Team members search the forest

Washington State Mission

Michelle AbbeyMIA Searches, Mission Reflections, News, Team 3 Comments

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 …

Searching The Jungles of Palau

Michelle AbbeyMIA Searches, Mission - Pacific, Mission Reflections, Team Leave a Comment

Hanna Friedlander joined the Project Recover team in 2022. After her mission with Project Recover in March 2023, she graciously offered to take the time to share with us her experience and thoughts around her first mission. Please note that we purposefully cannot publicly share details about this open case via report or photos. This is out of respect for the family of our MIA and our partnership with DPAA. This was a dream, something I had yearned to do since I began my career as an aspiring anthropologist while pursuing my undergraduate. This dream continued through my years as a Masters student and into my professional life. I had a burning desire to work with an organization that wholeheartedly …

Execution of WWII POWs and Innocents in Palau - Project Recover is committed to bringing the MIA home. Photos by Harry Parker Photography.com

The Search For MIAs: Execution of WWII POWs and Innocents in Palau

Lauren TrecostaMIA Searches, Mission - Pacific 28 Comments

July 2018 Project Recover spent three weeks searching for the remains from the execution of WWII POWs and innocents in Palau in July 2018. It was a land-based mission with two points of focus: Police Hill and Aimeliik. Pat Scannon, M.D., Ph.D., and founder of The BentProp Project, led the mission. Dan O’Brien, a 20 year veteran of BentProp, co-led the mission. The rest of the volunteer team was Jolie Liston, Ph.D. (archaeologist), Dave Bavencoff (police officer), Sarah Johnson (college sophomore), Glenn Frano (geospatial technician), and Joe Maldangesang, a State Conservation Officer and 20+ year veteran of BentProp, who served the mission as jungle guide and skipper We had key support from within Palau: Richard Madrekevet, an unexploded ordnance specialist, …

This WWII photo shows B-24 Liberators flying over Porto Santo Stefano, Italy - Project Recover Mission, Italy. Looking for WWII Bombers on the Western Coast of Italy - Project Recover is committed to bringing MIAs home.

Project Recover Searches For WWII Aircraft, MIAs in Italy

Lauren TrecostaMIA Searches, Mission - Europe 27 Comments

Porto Santo Stefano, Italy16 September – 5 October 2018 Under contract with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), Project Recover headed to Porto Santo Stefano in the Grosseto province of Italy to search for World War II aircraft and MIAs in September 2018. Our primary goal was to locate and positively identify an A-20, a B-24, B-25, and B-26, all associated with MIAs. The WWII aircraft were lost along the coastlines of Marina di Grosseto, Porto Ercole, and Porto Santo Stefano.   Project Recover conducts all its missions in cooperation with local governments. We received approval from the Italian federal, provincial, and local governments in Grosseto region of Italy. We also held an information session for the local public. Italian colleagues, …