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.

Master Sgt. Olen B. Williams, U.S. Army, Company K, 3^rd Battalion, 31^st Infantry Regiment, 7^th Infantry Division, was lost on Dec. 12, 1950 near the Chosin Reservoir, North Korea. He was accounted for on May 1, 2013. He will be buried with full military honors on June 9, 2013, in Clanton, Ala.
Pfc. James L. Constant, U.S. Army, Company A, 1^st Battalion, 23^rd Infantry Regiment, 2^nd Infantry Division, was lost on Sept. 8, 1950, near Changnyong, South Korea. He was accounted for on May 1, 2013. He will be buried with full military honors May 18, 2013, in Indianapolis, Ind.
1^st Lt. Robert G. Fenstermacher, U.S. Army Air Force, 506^th Fighter Squadron, 404^th Fighter Group, was lost on Dec. 26, 1944, near Petergensfeld, Belgium. He was accounted for on April 30, 2013. He will be buried with full military honors in the fall of 2013, in Scranton, Pa.

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

News Releases

May 15, 2013 - U.S. Soldier Missing in Action from Korean War Identified (Constant) (Photo)
May 10, 2013 - U.S. Soldier Missing in Action from Identified (Allen) (Photo)
May 10, 2013 - U.S. Marine from Vietnam War to be Buried With Crew (Benedett)

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

Briefly... 2013

68th Anniversary of Meeting on the Elbe

On April 25th, DPMO Principal Deputy Alisa Stack laid a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery marking the 68th anniversary of the Meeting on the Elbe of U.S. and Soviet soldiers at Torgau, Germany, in 1945. The ceremony was held at the Spirit of the Elbe Marker, which was dedicated in 1995 in honor of the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. Each year the Russian Ambassador organizes a ceremony to recognize the U.S.-Russian Alliance in the War. The ceremony was followed by a reception at the Russian Embassy hosted by Ambassador Kislyak honoring the veterans. Other DPMO representatives at the ceremony were Lt Col Michael Allison and Ms. Svetlana Shevchenko of DPMO's Joint Commission Support Division and Dr. James G. Connell Jr., Acting Executive Secretary of the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs.

SFA Honors DPMO

On May 3, the Administrative Director of the Special Forces Association (SFA), Mr. Cliff Newman, presented a plaque to DPMO on behalf of the SFA and Special Operations Association (SOA) in appreciation for the dedication, hard work, and commitment of the men and women of DPMO -- past and present -- to the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel, especially those from the Vietnam War. It was an honor to accept this plaque and we truly appreciate the SFA, SOA, and all of the organizations that support and encourage us as we humbly carry out this mission.

Family Member Update in Birmingham, Alabama

On March 16, the DPMO team traveled to Birmingham, Alabama, along with members of the Accounting Community for DPMO's 158th Family Member Update. We met with 171 family members whose loved ones are missing from World War II, the Korean and Cold War, and the Vietnam War, 90 of whom were first-time attendees. The JPAC Commander, Maj. Gen. Kelly McKeague also attended and gave remarks. Our next Family Member Update will be in Spokane, Washington on May 18 ^th.

A complete listing of the 2013 brieflies can be found on the Archived Brieflys Pages

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.