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Recovery Mission: Search for America's Missing

Sept. 16, 2021 |DOD News
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Each year, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency conducts investigation-and-recovery team missions across the globe to search last known locations of missing American service members.

A man uses a water hose.
A man uses a water hose.
Recovery Mission
Members of a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency recovery team sift through dirt during a DPAA recovery mission in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, June 18, 2021. DPAA’s mission is to achieve the fullest possible accounting for missing and unaccounted-for U.S. personnel to their families and our nation.
Download: Full Size (1.31 MB)
Credit: Air Force Staff Sgt. Jonathan McElderry
VIRIN: 210618-F-IY281-0220M
A service member uses an axe to cut a tree in the woods.
A service member uses an axe to cut a tree in the woods.
Recovery Mission
Marine Corps Capt. Paul Johnson, a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency recovery team leader, swings an axe in an excavation unit during a DPAA recovery mission in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, June 13, 2021. DPAA’s mission is to achieve the fullest possible accounting for missing and unaccounted-for U.S. personnel to their families and our nation.
Download: Full Size (1.19 MB)
Credit: Air Force Staff Sgt. Jonathan McElderry
VIRIN: 210613-F-IY281-0195

These missions are carried out underwater and on land, sometimes in mountainous regions like this excavation in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, in July 2021.

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VIRIN: {{virin}}
An airman removes dirt from the ground.
With a jungle in the background, people stand in a line as a bucket is passed from one person to another.
An airman puts metal into dirt in the woods.
A group meets in the woods.
A sailor sorts through random materials.
A group participates in a recovery mission.
A solider puts materials in a bucket.
A group meets in the woods.
A person uses a shovel to remove dirt from the side of a mountain.
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Spotlight: National POW/MIA Recognition Day Spotlight: National POW/MIA Recognition Day: https://www.defense.gov/Explore/Spotlight/National-POW-MIA-Recognition-Day/
 

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