The Missing Six of the 7th Marines on Peleliu By James Witkoski, M.A., Research Analyst 4 October 1944- Umurbrogol Pocket, Peleliu, Palau. By 4 October 1944, the 1st Marine Division (1st MarDiv) had been fighting on Peleliu for almost a month. They were up against some of the toughest terrain in the Pacific. Peleliu’s Umurbrogol Pocket was a vast maze of cement hard ridges, valleys, and caves that the Japanese had spent years preparing these defenses. One Marine veteran …
How Project Recover uses sonar technology to find U.S. aircraft and the service members still missing aboard them By Mark Moline, Co-Founder Project Recover and University of Delaware Professor One of Project Recover’s biggest challenges is searching the seafloor for aircraft that went down during World War II and other conflicts. We’re not looking in small areas, either. Some search zones are as large as Walt Disney World. To survey an area that big on land, you’d fly over it …
What Does Closure Feel Like? By Scott Althaus, Project Recover volunteer and cousin of 2Lt. Thomas V. Kelly, Jr. who was killed on March 11, 1944 and repatriated on Memorial Day 2025. Project Recover describes its mission as finding and repatriating Americans Missing In Action (MIA) “to provide recognition and closure for families and the Nation.” That word closure is an important one for describing Project Recover’s impact. I’m in one of the rare MIA family members who has experienced …
A Brother and Sister Went to War. Neither Returned By Colin Colbourn, Ph.D., Lead Historian 19 August 1943 – Massicault U.S. Army Airfield, Tunisia, Africa. 1st Lt Richard E. Rozzelle just received word that a pilot was needed aboard a B-17F Flying Fortress called“Big Jeff.” Rozzelle had just finished his mission quota of 50 successful missions in theater. He had earned his trip home. Instead, he climbed into the pilot seat for one more. At the time, the Allies had …
How Project Recover Plans a Mission By Adrian De La Rosa Most people see the end of what we do. A family receives a flag. A name gets a bronze rosette. A service member finally comes home. What they don’t see is the year, sometimes years, that came before that moment. I’m Adrian De La Rosa, chief operating officer of Project Recover. My job is to make sure that when our team deploys to the Pacific Ocean, an olive field …
A huge thank you to everyone who supported Project Recover in 2025. Your donations and support made everything we accomplished possible, and we’re grateful you believe in this mission as much as we do. We’ve got big plans for 2026 and can’t wait to bring more missing service members home to their families. 2025 By the Numbers Last year was our biggest yet. We raised more funds than any previous year and completed 15 mission sets around the world. Our …
January 14, 2026 – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has announced that they have positively identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Nicholas J. Governale, who had been Missing In Action since 1943. Staff Sgt. Governale was a member of the 69th Bombardment Squadron, 42d Bombardment Group. The initial survey and the recovery efforts leading up to these identifications were completed in partnership with Project Recover and other experts in the field. The B-25 took off from Carney Field in …
At just 14 years old, William has already shown incredible passion for service, history, and honoring America’s missing heroes. As Project Recover’s youngest ambassador, he represents the next generation of voices dedicated to bringing our nation’s MIAs home. We sat down with William to learn more about him, his interests, and what inspires him to serve. What’s something fun you’ve been into lately? “Some fun things I have been up to lately are a virtual reality combat flight simulator. I’ve …
July 25, 2025 – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), in partnership with Project Recover and other experts in the field, has publicly announced that they have positively identified the remains of 2nd Lt. Jason K. Goldwater, who had been Missing In Action since 1943. 2nd Lt. Goldwater, a member of the 13th Air Force 42nd Bombardment Group “The Crusaders”, 69th Bombardment Squadron, was a B-25 Navigator. The B-25 took off from Carney Field in Guadalcanal on the morning of July …
June 10, 2025 – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has publicly announced that they have positively identified the remains of 2nd Lt. Milton L. Hymes, Jr., who had been missing in action since 1944. Hymes entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Savannah, Georgia. The initial survey and the recovery projects leading up to these identifications were completed in partnership with Project Recover and other experts in the field. Hymes was a navigator assigned to the 565th Bombardment …
