2nd Lt. Milton L. Hymes, Jr.
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 Squadron, 389th Bombardment Group, 2nd Combat Bomb Wing, 2nd Air Division, 8th Air Force, in the European Theater. On June 20, 1944, Hymes and several other members of his crew went missing in action when their B-24J Liberator bomber collided with another B-24 in the same formation and crashed into the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark. The pilot and co-pilot of Hymes’s aircraft survived after successfully bailing out, but the rest of the crew were killed in the crash.
In 2019, Danish divers found a WWII-era aircraft wreck in the area of the aircraft’s last known location and recovered a .50 caliber machine gun from the site with a damaged serial number that partially matched one from the missing aircraft. A Project Recover survey team from the University of Delaware worked with the Royal Danish Navy to map the wreck site in August 2021 and volunteers from Project Recover returned in 2022 to assist DPAA primary partner Trident Archäologie, along with Wessex Archaeology, as well as representatives from the Royal Danish Navy and the Langelands Museum, in excavating the wreck site. Extensive evidence was recovered, including human remains and ID tags of two of the crew members that were turned over to Danish authorities and then accessioned into the DPAA laboratory. Additional recovery operations were conducted in 2023 and 2024 by Trident Archäologie that found further material evidence and more possible remains.
“I’ve been a proud team member of Project Recover since 2018, but this mission was truly special. It stirred deep emotions and touched my heart. Being part of the recovery of these young men—who fought for our freedom— gave meaning to all our sacrifices. It reminded me that the journey is far from over and that Keeping America’s Promise is more than just words—it’s a mission for all of us,” said Project Recover European Regional Director Aldo Costigliolo.
About Project Recover
Project Recover is a nonprofit, public-private partnership involving the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego to enlist 21st century science and technology combined with in-depth archival and historical research in a quest to find the final resting places of Americans missing in action since World War II. Project Recover is the only non-governmental organization (NGO) with full vertical capabilities in the POW/MIA recovery space that include operational missions in both underwater and land environments.
Project Recover’s cutting-edge team of scientists, historians, archaeologists, engineers, and divers conduct research and surveys to discover new crash sites, fully document wreckage, and correlate wrecks to known MIA cases. That documentation can then be used by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) to evaluate that site for the possible recovery of remains. DPAA is tasked with recovery and repatriation efforts, including notification of the families of these MIAs.
Project Recover has completed over 100 missions in 25 countries, discovered and documented more than 75 aircraft associated with MIAs, developed a growing database of more than 700 cases associated with more than 3,000 MIAs, accounted for over 80 missing-in-action service members, repatriated 28 American heroes, and anticipate the identification of another 15 MIAs by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) by the end of 2025.
