh, Principal Deputy Director, DPAA.
On Saturday, the DPAA, an agency of the Department of Defense, held a family member update at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa for 212 family members of service members unaccounted for. At the conference, the agency reported that in fiscal year 2025, they set a record with 231 identifications. and just this past fiscal year 2026, they broke that record again with 250."
Officials explained the recovery and DNA processes and offered one-on-one conversations with anyone who had questions.
But before all of that, families recounted stories of their loved ones.
One woman shared how her uncle was hoping to be in the same battalion as his brother.
“But he passed as well,” she says. “He was killed in action a little over a year later. So two rothers, the first born in my dad's family, were gone. And that made it a very difficult thing as all of you know."
“Our honored dead have more than earned the right to be named, and their families deserve the closure of knowing their final resting place,” another attendee says.
Sondra Garner's father, Lieutenant Homer Baker, went missing when his plane was shot down over Myanmar. She's appreciative of the DPAA's work to retrieve him and his planes, even if she doesn't ever see the fruits of their labor.
“At my age, it'll probably never happen. But it was wonderful to know what's going on,” she says. “It means a lot knowing that many other people have found out so much information. and even if it's just a very few things that they have brought back you, it's closure.”
