Kenneth Whitesell, VADM, USN(ret.) Joins Project Recover Board of Directors

Michelle AbbeyNews, Team 2 Comments

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 …

Honoring Our Heroes – Clifton, TX

Michelle AbbeyEvents Leave a Comment

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 …

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 …

DPAA Accounts for ARM1c Wilbur A. Mitts

Lauren TrecostaMIAs, News, Repatriations 9 Comments

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 …

MIA Recovery Mission Palau

MIA Recovery Mission Palau

Lauren TrecostaNews 10 Comments

In August 2021, the Project Recover team set off for its first MIA Recovery Mission in the Republic of Palau. Our partnership with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency made this a groundbreaking mission. The goal was to recover MIAs from a World War II crash site 120’ underwater.