Fulfilling Our Nation’s Promise A Record 250 Identifications in Fiscal Year 2026

Courtesy Story, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

WASHINGTON—Embodying the Warrior Ethos principle to “Never Leave a Fallen Comrade,” the Department of War, in Fiscal Year 2026, identified the remains of a milestone 250 Service members who had been unaccounted for from past conflicts.

This exceeds the previous record of 231 that the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) made in FY 2025.

The 250th to be identified is U.S. Army Capt. Albert P. Wilcox, a 39-year-old from California. He was a prisoner of war in the Philippines during World War II before being killed when the Japanese transport ship, Enoura Maru, was mistakenly sunk in 1945. Capt. Wilcox’ remains were recovered after the war but were unidentifiable, and he was buried as an Unknown. In 2022 DPAA began the *Enoura Maru *Project to disinter the Enoura Maru Unknowns from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and transferred them to the lab in Hawaii for identification. Capt Wilcox will be returned to his family who will decide on his final resting place. “The United States of America is resolved to never forget the warriors who answered the call to duty, made the supreme sacrifice, and never came home,” said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. “Through DPAA’s determined efforts, all 250 of these heroes will finally be home.”

“This is a deeply personal priority for me,” said Hon. Anthony J. Tata, Under Secretary of War for personnel and readiness. “The Department of War will not rest in its efforts to bring home our unaccounted-for Service members and provide the fullest possible accounting of all mission personnel.”

DPAA is charged with searching for, recovering, and identifying Americans missing from past conflicts. These 250 accounted-for Service members include 198 from World War II, 51 from the Korean War, and one from the Vietnam War. Distributed among the branches of service, the identified Service members are: 136 U.S. Army, 76 U.S. Army Air Forces, 20 U.S. Navy, 15 U.S. Marine Corps, one U.S. Air Force, and 2 Federal Civilians.

Every unaccounted-for U.S. Service member or DoW civilian/contractor is entitled to one certainty: that he or she will not be forgotten. Operating in 54 countries around the world, the military and civilian professionals of DPAA are steadfastly committed to providing the fullest possible accounting of Americans missing from past conflicts to their families and the nation.