Web of military agencies bring home POW, MIA troops' remains
by Alison Walker-Baird
News-Post Staff

	Unaccounted for service members databases: World War II about 78,000 service members listed released June 4 Korean War about 8,100 service members listed released February 1999 Cold War 125 service members listed online since 1997 Vietnam War about 1,800 service members listed online since 1997 1991 Gulf War 49 service members listed online since 1997 Source: The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office
	Casualty offices: whom to call Service casualty offices serve as the primary liaisons for families whose loved ones are unaccounted for and for families after service members' remains have been identified. The casualty officers also coordinate DNA sample collection. If you are a maternal relative of a missing service member from the Vietnam War, Korean War or World War II, investigators would like to have your DNA on file to assist in identifications. For details, call the service member's military branch: Air Force 800-531-5501 USAF Missing Persons Branch 550 C St. W. Suite 15 Randolph AFB, TX 78150-4716 Air Force Personnel Center Army Phone: 800-892-2490 Department of the Army U.S. Army Human Resources Command ATTN: AHRC-PER 200 Stovall St. Alexandria, VA 22332-0482 Army Human Resources Command Marine Corps Phone: 800-847-1597 Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps Manpower and Reserve Affairs Personal and Family Readiness Division 3280 Russell Road Quantico, VA 22134-5103 Navy Phone: 800-368-3202 Navy Personnel Command Casualty Assistance Division POW/MIA Branch (PERS-624) 5720 Integrity Drive Millington, TN 38055-6210 Navy Personnel Command Department of State Phone: 202-647-5470 Overseas Citizens Services U.S. Department of State 4th Floor 2201 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Washington, DC 20037
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Three main agencies work together to recover and identify the 88,000 unaccounted-for service members since World War II. These service members were captured, detained or missing in a hostile environment and their remains never have been returned from foreign battlefields.

The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office in Washington coordinates searching for, recovering and identifying troops' remains, a process known as personnel accounting.

DPMO officials oversee accounting policies, negotiate with foreign countries to allow in U.S. investigation and recovery crews and keep service members' relatives updated on the status of these efforts.

The office and the military's Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, or JPAC, based at Hickam Air Force in Hawaii, continuously collect information on the possible whereabouts of unaccounted-for service members' remains.

DPMO officials provided The Frederick News-Post records on each of the nine Frederick County service members whose remains have never been identified. These documents, available to families, summarize details on each service member's last known whereabouts and the status of the efforts to recover remains. The News-Post used these documents to tell the service members' stories.

Historical research and breakthroughs, such as the discovery of a World War II crash site, lead DPMO or JPAC officials to launch an accounting investigation. JPAC crews deploy on more than a dozen recovery missions each year to excavate sites to collect evidence and find remains.

JPAC sends samples that require DNA analysis to the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, or AFDIL, in Rockville. The laboratory stores DNA samples from relatives of unaccounted-for service members to compare against recovered remains.

About 100 service members are identified each year. DPMO can't say for sure how many service members' remains have been recovered but not identified.

JPAC recovery teams also send equipment such as World War II-era parachutes or uniforms worn by U.S. troops in Vietnam to the Life Sciences Equipment Laboratory in Brooks City-Base, Texas.

To positively identify remains, JPAC scientists and researchers, often with the help of outside experts, must prove consistency among evidence collected through archival and historical research, locals' testimony, site excavation and, in some cases, DNA analysis.

Once JPAC confirms an identification, the military's service casualty offices notify the service member's family. Representatives travel to families' homes to answer survivors' questions, explain the methods and evidence used to identify the service member and help prepare funeral arrangements.

These officers also serve as the primary liaisons between families of service members who are unaccounted for and the accounting agencies.

Each military branch maintains a service casualty office to provide information and support to service members' loved ones, and the Department of State has a similar office for civilians.

The Department of Defense is spending $105 million in fiscal 2007 to account for and recover missing service members, according to a DPMO spokeswoman. This spending makes up less than 0.03 percent of the DoD's $432.5 billion budget for the fiscal year.

DPMO maintains databases of troops whose remains are still waiting to be identified and returned to their families. They can be accessed at www.dtic.mil/dpmo.

Staff writer Joseph M. de Leon contributed to this story.