Missing in Action: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Vanished Warriors

By Fouad Sabry

What is Missing in Action

Missing in action (MIA) is a casualty classification assigned to combatants, military chaplains, combat medics, and prisoners of war who are reported missing during wartime or ceasefire. They may have been killed, wounded, captured, executed, or deserted. If deceased, neither their remains nor grave have been positively identified. Becoming MIA has been an occupational risk for as long as there has been warfare.

How you will benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Missing in action

Chapter 2: United States military casualties of war

Chapter 3: Killed in action

Chapter 4: National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

Chapter 5: Vietnam War casualties

Chapter 6: Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office

Chapter 7: List of Puerto Ricans missing in action in the Korean War

Chapter 8: Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command

Chapter 9: John C. England

Chapter 10: Operation Homecoming

(II) Answering the public top questions about missing in action.

Who this book is for

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of Missing in Action.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: Jun 18, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: Missing in action

The term missing in action (MIA) refers to a casualty designation that is given to combatants, military chaplains, combat medics, and prisoners of war who are reported missing during times of war or ceasefire. It's possible that they were found dead, wounded, captured, executed, or deserted along the way. In the event that they have passed away, neither their corpse nor their burial have been positively recognized. Being missing in action has been a risk associated with one's line of work for as long as there has been combat.

Prior to approximately 1912, the majority of countries did not routinely provide identification tags to members of the armed forces. If a person was killed in action and their body was not recovered until a significant amount of time later, there was typically very little or no chance of identifying the remains of the deceased individual. The only exception to this rule was if the individual in question was carrying items that would identify them, or if they had marked their clothing or possessions with identifying information. Beginning about the time of the First World War, individual nations started providing their military men with identity tags that were specifically designed for that purpose. These were often constructed out of a lightweight metal of some kind, with aluminum being a common choice. Regarding the British Army, on the other hand, the material that was selected was compressed fiber, which was not a particularly long-lasting material. The problem remained that bodies could be completely destroyed (ranging from total body disruption to outright vaporization), burned, or buried by the type of high-explosive munitions that are routinely used in modern warfare or in the destruction of vehicles. This was a problem despite the fact that wearing identification tags proved to be extremely beneficial. Furthermore, the combat environment itself may enhance the possibility of missing soldiers, such as in the case of jungle warfare, or of obliterating them, such as in the case of the forgotten mass grave at Fromelles. It is possible that the corpses of missing soldiers will not be discovered for a considerable amount of time, if at all. When the remains of missing combatants are found and cannot be identified following a comprehensive forensic analysis (which may include techniques such as DNA testing and a comparison of dental records), the remains are buried with a gravestone that acknowledges their unknown status.

As a result of the advancement of genetic fingerprinting in the latter half of the 20th century, it is now possible to establish an individual's identity using even a little portion of human remains. This identification can be accomplished by collecting cell samples from a cheek swab from service personnel before they are sent to a conflict zone. Even though it is feasible to obtain DNA samples from a close relative of the person who has gone missing, it is preferable to acquire such samples directly from the subjects themselves. Due to the nature of warfare, it is inevitable that some soldiers may vanish while they are engaged in conflict and will never be located again. The numbers involved, on the other hand, can be significantly decreased by the use of contemporary technology and the wearing of identifying tags. Not only does conclusively identifying the remains of missing service men provide clear benefits to the military, but it also provides significant advantages to the relatives of those who have survived that duty. It is slightly simpler for them to come to terms with their loss and go on with their life when they have positive identification. In that case, some of the missing person's relatives might imagine that they are still alive elsewhere and might come back at some point in the future. On the other hand, the majority of these identification processes are not commonly utilized for soldiers who are part of militias, mercenary armies, insurrections, and other irregular groups.

Over the course of several centuries, several battles have resulted in the disappearance of a great number of people. A large number of battles that have ever been fought by any nation are included on this list, which is quite extensive. Typical identification issues brought on by quick decomposition were made much more difficult by the fact that it was standard practice to steal things from the remains of the deceased, such as clothing and personal goods. This made the identification process even more difficult. The already challenging task of identification became even more challenging as a result of this. After that, the deceased were routinely interred in mass graves, and only a small number of official records were kept. Among the most notable examples include fights that took place during the middle ages, such as Towton, as well as any battle that took place up until around the middle of the 19th century. Formal efforts to identify individual soldiers became more widespread beginning around the period of the Crimean War, the American Civil War, and the Franco-Prussian War. These wars were all notable for their respective conflicts. On the other hand, given that there was no official system of identification tags in place at the time, this could prove to be challenging throughout the process of clearing the battlefield. In spite of this, there had been a significant shift in perceptions. For instance, in the event that the bones of a soldier dressed in a Confederate uniform were retrieved from, for