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More than 80,000 troops missing in previous conflicts are still missing. However, the Prisoner of War Accounting Agency and the Ministry of Internal Affairs estimate that through research and new technology, the remains of 38,000 fallen veterans could be recovered. The nonprofit Project Recover is working with the agency to bring some of these service members home through challenging undersea missions.
“This is a great American story,” said former Navy Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet. “Our job is to use technology such as underwater drones and scuba diving equipment to find the platforms on which these participants died, and then conduct DNA testing to locate and recover their remains and match them with those missing.”
Project Restoration members stand with folded American flags during a ceremony honoring fallen World War II aviators. (Project restoration)
Gallaudet also serves on the Project Recover advisory board. The group was founded by Dr. Patrick Scannon. The idea came to him in 1993 when he was traveling through the Palau Islands with his wife and discovered a downed plane. World War II.
“That 65-foot wing made a big difference in my life,” Scannon told GoPro.
Project Restoration teams have discovered dozens of aircraft stands around the Palau Islands associated with nearly 100 military personnel missing in action.
“Recovery is difficult. We need to find the plane or ships first,” Gallaudet said. “And then we need to determine if there are any remains there and then identify them and match them to military personnel.”
In 1944, US officials determined that the Palau Islands were an important part of the larger mission to liberate the Philippines. The attempt to capture Peleliu Island ultimately proved costly for the United States. The island, located about 500 miles from the Philippines, had an airfield that American officials believed could be used to launch an attack during their larger mission. At the time, more than 10,000 Japanese soldiers were stationed on Peleliu.
US Air Force B-52 bombers parked at a military airfield. (B-52 bomber crash)
The battle was expected to last only a few days, but ended up lasting 74 days. The US began a bombing campaign, dropping more than 600 tons of bombs, but the Marines had little intelligence on enemy positions. Japanese troops hid in coral caves and mines around the islands. Initial air attacks had little effect unless the pilots flew dangerously close to the island.
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On Peleliu, 1,800 Americans died in action and more than 8,000 were wounded or missing. Almost all 10,000 Japanese soldiers died in the battle. The United States conducted nine major air campaigns in Palau, during which approximately 200 aircraft were lost.
Project Recover is now working to bring some of these service members home.
“There were three military personnel on the plane that went down: a lieutenant and then two enlisted crew members. And over the last few years, we were able to recover the remains of all three. And we couldn't identify them all at the same time. That required forensics and DNA technology. But the last one was finally identified,” Gallaudet said.
Lt Jay Manone, AOM1c Anthony Di Petta and ARM1c Wilbur Mitts went on a bombing mission in September 1944. They were conducting pre-invasion strikes in preparation for the invasion of Peleliu when their plane went out of control and crashed into the surrounding waters.
“The plane came under enemy fire and burst into flames,” Di Petta’s niece Suzanne Nakamura told Media Evolve.
Project Recover discovered the plane in 2015. After more than a dozen dives to examine the wreckage, teams began removing the remains of the three service members. Lieutenant Manone was the last to be repatriated.
“We held the ceremony in his hometown in West Virginia and relatives of all three service members came to this final ceremony,” Gallaudet said.
The man's three nieces became especially close.
A diver inspects a sunken ship during an underwater mission to search for and return missing U.S. military personnel. (Project restoration)
“Through this experience, we connected really well and became friends, almost creating something of a sisterhood,” Manone's niece Rebecca Sheets told Media Evolve.
“We've talked on the phone so much and we feel so close,” Mitt's niece Diana Ward told Media Evolve. “It's just a joy to meet each other in person and just share the emotions we felt about our uncles coming home.”
The three women also spoke about how their grandmothers or mothers of Manown, Di Petta and Mitts may have treated them sons finally return home.
“We have a connection because our uncles participated not only in defending the freedom of the United States, but as men who fought together and died together,” Nakamura said.
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Including work in Palau, Project Recover has completed more than 100 missions in 25 countries. They repatriated 24 missing Americans and located more than 200 missing in anticipation of further recovery efforts. The group is raising money for a mission it hopes to complete in 2026 – searching for a B-52 plane that went missing in an accident.
“His off the coast of Texas. We haven't found the plane yet. And of those eight service members, all of them had families,” Gallaudet said. “Today there are approximately 32 surviving members of these families who want answers to find out what happened to their loved ones.”
In addition to the more than 80,000 military personnel missing in action, 20,000 were missing in training accidents. The Prisoner of War Accounting Agency and the Interior Ministry are not allowed to allocate funds to search for eight men who disappeared along with their B-52 because the crash occurred during a training accident unrelated to the conflict.
“Until we find the wreckage, we don't know what caused the accident. And so our goal is to find that wreckage and then recover the remains and repatriate them to the families,” Gallaudet said.
Air Force B-52 crew members pose for a group photo. (B-52 bomber crash)
Air Force bomber In February 1968, he was on a scheduled training mission when he disappeared from radar and radio communications. The Air Force immediately conducted an extensive nine-day search of the flight path but found no trace of the bomber. When the military completed the search and determined that the ship sank in an unknown location, three pieces of debris washed ashore in Corpus Christi, Texas.
“This B-52 off the coast of Texas has not yet been located, but we think we know where the area is. We're going to find him,” Gallaudet said.
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So far, more than $300,000 has been raised for the mission. Project Recover estimates it will cost another $200,000 to find the eight men. If the organization can locate the remains, the POW/MIA accounting agency can allocate resources for recovery.
You can learn more about Project Recover and the missing B-52, and donate to the search for Project Recover. website.
