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 …
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 …
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has publicly announced that they have positively identified the remains of Staff Sergeant John H. Danneker, who had been missing in action since 1944. Danneker entered the U.S. Army Air Forces from Williamsport, Pennsylvania. 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. Danneker was a waist gunner assigned to the 565th Bombardment Squadron, 389th Bombardment Group, 2nd …
For supporters looking to donate to the Texas B-52 Mission Campaign, please visit Texas B-52 Mission fundraising campaign. “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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced that, in partnership with Project Recover and other experts in the field, they accounted for AOM1c Anthony Di Petta. AOM1c Di Petta was an ordnanceman on a TBM-1c Avenger.
