Project Recover teams are using underwater technology and forensic science to locate and repatriate American service members missing from past conflicts, focusing heavily on World War II wrecks around the Palau islands and other sites like a lost B-52 off the Texas coast. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency estimates tens of thousands of remains could still be recoverable, and private groups are filling gaps with dives, remote sensing and DNA work. This article traces how the nonprofit locates wreckage, identifies remains and reconnects families with answers decades later.
More than 80,000 service members remain unaccounted for from prior conflicts, but research and modern tools suggest a substantial portion of those losses could be located and returned. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency estimates the remains of 38,000 fallen veterans could be recoverable, and nonprofit teams are stepping in to execute difficult underwater searches. Project Recover combines historical research, local knowledge and technology to locate aircraft and ships that vanished during wartime operations.
“This is a great American story here,” former Navy Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet said. “Our work is to use technology, like underwater drones and scuba diving gear, to find the platforms that these members perished on and then do the DNA analysis of detecting and recovering their remains and matching them to those that are missing.” His words underscore how cutting-edge tools pair with patient forensic work to turn cold cases back into living connections for families.
The nonprofit traces its origin to a personal discovery in Palau when its founder stumbled on a downed World War II plane. “That 65-foot wing essentially changed my life,” Scannon said in an interview with GoPro. That moment turned into a decades-long project to map wartime losses across coral reefs, lagoons and open ocean where many crews went down during brutal island campaigns.
Palau and the island of Peleliu were pivotal in the Pacific campaign and paid a steep price in lives and equipment. The U.S. assault expected a short fight but found fierce resistance in caves and fortified positions, and repeated air operations cost about 200 aircraft across the archipelago. Locating wrecks there is a technical challenge because many sites sit in complex underwater terrain and were scattered amid intense fighting.
“The recovery is difficult. We first have to find the aircraft or ships,” Gallaudet said. “And then we’ve got to go determine if there are any remains there and then ID them, match them to the service members. ” Once a wreck is located, divers and remote systems document the site, recover artifacts, and forensic teams work to extract and analyze remains for DNA matching.
Project Recover has had tangible successes, finding dozens of sites in Palau connected to nearly 100 missing Americans and repatriating several individuals. In one case, remains from a September 1944 bombing mission were recovered and identified after multiple dives and extensive lab work. “The plane was hit by enemy fire, and it burst into flames,” Di Petta’s niece, Suzanne Nakamura, said in an interview with Media Evolve, describing the family’s long search for closure.
Recovered servicemembers were honored with ceremonies once identifications were complete. “We held the ceremony in his hometown in West Virginia, and the relatives of all three service members came to that final ceremony,” Gallaudet said. Families connected through the process, building relationships and sharing memories as they brought their relatives home after decades apart.
“We’ve communicated beautifully and become friends through this experience and almost a sisterhood of type,” Manown’s niece, Rebecca Sheets, said, reflecting on the bond formed among the relatives. “We’ve talked so much by phone and feel so close,” Mitt’s niece, Diana Ward, told Media Evolve. “This is just a joy to meet each other in person, and we’re just sharing the emotion we’ve felt about bringing our uncles home.”
Project Recover’s work extends beyond Palau: it has completed over 100 missions across 25 countries, repatriated 24 Americans, and located more than 200 additional missing-in-action sites awaiting recovery efforts. The group is also fundraising for a planned 2026 search for a B-52 lost during a 1968 training flight off the Texas coast, a case that the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency cannot fund because the loss occurred outside conflict operations.
“It’s off the coast of Texas. We’ve not yet found the aircraft. And of those eight service members, they all had families,” Gallaudet said. “There are about 32 of those family members still alive today who want the answers to know what happened to their loved ones.” Outfitted with sonar, ROVs and diving teams, volunteers and specialists hope to locate the wreckage and trigger a formal recovery mission.
“Not having found the wreck yet, we don’t know what the cause of the failure was. And so it’s our goal to find that wreckage and then take the remains and repatriate them to the families,” Gallaudet said. “This B-52 off the Texas coast hasn’t been located yet, but we think we know where the area is. We’re going to find it,” Gallaudet said, pointing to ongoing fundraising and planning to carry the effort forward.
