Project Recover finds missing service members through underwater missions

The fate of more than 80,000 soldiers lost while fighting in previous conflicts remains unaccounted for. However, through research and new technology, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency estimates that the remains of 38,000 fallen veterans could be recovered. The nonprofit Project Recover is working with the agency to bring some service members home through complex underwater missions.

“This is a great American story right here,” said former Navy Admiral Tim Gallaudet. “Our work is to use technology, such as underwater drones and diving equipment, to find the platforms on which these members perished and then perform DNA analysis to detect and recover their remains and match them to those that are missing.”

Gallaudet also serves as a member of Project Recover’s advisory board. The group was founded by Dr. Patrick Scannon. The idea came to him in 1993 when he was touring the Palau islands with his wife and discovered a downed plane from World War II.

“This 65-foot wing has basically changed my life,” Scannon said in an interview with GoPro.

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Project Recover teams have identified dozens of aircraft locations around the islands of Palau linked to nearly 100 service members who went missing in action.

“The recovery process is difficult,” Gallaudet said. “We first have to find the planes or ships.” “Then we have to determine if there are any remains there and then identify them and match them to service members.”

In 1944, American officials decided that the Palau Islands were a crucial part of a larger mission to liberate the Philippines. The effort to seize Peleliu Island ended up being a costly effort for the United States. Located about 500 miles from the Philippines, the island includes an airfield that US officials believe could be used to launch an attack during their larger mission. More than 10,000 Japanese soldiers were stationed in Peleliu at that time.

USAF B-52 bombers parked at a military airfield. (B-52 Bomber Down)

The battle was expected to last only a few days, but ended up lasting 74 days. The United States began its bombardment by dropping more than 600 tons of bombs, but the Marines had little intelligence on enemy positions. Japanese forces hid in coral caves and mineshafts around the islands. Initial air attacks had little effect unless the pilots flew dangerously close to the island.

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At Peleliu, 1,800 Americans were killed in action and more than 8,000 others were wounded or missing. Nearly 10,000 Japanese soldiers were killed in action. Throughout the Palau Islands, the United States conducted nine major air campaigns in which approximately 200 aircraft were lost.

Project Recover is now working to bring some service members home.

“There were three service members on the plane that died, a lieutenant and then two enlisted crew members,” Gallaudet said. “Over the past few years, we have been able to recover the remains of all three. We did not identify them all at the same time. It required forensic analysis and DNA technology. But the latter was eventually identified.”

Lt. Guy Manone, AOM1c Anthony Di Pitta, and ARM1c Wilbur Mets took off on a bombing mission in September 1944. They were flying pre-invasion strikes in preparation for the Peleliu invasion when their plane spun out of control and crashed into the surrounding waters.

“The plane was hit by enemy fire and burst into flames,” Susan Nakamura, Di Pita’s niece, said in an interview with Media Evolve.

The recovery project located the plane in 2015. After more than a dozen dives to investigate the wreckage, teams began removing the remains of the three service members. Lieutenant Manon was the last to return to his homeland.

“We held the ceremony in his hometown in West Virginia, and relatives of all three service members attended this final ceremony,” Gallaudet said.

The men’s three nieces became especially close.

A diver examines a wreck during an underwater mission to locate and recover missing US service members. (recovery project)

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“We connected beautifully and became friends through this experience and almost a kind of sisterhood,” Rebecca Sheets, Manon’s niece, said in an interview with Media Evolve.

“We’ve talked a lot on the phone and feel very close,” Diana Ward, Met’s niece, told Media Evolve. “It’s just fun to get together in person, just sharing the feelings we felt about bringing our uncles home.”

The three women also reached out about how their grandmothers or mothers of Manon, Di Pieta and Mets might feel about their sons finally coming home.

“We have a connection because our uncles not only participated in defending the freedom of the United States, but as human beings they fought together and died together,” Nakamura said.

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Including their work in Palau, Project Recover has completed more than 100 missions in 25 countries. They have repatriated 24 missing Americans, and found more than 200 missing while working to await further recovery efforts. The group is raising money for a mission it hopes to complete in 2026, which is to search for a B-52 that disappeared during a training accident.

“It’s off the coast of Texas. We haven’t found the plane yet. Of those eight soldiers, they all had families,” Gallaudet said. “There are about 32 family members who are still alive today and want answers to find out what happened to their loved ones.”

In addition to the more than 80,000 missing service members, there are 20,000 missing from training accidents. The POW/Department of Defense Accounting Agency is not permitted to allocate funds to search efforts for the eight men who disappeared with their B-52s because the incident occurred during a training accident unrelated to the conflict.

“We haven’t found the wreckage yet, and we don’t know what caused the failure. So our goal is to find that wreckage and then take the remains and return them to the families,” Gallaudet said.

US Air Force B-52 crew members pose for a group photo. (B-52 Bomber Down)

The bomber was on a routine training mission in February 1968 when it disappeared from radar and radio contact. The Air Force immediately conducted an extensive nine-day search for the flight path but found no trace of the bomber. When the Army completed its search and confirmed it had fallen in an unknown location, three pieces of wreckage washed ashore in Corpus Christi, Texas.

“This B-52 bomber has not been located off the Texas coast yet, but we believe we know where the area is. We will find it,” Gallaudet said.

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More than $300,000 has been raised for this mission so far. The Recovery Project estimates that another $200,000 is needed to search for the eight men. If the organization can locate the remains, the POW/DoD Accounting Agency will be able to allocate resources to recovery efforts.

You can learn more about Project Recover and the missing B-52 and donate to help with the search at Project Recover Website.