FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 24, 2025 – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), in partnership with Project Recover and other experts in the field, has announced that they have positively identified the remains of Staff Sergeant Eugene J. Darrigan who had been Missing In Action since World War II. The 26-year-old from Wappinger Falls, NY served as radio operator in a B-24 bomber named Heaven Can Wait that was shot down over a remote bay in Papua New Guinea on March 11, 1944. In 2017 the missing bomber was located underwater at a depth of over 200 feet by the partnership Project Recover, leading to a 2023 mission by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency to recover crew remains from the …
Project Recover Welcomes New Advisory Council Members
Rear Admiral Frank Thorp IV, USN (Ret), Bridget Guerrero CBCP, and Stacy McCarthy PCC bring their leadership expertise and passion to help return American service members missing in action Project Recover, a global nonprofit dedicated to repatriating American service members missing in action and providing answers and closure to MIA Gold Star Families, is proud to announce the appointment of three distinguished leaders to its Advisory Council. Rear Admiral Frank Thorp IV, USN (Ret); Bridget Guerrero, Director, Security Strategy and Resilience at Viasat; and Stacy McCarthy, Partner, Aesara Partners. “We are thrilled to welcome Frank, Bridget, and Stacy to our Council,” said Derek Abbey, President & CEO of Project Recover. “Their robust backgrounds and diverse professional experience are valuable additions …
Project Recover Announces New Mission: Locate US Air Force B-52 and Aircrew Gone Missing Offshore Texas Coast in 1968
“Rog 88” was the pilot’s abbreviated, almost casual response to the duty controller’s request for a radio check. On hearing that standard radio-communications exchange over the intercom of his remote radar bomb scoring (RBS) site on the Texas shoreline, the young radar operator broke lock on the massive B-52 bomber he’d been tracking and repositioned the antenna atop his trailer 140° to the left. Satisfied the pencil beam of his radar was trained on the bomb run “front door” 70 miles away to the northeast, he left his trailer for a ten-minute break before MEAL 88 would return through that imaginary point in space at 800 feet above the water and 350 knots indicated airspeed for the aircrew’s third and …
Remains of Livermore Airman Positively Identified 80 Years After Final Mission
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 17th, 2024 – The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), in partnership with Project Recover and other experts in the field, has announced that they have positively identified the remains of 2nd Lt. Thomas V. Kelly, Jr., who had been Missing In Action since World War II. The 21-year-old from Livermore, CA served as bombardier in a B-24 bomber named “Heaven Can Wait” that was shot down over a remote bay in Papua New Guinea on March 11, 1944. In 2017 the missing bomber was located underwater at a depth of over 200 feet by the nonprofit group Project Recover, leading to a 2023 mission by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency to recover crew remains from the …
Remembering Our Heroes: 2nd Lt. Arthur J. Schumacher, USAAF
Guest post by Lynne Hasselman Behind every name engraved on one of our national cemetery’s Tablets of the Missing is an indelible story etched on the hearts of their loved ones. Despite the passage of time, these American heroes live on in faded black and white photographs, yellowed letters home, and faded telegrams marked with tears. Out of 81,500 American service members missing in action (MIA), 72,000 were from World War II. Their lives were marked by war, but it didn’t define them. They lived with color, vitality, and courage, and they had hopes and dreams still waiting to be realized. First and foremost, they were someone’s beloved husband, father, child, sibling, or friend. As part of an ongoing effort, …
DPAA Accounts for LT Jay R. Manown, Jr.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that, in partnership with Project Recover and other experts in the field, they accounted for LT Jay R. Manown, Jr. LT Manown was a TBM-1c Avenger pilot who, until this announcement, was Missing in Action. Project Recover located the downed Avenger in Palauan waters in 2015. The Avenger took off from the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier on September 10, 1944. The crew was part of Torpedo Squadron 20 (VT-20), which was on a bombing mission targeting antiaircraft positions and transport ships on and near Malakal Harbor in Palau. The USS Enterprise and 15 other aircraft carriers were in the area. They were all part of Task Force 38. Together, they were conducting strikes …
Kenneth Whitesell, VADM, USN(ret.) Joins Project Recover Board of Directors
Project Recover is pleased to announce the appointment of its newest board member, Vice Admiral Kenneth Whitesell, United States Navy retired. Kenneth’s introduction to and journey toward this unique organization began over Memorial Day weekend, 2023, when Mount Soledad National Veterans Memorial chose to honor and memorialize former MIA, Aviation Radioman 3rd Class Walter Mintus. As then the Commander of the Naval Air Forces, he was invited to share the podium with Project Recover’s Pat Scannon. As part of his preparation, he watched the documentary “To What Remains”. He felt an immediate connection with the Project Recover mission, our dedication to the promise of “no man left behind” and the immense effort executed to return the remains of those still …
Honoring Our Heroes – Clifton, TX
As we decorated the lobby with balloons and set up the memorial tables, the students were all on stage at the Clifton ISD Performing Arts Center, rehearsing the next day’s Honoring Our Heroes program that would be followed by a screening of To What Remains. All the while, heavy thunderstorms cracked and boomed above us as sheets of rain came down. I hadn’t seen a storm like this in years. It was just another rainy night for my local Clifton friends. We woke up the next morning to find that record flooding had closed all roads leading in and out of Clifton. No one could come or leave, and they weren’t sure when the water would begin to subside. Oh …
Washington State Mission
On Sunday, May 26th, we woke up to some light Seattle rain showers and temps in the low 50s. After a quick breakfast at Corner Café, CEO Derek Abbey, COO Adrian De La Rosa, Dir. of Community & Donor Relations Michelle Abbey, and new Team Member MaryJane Harris, now fondly known as the Central Oregon Team, set off for the potential crash site of a WWII era plane. Mission information The call came in several months ago when someone had just learned of our work and reached out with a note that he had some information about a possible stateside site if we were interested. He used to own a boat shop in the Pacific Northwest. He grew to know …
DPAA Accounts for ARM1c Wilbur A. Mitts
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that, in partnership with Project Recover and other experts in the field, they accounted for ARM1c Wilbur A. Mitts. ARM1c Mitts was a radioman on a TBM-1c Avenger who, until this announcement, was Missing in Action from World War II. Project Recover located and documented Mitts’ downed Avenger in Palauan waters in 2015. In partnership with DPAA, Project Recover recovered MIAs from the Avenger during our first MIA Recovery Mission in 2021. The Avenger took off from the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier on September 10, 1944. The crew was a part of Torpedo Squadron 20 (VT-20). The Squadron was on a bombing mission targeting antiaircraft positions and transport ships on and near Malakal …
