Overview

75% of the losses are located in the Asia-Pacific According to Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), "more than 83,000 Americans remain missing from WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the Gulf Wars/other conflicts. Out of the 83,000 missing, 75% of the losses are located in the Asia-Pacific".
Among the past conflicts in Asia-Pacific, MIAs from WWII is the largest, over 48,000.



The figures below are provided by WFI Research Group, updated on April 2015.

Saipan - Commonwealth of the United States of America

MIA and Unknown from WWII in Saipan          Total      On Land

Death      4,110      -

MIA       505      367

Unknown    71       -




Why Saipan?

1) Saipan is a Commonwealth of the United States of America, a part of the U.S. teritory; however, not active recovery of the WWII fallen has being taken by the government.

2) There has been a lot of construction work going on Saipan to build a Casino hotels and related facilities on the island, and human remains are under danger of possible lost and distruction.

3) Kuuentai-NPO (Japanese organization) became the first group to return the US remains from the Japanese side. It was 2011 that first US Army soldier was found in Saipan.
Kuuentai (Japanese organization) was digging up the burials to recover the Japanese remains, but also found the probable remains of the US servicemen.
Kuuentai received an appreciation letter from JPAC (former DPAA) to thank their cooperation.
Volunteers from Kuuentai (Japan) later motivated to establish US version of "Kuuentai" to search and recover the US missing.









Guam - Territory of the United States

MIA and Unknown from WWII in Guam           Total     On Land

Death      2,229     -

MIA       282     218

Unknown    86      -





Japan including Okinawa

MIA from WWII in Japan            Total        On Land

Mainland       2,814     -

Okinawa        2,620     -

Iwo Jima        733       -





The Philippines

MIA and Unknown from WWII in PH          Total      On Land

Death      24,658     -

MIA       14,735     -

Unknown    2,799     -



Why Philippines?

The Philipine is a country which holds the largest number of MIA/KIA of US servicemen.


A map from DPAA's website showing the total number of MIA in the Philippines alone.

"Unknown"

Among these figures of MIAs in each area above,
there are certain number of “Unknowns” who had been buried in the American cemeteries around the world.
They are unknown because the proper identification has not been done so that the government does not know who the person is.

Read the details from the website of WFI Research Group.
For Example:
Staff Sgt. Richard J. Murphy, USMC


Dental Record of the Unknown soldier
from Saipan who have been buried
in the Manila American Cemetery and Monument.

Dental Record of the MIA,
USMC Richard Murphy, from Individual Deceased Personnel File, who served in Saipan.


A Official letter from JPAC:
"Idenitifying the remains of unknowns .... must take a lower priority."



Richard Murphy is no longer missing.
He was officially identified by DPAA in July 2018,
after 4 years working with the families.


Read a Story about Unknown Project





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501(c)(3) non-profit organizatin to bring back home the remains of American servicemen who died in WWII in the Pacific Theater