Nonprofit uses underwater technology to search for missing service members

By Fox News · Fox News

More than 80,000 service members who went missing in action in previous conflicts are still unaccounted for. However, through research and new technology, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency estimates the remains of 38,000 fallen veterans could be recoverable. Nonprofit organization Project Recover is working with the agency to bring some of those service members home through complex underwater missions. "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." Gallaudet also serves as a Project Recover advisory council member. The group was founded by Dr. Patrick Scannon. He came up with the idea in 1993 when he was touring the Palau islands with his wife and discovered a downed plane from World War II . "That 65-foot wing essentially changed my life," Scannon said in an interview with GoPro. NEWLY RELEASED AMELIA EARHART DOCUMENTS REVEAL VIVID DETAILS OF JAPAN'S ROLE IN SEARCH FOR DOOMED AVIATOR Project Recover teams have located dozens of aircraft sites around the Palau islands associated with nearly 100 service members who went missing in action. "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. " In 1944, U.S. officials determined the Palau islands were a crucial part of a larger mission to liberate the Philippines. The effort to capture the island of Peleliu ended up being a costly effort for the U.S. Located around 500 miles away from the Philippines, the island held an airfield, which U.S. officials believed could be used to launch an attack during their larger mission. More than 10,000 Japanese troops were stationed on Peleliu a…