Interview: How You Can Help Find an MIA

Bud's file showed that the Army tried over a period of years to identify him, but he was eventually determined "non-recoverable," as was the case for thousands of men. What happened to the remains the military found after the war but couldn't identify?

In most cases, unidentified remains were buried as unknowns either in a Department of Veteran Affairs or American Battle Monuments Commission cemetery. The unidentified remains each have an IDPF, which is identified with an “X” and a number, rather than a name. So they are often referred to as “X-files.”

So could someone tell from the IDPF file that their loved one's remains were recovered but just not identified? In other words, that their loved one is an X-file?

IDPFs on people whose remains were determined to be non-recoverable, like Bud, often contain references to one or more X-files that are associated with that person, but could not be positively identified as that person. By the same token, X-files often list the names of one or more persons they are associated with.

So in the case of Bud Kelder, we started with his IDPF which referenced ten unidentified remains which had been given the numbers X812, X814, X815, X816, X818, X820, X821, X822, X823, X824. The Army knew that Bud was one of these unidentified remains, they just didn’t know which one. But we knew that Bud had gold dental inlays, and when we reviewed the dental charts in the X-files only X816 had gold inlays.

How does someone get X-files and what can they expect from them?

If the IDPF references X-files, they may be obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request or by asking the appropriate service casualty office. Family members should look for military unit historical associations or groups of other family members of persons who died in the same area. Often these groups will have databases of all the X-files associated with the same event or area.

In some cases, X-files contain little to no identifying information – no place of death, no dental chart, not much of anything which will help to identify the remains.

However, about fifty percent of the thousands of X-files I have been through have an associated name or names. In most of these cases the military had a pretty good idea who it was, but lacked that last little bit of evidence needed to be sure. Most of the rest have some other piece of information that will help narrow down the possible identities.

The X-file will usually show where the remains were buried.

Anything else that’s important for a family member to do?

I sincerely hope that every WWII MIA family will contact the appropriate service casualty office and assist them in finding the appropriate family members to collect a DNA reference sample from. DNA has become essential to the identification process and depends on the cooperation of every WWII MIA family.

Collection of the DNA sample is a simple process. The military will overnight a collection kit consisting of a few cheek swabs and a return envelope. Blood samples are no longer used.

There are more than 950 men like Bud who died in the Cabanatuan POW camp and weren't identified after WWII. They are buried as X-files in the cemetery in Manila. Unlike some of the other X-files that contain limited identifying information, the Cabanatuan X-files make up a known population of men: The POWs kept list of all those who died in the camp. So the military knows who all the 953 X-files could possibly be, they just haven’t matched each name with a body.

One key obstacle, as we detailed in our story, is the Pentagon itself, which is rarely winning to disinter a grave to try to send that man home to his family.

But another needed step is getting family DNA families to cross reference with any remains.

Although the Army has about 10,000 DNA samples already from WWII MIA families, it doesn't categorize them into smaller sections, such as by theater or battle. Eakin, though, has done this for Cabanatuan. He combed through the Army's records and found that they have family DNA samples from family members of approximately 345 of the Cabanatuan unknowns. About 608 are left in need of DNA.

If you have a family member who died at the Cabanatuan POW camp and wasn't sent home for burial, then a sample of your DNA could be helpful in getting your loved one identified. Giving DNA is easy and painless. All you have to do is rub the inside of your cheek with a cotton swab. The military will send you a kit.

Here are the names of the 608 men without any family DNA samples on file with the Army.

Contact the Army Casualty Office for more information if your family member is on the list.

Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center
Tel:1 (800) 892-2490
Website

Any other resources people should know about?
JPAC
BataanMissing.com
Ancestry.com military records
NARA POW database

*Megan McCloskey covers the military for ProPublica. Previously she was the national correspondent at Stars and Stripes.

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Interview: How You Can Help Find an MIA

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