Welcome To DPMO

"Keeping the Promise", "Fulfill their Trust" and "No one left behind" are several of many mottos that refer to the efforts of the Department of Defense to recover those who became missing while serving our nation.

More than 83,000 Americans are missing from World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the 1991 Gulf War. Hundreds of Defense Department men and women -- both military and civilian -- work in organizations around the world as part of DoD's personnel recovery and personnel accounting communities. They are all dedicated to the single mission of finding and bringing our missing personnel home. The mission requires expertise in archival research, intelligence collection and analysis, field investigations and recoveries, and scientific analysis.

Recently Accounted-For

Starting in 2012, recently accounted for service members will be listed in the chronological order that they are accounted for, which means that the families have been notified. In previous years, they were listed by the date of identification. The highlighted names are linked to a more detailed news release on that serviceman's identification.

Cpl. Elmer C. Kidd, U.S. Army, Heavy Mortar Company, 32^nd Infantry Regiment, 7^th Infantry Division, was lost on Nov. 30, 1950, near the Chosin Reservoir. He was accounted for on Oct. 11. 2012.
Lt. Col. Don C. Faith Jr., U.S. Army, commander of the 1^st Battalion, 32^nd Infantry Regiment, was lost on Dec. 2, 1950, near the Chosin Reservoir. He was accounted for on Oct. 11, 2012.
Pfc. James C. Mullins, U.S. Army, H Company, 2^nd Battalion, 35^th Infantry Regiment, was lost on July 22, 1950, near Yugong-ni, South Korea. He was accounted for on Sept. 27, 2012.

A complete listing of recently account-for servicemembers can be found on the Recently Accounted-For page.

News Releases

October 24, 2012 - U.S. Soldier Missing in Action from Korean War Identified (Fontenot) (Photo)
October 24, 2012 - Airman Missing in Action from WWII to be Honored (Cassell) (Photo)
October 23, 2012 - Airman Killed in Action from Vietnam War Identified (Wall)

A complete listing of News Releases can be found on the News Releases page.

Briefly... 2012

JPAC's NGO Outreach Symposium

From Sept. 27-28, four members of DPMO participated in the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) Outreach Symposium hosted by JPAC in San Diego. More than 50 WWII enthusiasts attended the symposium to discuss the U.S. Government's MIA accounting program in the Pacific and South Asia areas, along with more than 20 government officials from the Accounting Community. Government officials briefed the NGOs on policy, legal issues, research, remains recovery and identifications, and outreach efforts. The venue also provided opportunities for informal interactions and candid discussions that helped to establish better communication between government and NGOs as we all work on this important mission.

POW/MIA Recognition Day

Sept. 21 was National POW/MIA Recognition Day, a day to pause and remember those who have given so much in service to our country. The Department held a POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony at the Pentagon and invited more than 600 families, veterans and veteran organizations in the local area, every "3-star" equivalent or higher and key foreign Ambassadors to attend. ADM James A. Winnefeld, Jr., The Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, gave opening remarks, followed by remarks from Dr. Ashton Carter, Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the key note speaker was former Senator Chuck Hagel. As a community, we can be proud that so many people, military and civilians, are taking time to honor service members who were prisoners of war or missing in action.

A complete listing of the 2012 brieflies can be found on the Brieflys Page

POW/MIA Bracelet Inquiries

Members of the public often contact DPMO requesting information on servicemen for whom they wore a Vietnam War POW/MIA bracelet. They usually wish to contact the person or his family so they can send them the bracelet that they wore. Since we cannot provide the public with private addresses we have on file, we recommend forwarding a postage-affixed letter to the respective serviceman's casualty office with a cover letter explaining the request.

If the service casualty office has a current address, they will forward the letter to the serviceman or his family. At that point, the serviceman or family member may choose to contact the concerned citizen and provide them with an address to send the bracelet. There is no guarantee that this process will work. Many of the former POWs are no longer in contact with their service casualty office and this also applies to the families.