WEBVTT 00:13.540 --> 00:16.560 having been over in Iraq and deployed 00:16.570 --> 00:18.792 to a war knowing that it's somewhere to 00:18.792 --> 00:20.626 happen to me or any of my fellow 00:20.626 --> 00:22.760 soldiers over there that uh , they 00:22.760 --> 00:24.704 won't be left there . That they'll 00:24.704 --> 00:26.871 always come home when you're young and 00:26.871 --> 00:29.340 you're involved in uh , Operations , 00:29.350 --> 00:31.350 you're invincible . You don't think 00:31.350 --> 00:33.461 about things like that even when they 00:33.461 --> 00:35.517 happen to friends . You know , we've 00:35.517 --> 00:37.572 got a war going on now and we've got 00:37.572 --> 00:39.910 people that are dying now and those 00:39.910 --> 00:42.330 families need to know that um , the 00:42.330 --> 00:44.850 government does care in some cases , 00:44.850 --> 00:47.072 it's not going to happen until 20 years 00:47.072 --> 00:49.880 later , 30 years later , 45 years later 00:50.240 --> 00:52.407 and it's a keeping of the promise that 00:52.407 --> 00:54.407 the government makes to its service 00:54.407 --> 00:56.296 members who volunteer to give the 00:56.296 --> 00:57.351 ultimate sacrifice 01:03.640 --> 01:05.751 when you enlist in the military . You 01:05.751 --> 01:07.862 recognize one day you might be put in 01:07.862 --> 01:10.084 harm's way . You understand , some will 01:10.084 --> 01:12.140 fall on the battlefield while others 01:12.140 --> 01:15.090 will endure captivity in enemy hands to 01:15.090 --> 01:17.257 all of us in uniform . America makes a 01:17.257 --> 01:19.960 solemn pledge . No one left behind , 01:20.340 --> 01:22.780 But there are still more than 88,000 01:22.780 --> 01:24.836 service members listed as missing in 01:24.836 --> 01:27.000 action . And this recon , we look at 01:27.000 --> 01:29.000 the ongoing efforts to fulfill that 01:29.000 --> 01:31.460 pledge to bring them all back home from 01:31.460 --> 01:33.690 the conflicts of today to the wars or 01:33.690 --> 01:35.610 our parents and grandparents . 01:44.930 --> 01:47.590 It was one of the most beautiful things . 01:48.140 --> 01:51.810 I've always heard of Arlington funerals . 01:52.440 --> 01:55.650 It was , it was beautiful . Um , 01:56.140 --> 01:58.960 it gave a certain amount of comfort 01:59.540 --> 02:02.410 that there was that much value given to 02:02.410 --> 02:04.340 my brother . He would have been a 02:04.340 --> 02:08.220 statistic and now he's rated 02:08.230 --> 02:12.080 dishonor . Yeah . 38 years to the 02:12.080 --> 02:14.302 day after they were killed near Case on 02:14.302 --> 02:16.840 Vietnam , the remains of three marines 02:16.850 --> 02:19.420 and a Navy medical Corman received full 02:19.420 --> 02:21.630 military honors at Arlington National 02:21.630 --> 02:23.480 Cemetery . 02:28.640 --> 02:31.050 The four were part of Breaker Patrol , 02:31.190 --> 02:33.750 a seven man team scouting for North 02:33.750 --> 02:35.880 Vietnamese army infiltration routes 02:35.880 --> 02:39.210 into South Vietnam . The night of May 02:39.210 --> 02:42.910 10 , 30 - 50 North 02:42.910 --> 02:45.570 Vietnamese stumbled onto them . A 02:45.580 --> 02:48.930 fierce firefight broke out . An attempt 02:48.940 --> 02:50.860 was made to rescue the patrol by 02:50.860 --> 02:54.660 helicopter , heavy volume of enemy 02:54.670 --> 02:57.350 par . They were unable to sit down and 02:57.840 --> 02:59.840 had to leave and return the case on 02:59.840 --> 03:01.951 joining us to attend one of the files 03:01.951 --> 03:04.007 were killed and several crew members 03:04.007 --> 03:06.160 were shot up pretty badly . The 03:06.170 --> 03:08.580 firefight had already killed four 03:08.580 --> 03:11.090 members of Breaker Patrol , Second 03:11.090 --> 03:13.257 Lieutenant Heights , All Meyer on only 03:13.257 --> 03:15.590 his second day in country platoon 03:15.590 --> 03:18.570 sergeant James , thais , Lance corporal 03:18.570 --> 03:22.280 Samuel Sharp and Petty Officer Malcolm 03:22.280 --> 03:25.650 Mac Miller . The patrol medic by 03:25.650 --> 03:27.706 daylight . More rescue attempts were 03:27.706 --> 03:30.450 made as fixed wing aircraft dropped 03:30.450 --> 03:34.040 napalm on the Vietnamese as soon as the 03:34.040 --> 03:36.040 coast proximity , the enemy and the 03:36.340 --> 03:38.173 heavy volume of far and the more 03:38.173 --> 03:39.896 excited by the napalm , it was 03:39.896 --> 03:41.980 virtually impossible to retrieve all 03:41.980 --> 03:45.070 the bodies of the patrol members . Only 03:45.070 --> 03:47.237 The three wounded men were able to get 03:47.237 --> 03:50.920 out . They did the math of case 03:50.920 --> 03:54.060 on and where they were . Sandy Cahill 03:54.070 --> 03:56.460 followed Mac Miller's four steps into 03:56.460 --> 03:59.100 the medical field and became a nurse 03:59.100 --> 04:02.100 herself . She'll never forget the day 04:02.100 --> 04:04.156 she learned of her younger brother's 04:04.156 --> 04:07.980 death . When I got home From 04:07.990 --> 04:11.190 my job , I work out 3-11 shift . My 04:11.190 --> 04:15.160 husband also , he worked at lucky and 04:15.170 --> 04:18.170 when he opened the door , I knew 04:18.170 --> 04:21.990 something was wrong and he he just 04:21.990 --> 04:24.240 looked at me and he said , Mac and I 04:24.250 --> 04:28.000 collapsed . Um , I have to 04:28.000 --> 04:31.080 say is to this day , the hardest thing 04:31.080 --> 04:33.660 that's ever ever happened to me . 04:34.940 --> 04:38.150 Um , there's a hole that will never be 04:38.150 --> 04:41.730 filled . So I'd like to find some 04:41.730 --> 04:44.530 reports on second I . D . Today I was 04:44.530 --> 04:46.700 focusing in on the second Infantry 04:46.700 --> 04:49.280 Division . Uh , from the beginning of 04:49.280 --> 04:52.400 the war through the end of 1950 the 04:52.400 --> 04:54.850 possibility of closure that recovery 04:54.850 --> 04:57.760 can bring may be withheld for years . 04:58.140 --> 05:00.540 It can take decades to find those who 05:00.540 --> 05:02.460 go missing in action or known 05:02.460 --> 05:04.400 casualties whose bodies aren't 05:04.400 --> 05:06.980 recovered . Okay . The search often 05:06.980 --> 05:09.410 begins in military record archives 05:09.480 --> 05:11.360 where service members last known 05:11.360 --> 05:14.530 locations may be documented . Unit 05:14.540 --> 05:17.410 records for World War two Korea and 05:17.410 --> 05:20.590 Vietnam are stored here in massive 05:20.600 --> 05:22.430 climate controlled rooms at the 05:22.430 --> 05:24.710 National Archives in college park 05:24.720 --> 05:28.520 Maryland . Sergeant 05:28.520 --> 05:30.600 first class Andrew Wachovia , A 05:30.600 --> 05:32.822 researcher for the defense prisoner and 05:32.822 --> 05:35.250 missing personnel office comes here to 05:35.250 --> 05:37.480 pour through korean war maps and 05:37.480 --> 05:41.210 morning reports . I take it out my job 05:41.220 --> 05:43.800 very seriously and that if I were the 05:43.810 --> 05:46.032 family members that were receiving this 05:46.032 --> 05:49.020 report that I'm creating . I would hope 05:49.020 --> 05:51.230 that who had ever prepared it and went 05:51.230 --> 05:53.440 to the fullest lengthened means that 05:53.440 --> 05:55.890 they could give me the most accurate 05:55.900 --> 05:58.500 data and information . And so you draw 05:58.500 --> 06:01.990 a personal relationship with the uh the 06:01.990 --> 06:04.212 names and those soldiers cases that you 06:04.212 --> 06:08.050 work on and it's very humbling . Her . 06:08.050 --> 06:10.980 Bartolo , a Vietnam vet with 23 years 06:10.980 --> 06:14.090 in the army is also touched by the work . 06:14.100 --> 06:16.267 When you talk to family members , they 06:16.267 --> 06:19.030 break down really gets people you can 06:19.030 --> 06:23.020 tell uh and uh 06:23.030 --> 06:26.350 it touches me every day . Uh , it's 06:26.350 --> 06:29.540 just like I guess most veterans , yeah , 06:30.140 --> 06:32.196 the day doesn't go by when you don't 06:32.196 --> 06:34.160 think about it some way , 06:35.940 --> 06:37.384 whichever war you were in 06:40.740 --> 06:42.900 the work of finding and putting 06:42.900 --> 06:45.050 together snippets of information to 06:45.050 --> 06:47.290 form a cohesive picture of a service 06:47.290 --> 06:49.420 members last moments before they went 06:49.420 --> 06:52.850 missing is a daunting task . That work 06:52.860 --> 06:55.160 is coordinated here at the defense 06:55.160 --> 06:57.271 prisoner and missing personnel office 06:57.271 --> 06:59.940 in Arlington Virginia and often takes 06:59.940 --> 07:02.570 the effort of many people over many 07:02.580 --> 07:05.980 years . They are archivists , 07:05.990 --> 07:08.910 linguists . They speak to the families , 07:08.920 --> 07:12.270 they speak to uh fellow uh service 07:12.270 --> 07:14.214 members who may have actually been 07:14.214 --> 07:16.480 there when the member went missing or 07:16.480 --> 07:18.313 may have been there when we have 07:18.313 --> 07:20.800 evidence of their last known position . 07:20.800 --> 07:23.360 If you will and they gather all the 07:23.360 --> 07:25.638 clues and they put the puzzle together , 07:25.640 --> 07:27.780 solving the mystery of a loved one's 07:27.780 --> 07:29.630 whereabouts is where all of this 07:29.630 --> 07:31.800 organization's energies are directed . 07:32.300 --> 07:34.700 But the underlying reason for its 07:34.700 --> 07:37.320 existence is a matter of keeping faith 07:37.320 --> 07:40.140 with those who serve this is an 07:40.140 --> 07:42.307 incredible mission . There is no other 07:42.307 --> 07:46.220 nation in the world that has a 07:46.230 --> 07:48.670 dedicated effort and a dedicated 07:48.680 --> 07:51.210 capability to bring their missing 07:51.210 --> 07:53.460 service member's home . Yeah , 07:56.840 --> 08:00.530 the Joint POW MIa Accounting command 08:00.550 --> 08:03.360 JPAC for short is another of those 08:03.360 --> 08:06.810 resources JPAC central identification 08:06.810 --> 08:09.840 laboratory in Honolulu is a state of 08:09.840 --> 08:12.400 the art forensics facility that's also 08:12.400 --> 08:15.050 accredited to do police investigations . 08:15.540 --> 08:18.030 Dickie Heights , a Vietnam veteran and 08:18.030 --> 08:20.086 special assistant to the commander , 08:20.086 --> 08:22.650 compares the mission to detective work . 08:23.040 --> 08:25.480 He works on developing leads that may 08:25.480 --> 08:28.660 end with recovery of remains These 08:28.660 --> 08:30.930 wounds and these families , hearts are 08:30.930 --> 08:32.986 fresh . They're not , they're not 25 08:32.986 --> 08:35.140 and 35 and 40 year old wounds there 08:35.140 --> 08:38.180 like there today and when they talk 08:38.180 --> 08:40.124 about their loved ones , if it's a 08:40.124 --> 08:42.180 brother for example , it's like they 08:42.180 --> 08:44.291 saw him yesterday in their mind's eye 08:44.291 --> 08:46.402 and and they and they think about him 08:46.402 --> 08:48.480 every day and they and they want to 08:48.480 --> 08:50.536 know , you know what's being done to 08:50.536 --> 08:52.369 try to find him . People in this 08:52.369 --> 08:54.536 business are used to say and that it's 08:54.536 --> 08:56.758 kind of like doing a crossword puzzle , 08:56.758 --> 08:58.869 putting a crossword puzzle together . 08:58.869 --> 08:58.690 Except we don't have the picture on the 08:58.700 --> 08:59.660 front of the box 09:00.240 --> 09:04.010 up next . We'll 09:04.010 --> 09:06.190 hear from team members who set out to 09:06.190 --> 09:08.410 solve that puzzle and bring them 09:08.410 --> 09:11.760 missing all back home . 09:24.040 --> 09:25.040 Mhm . 09:30.840 --> 09:32.673 What we're gonna do is the river 09:32.673 --> 09:34.784 crossing across here , we're gonna go 09:34.784 --> 09:37.007 off to the right for about four hours . 09:37.007 --> 09:39.007 That way , we're gonna go over this 09:39.007 --> 09:41.250 crest here four hours just this way and 09:41.250 --> 09:43.194 then we've got another pig . About 09:43.194 --> 09:47.000 14,000 water J pack 09:47.000 --> 09:49.400 recovery teams get into some very 09:49.410 --> 09:53.130 unexpected places . Once solid leads on 09:53.130 --> 09:55.410 a missing service member are found , a 09:55.410 --> 09:57.760 team will go out to scout the location 09:58.010 --> 10:00.066 to determine whether to mount a full 10:00.066 --> 10:03.290 scale recovery effort . The work takes 10:03.290 --> 10:05.910 them to remote places on the korean 10:05.910 --> 10:08.540 peninsula and south East Asia , World 10:08.540 --> 10:10.800 War Two sites in the south , pacific , 10:11.010 --> 10:14.460 eastern europe Russia and even china . 10:14.840 --> 10:17.020 It's often forgotten that thousands of 10:17.020 --> 10:19.470 americans served on mainland Asia in 10:19.470 --> 10:22.830 World War Two . These rare images show 10:22.830 --> 10:25.150 Soviet and American troops fraternizing 10:25.150 --> 10:27.560 in China in 1944 . 10:29.640 --> 10:33.420 Oh , careful there hopes , 10:33.450 --> 10:37.090 okay , this is side b directly down 10:37.090 --> 10:39.146 ravine . I can't spend a lot of time 10:39.146 --> 10:41.460 recording because Stephanie took a 10:41.460 --> 10:44.240 spill and has a head injury . So we're 10:44.240 --> 10:48.240 moving out . But that's uphill towards 10:48.250 --> 10:50.472 site A it's a dangerous job even though 10:50.472 --> 10:52.890 we're not getting shot at its dangerous , 10:52.900 --> 10:54.990 we're out the middle of nowhere . Uh 10:55.000 --> 10:57.120 but out in the middle of nowhere , 10:57.130 --> 10:59.500 literally nowhere in Vietnam , you're 10:59.500 --> 11:02.170 going out to the local market and you 11:02.170 --> 11:06.040 know , questionable items . Should I 11:06.040 --> 11:08.040 use this bottled water that doesn't 11:08.040 --> 11:10.300 have the safety cap on it . It's 11:10.660 --> 11:13.930 something else . The painstaking 11:13.940 --> 11:16.500 archival research identifies former 11:16.500 --> 11:18.600 prisoner of war camps , battle and 11:18.600 --> 11:19.720 crash sites 11:31.210 --> 11:33.870 in exploratory trips , potential 11:33.870 --> 11:36.350 witnesses are interviewed and precise 11:36.350 --> 11:39.320 locations found on the ground . Once 11:39.320 --> 11:41.431 the required governmental permissions 11:41.431 --> 11:43.960 are obtained , the recovery teams go in . 11:44.540 --> 11:47.230 They'll spend about 30 days on site 11:47.240 --> 11:49.890 hiring local workers to help conduct a 11:49.900 --> 11:52.480 full scale archaeological excavation . 11:52.490 --> 11:55.940 We can have between 50 to 300 workers 11:55.940 --> 11:57.996 and basically we have to manage them 11:57.996 --> 12:00.620 and help instruct them on how to set up 12:00.630 --> 12:03.860 camp and set up the digging site . And 12:04.540 --> 12:07.560 there's multiple things going at one 12:07.560 --> 12:09.671 time . The work that you do out there 12:09.671 --> 12:11.960 sometimes really tiring monotonous a 12:11.960 --> 12:14.320 lot of times . But when , when you 12:14.320 --> 12:16.320 start to lose track of things , you 12:16.320 --> 12:18.098 just bring everything back into 12:18.098 --> 12:17.890 perspective while you're there and what 12:17.890 --> 12:20.560 you're doing and it makes it all better . 12:21.440 --> 12:24.330 The excavation area is divided into a 12:24.330 --> 12:27.300 grid pattern . It's carefully dug up 12:27.310 --> 12:29.920 bucket by bucket full of dirt which is 12:29.920 --> 12:32.480 then sifted , looking for items of 12:32.480 --> 12:34.540 military paraphernalia , personal 12:34.540 --> 12:37.350 effects and most importantly , human 12:37.350 --> 12:39.350 remains . It gives me goose bumps . 12:39.350 --> 12:41.517 Just thinking about it . We've , we've 12:41.517 --> 12:43.370 found some teeth . We found some 12:43.380 --> 12:45.547 possible human remains and it's just , 12:45.547 --> 12:47.658 it's awesome . Families . It's huge . 12:47.658 --> 12:49.880 It's huge . Just like find someone your 12:49.880 --> 12:51.713 own family member . I can't even 12:51.713 --> 12:53.824 describe the excitement that you feel 12:53.824 --> 12:55.960 when you find a dog tag or you find a 12:55.970 --> 12:57.970 tooth with a restoration when in it 12:57.970 --> 13:00.100 because that is almost a key that 13:00.100 --> 13:02.267 you're going to have to identify these 13:02.267 --> 13:04.378 individuals to get them home to their 13:04.378 --> 13:06.660 families . Recovery missions can also 13:06.660 --> 13:08.730 provide some unique personal 13:08.730 --> 13:11.570 experiences for team members were based 13:11.570 --> 13:13.737 camping on one side of a mountain . We 13:13.737 --> 13:15.959 had to walk through rice paddies and in 13:15.959 --> 13:18.181 the valley to go up another side of the 13:18.181 --> 13:20.403 mountain to get to our site and getting 13:20.403 --> 13:23.180 there and finding the guy . Uh it was a 13:23.180 --> 13:25.402 site that said that the command thought 13:25.402 --> 13:28.770 was unrecoverable , that there's no way 13:28.770 --> 13:30.937 that we would be able to find him . We 13:30.937 --> 13:33.850 went there and within two weeks we were 13:33.850 --> 13:36.560 getting personal effects and and found 13:37.140 --> 13:39.418 looks like we might have found the guy . 13:39.418 --> 13:41.529 The alternative is not to put the bag 13:41.529 --> 13:43.696 up there and just hoover the coral out 13:43.696 --> 13:43.320 of the way that shoots out the 13:43.330 --> 13:45.670 background . The scientific work of the 13:45.670 --> 13:47.940 teams is directed by civilian 13:47.940 --> 13:49.920 specialists like forensic 13:49.930 --> 13:53.400 anthropologist dr William Belcher and 13:53.410 --> 13:55.480 some of the work even takes place 13:55.480 --> 13:57.360 underwater . Mhm . 13:57.940 --> 14:01.630 In this 2004 mission , the 14:01.640 --> 14:04.400 JPAC team searched for remains of Major 14:04.400 --> 14:07.180 Quintus nelson , a marine fighter pilot 14:07.190 --> 14:09.540 who crashed into the sea during a World 14:09.540 --> 14:11.830 War two battle for palau island in the 14:11.830 --> 14:15.560 south pacific . This is the debt that 14:15.570 --> 14:18.070 you know , I owe my father's generation 14:18.070 --> 14:21.200 and his father's generation for the 14:21.210 --> 14:23.321 freedom that they've given me . So as 14:23.321 --> 14:25.321 part of the debt that I need to pay 14:25.321 --> 14:28.460 back to my country . It's not just a 14:28.460 --> 14:30.627 job . I think it's something that they 14:30.627 --> 14:32.930 have uh internalized into themselves 14:32.930 --> 14:34.986 because I think most of these people 14:34.986 --> 14:36.541 realize what if that was me 14:36.541 --> 14:38.486 particularly the service members . 14:38.486 --> 14:40.708 People are always thinking what if this 14:40.708 --> 14:42.874 was me . And so I want to keep that in 14:42.874 --> 14:44.986 my mind to do the best job I can even 14:44.986 --> 14:46.708 recover these remains . Yeah . 14:48.140 --> 14:51.260 Sometimes diplomacy generates a 14:51.260 --> 14:54.580 recovery and sometimes the cooperation 14:54.580 --> 14:57.640 goes both ways . Here remains from the 14:57.640 --> 15:00.100 korean war are handed over to the north 15:00.100 --> 15:02.150 Koreans in a ceremony at the 15:02.150 --> 15:05.950 demilitarized zone . Hey , 15:05.960 --> 15:09.490 that's however , a 15:09.490 --> 15:12.010 recovery is made remains of american 15:12.010 --> 15:14.240 service members are brought to hawaii 15:14.410 --> 15:18.350 and accorded full military honors . Mhm . 15:19.040 --> 15:21.340 They're brought to J packs renowned 15:21.350 --> 15:24.380 central identification laboratory here . 15:24.390 --> 15:27.770 The forensics process begins to prevent 15:27.770 --> 15:29.937 any personal bias from affecting their 15:29.937 --> 15:33.000 conclusions . Scientists at first have 15:33.000 --> 15:35.111 no knowledge of the cases . They work 15:35.111 --> 15:37.620 on their just given the case number , 15:37.640 --> 15:39.696 they check the material out and they 15:39.696 --> 15:41.918 begin working on it to separate it into 15:41.918 --> 15:43.751 the number of individuals , um , 15:43.751 --> 15:46.150 determine the , the age , the race and 15:46.150 --> 15:49.450 the statue or height of the individual . 15:50.140 --> 15:52.840 When DNA testing is required , small 15:52.840 --> 15:55.350 pieces of tooth or bone are shipped to 15:55.350 --> 15:58.000 the armed Forces DNA identification 15:58.000 --> 16:00.480 laboratory in Rockville Maryland for 16:00.480 --> 16:03.740 analysis and identification . I think 16:03.740 --> 16:05.629 that most of us that consider the 16:05.629 --> 16:07.950 possibility of going somewhere not 16:07.960 --> 16:10.330 coming home . And I know how I feel 16:10.330 --> 16:12.540 personally and I know in speaking to 16:12.540 --> 16:14.707 other folks that have been in the same 16:14.707 --> 16:16.762 position . One of the things that is 16:16.762 --> 16:18.873 foremost in your mind is if something 16:18.873 --> 16:20.818 does happen , uh , will you let my 16:20.818 --> 16:23.040 family know where you tell them as much 16:23.040 --> 16:25.262 as you can about what actually happened 16:25.840 --> 16:28.250 technicians here , specialist in 16:28.250 --> 16:31.830 mitochondrial DNA . Its distinct and 16:31.830 --> 16:34.140 separate from nuclear DNA , which makes 16:34.140 --> 16:36.880 us all individuals . You have only one 16:36.880 --> 16:39.530 copy of nuclear DNA Purcell and it's 16:39.530 --> 16:42.060 very large , mitochondrial DNA , on the 16:42.060 --> 16:43.980 other hand , are in these little 16:43.980 --> 16:46.147 organelles called mitochondria , which 16:46.147 --> 16:48.313 are the powerhouses of the cell . They 16:48.313 --> 16:50.313 are , they drive the energy for the 16:50.313 --> 16:52.580 cell that it needs to do its job . And 16:52.580 --> 16:54.524 there are hundreds of these little 16:54.524 --> 16:56.580 organelles and hundreds of copies of 16:56.580 --> 16:58.802 mitochondrial DNA in those organelles , 16:59.240 --> 17:01.810 The sample is first cleaned thoroughly . 17:02.030 --> 17:04.700 Then in a complex series of processes , 17:04.710 --> 17:07.310 mitochondrial DNA is extracted and 17:07.320 --> 17:09.890 amplified or copied many times , 17:10.540 --> 17:13.250 mitochondrial DNA lasts much longer 17:13.250 --> 17:15.860 than nuclear DNA . It's identical 17:15.860 --> 17:18.082 through the generations on the mother's 17:18.082 --> 17:20.610 side of the family , your mother's 17:20.610 --> 17:23.010 mother , your mother , and you have 17:23.010 --> 17:26.410 identical mitochondrial D . N . A . The 17:26.410 --> 17:28.970 DNA is treated with dyes viewed under 17:28.970 --> 17:31.830 fluorescent light and eventually turned 17:31.830 --> 17:34.410 into a computer graph showing a samples 17:34.410 --> 17:36.330 deviation from the baseline for 17:36.330 --> 17:38.850 comparison . Then those results are 17:38.850 --> 17:40.961 compared to a blood sample given by a 17:40.961 --> 17:44.710 maternal relative . It 17:44.720 --> 17:46.520 tends to take much longer than 17:46.520 --> 17:49.010 dramatizations . Programs like see 17:49.020 --> 17:52.480 might lead you to believe there are 17:52.490 --> 17:54.680 some cases that take years in order to 17:54.690 --> 17:56.857 put them into completion where you can 17:56.857 --> 17:58.912 actually send out a report that puts 17:58.912 --> 18:01.000 them up for an identification . The 18:01.000 --> 18:03.020 mostly civilian workers here in 18:03.020 --> 18:05.480 Rockville , like those in Honolulu work 18:05.490 --> 18:08.250 blind . They know very little about the 18:08.250 --> 18:10.472 case . They're analyzing until the very 18:10.472 --> 18:12.680 end of the process . You feel 18:12.680 --> 18:15.120 responsible for the people who these 18:15.120 --> 18:18.680 bones are . You feel like it's your 18:18.690 --> 18:21.160 responsibility to help find their name 18:21.160 --> 18:23.216 because they don't have a name . And 18:23.216 --> 18:25.271 that's like the most important thing 18:25.271 --> 18:27.216 you can have is your name . And so 18:27.216 --> 18:29.271 moving somebody from a burial that's 18:29.271 --> 18:32.340 unknown or just a location where 18:32.340 --> 18:35.070 they're stored there unknown to being 18:35.070 --> 18:37.950 placed in a casket with a name . That 18:37.950 --> 18:39.960 has to be the most important part . 18:42.140 --> 18:44.500 Not far from the DNA lab is a 18:44.500 --> 18:46.360 repository that's making the 18:46.360 --> 18:48.580 identification process easier for 18:48.580 --> 18:50.870 current soldiers , sailors , airmen and 18:50.870 --> 18:53.870 marines . Almost all of us in service 18:53.880 --> 18:57.350 now have DNA samples on file here . 18:57.740 --> 18:59.950 The facility has been in place since 18:59.950 --> 19:03.480 1992 and now holds 4.5 19:03.490 --> 19:06.200 million samples . Some of them were 19:06.200 --> 19:08.630 used to identify September 11 victims 19:08.630 --> 19:11.710 at the Pentagon relatives of 19:11.720 --> 19:14.780 unidentified casualties no longer have 19:14.780 --> 19:16.980 to endure the stress of giving a blood 19:16.980 --> 19:19.960 sample for comparison . Well , I think 19:19.960 --> 19:22.182 it's important to note that we are very 19:22.182 --> 19:25.180 valuable service for our military , uh , 19:25.190 --> 19:27.760 and for the survivors of our um 19:27.770 --> 19:31.020 military casualties because of our 19:31.020 --> 19:33.076 repository and the ability to have a 19:33.076 --> 19:35.298 reference available for comparison . We 19:35.298 --> 19:37.464 can help bring closure to families and 19:37.464 --> 19:39.464 resolve issues about identification 19:39.464 --> 19:41.650 that may not be able to be resolved 19:41.660 --> 19:44.940 otherwise . Yeah . 19:45.670 --> 19:49.670 Still to come on recon 19:50.040 --> 19:52.250 break Her patrol is finally brought 19:52.250 --> 19:54.250 back home . Yeah . 20:00.840 --> 20:04.600 My dad was a very 20:04.600 --> 20:07.030 special person and because of the 20:07.030 --> 20:09.240 circumstances of his loss , the 20:09.240 --> 20:11.200 conflict itself . Things that were 20:11.200 --> 20:14.610 going on around there . My reaction was 20:14.610 --> 20:16.721 to grow up pretty quickly and to make 20:16.721 --> 20:18.888 sure pretty quickly . I can definitely 20:18.888 --> 20:21.240 say that it impacted my life . Like 20:21.250 --> 20:25.210 nothing else has since pam caine wants 20:25.210 --> 20:27.321 to know what happened to her father , 20:27.321 --> 20:29.880 Air force Colonel Oscar murderer . His 20:29.880 --> 20:33.430 a one bomber went down in Laos in 1966 . 20:33.440 --> 20:36.430 Fellow pilots saw him parachuting into 20:36.430 --> 20:38.820 the jungle . He may have been captured , 20:38.850 --> 20:41.120 but he has never been fully accounted 20:41.120 --> 20:44.270 for . He's one of what are called last 20:44.270 --> 20:47.490 known alive cases . A lot of people , 20:47.500 --> 20:49.667 friends of mine even will say , well , 20:49.667 --> 20:52.130 you know , it's been 40 years . Why 20:52.130 --> 20:54.074 don't you just let it go ? Why why 20:54.074 --> 20:56.074 can't you move on from this ? And I 20:56.074 --> 20:58.970 just need to let people know that you 20:58.970 --> 21:01.460 can't people that would just as soon 21:01.460 --> 21:03.627 not hear from us anymore , in which we 21:03.627 --> 21:05.849 would go away . Well , there's an awful 21:05.849 --> 21:08.016 lot of silent majority in this country 21:08.016 --> 21:10.016 and an awful lot in the active duty 21:10.016 --> 21:12.238 community who are thankful we're here . 21:12.238 --> 21:14.404 So if I can still be of help , give me 21:14.404 --> 21:16.682 a call back . Thank you papa and Mills . 21:16.682 --> 21:18.404 Griffiths brother , Lieutenant 21:18.404 --> 21:20.571 Commander , James Mills disappeared on 21:20.571 --> 21:22.571 a reconnaissance mission over North 21:22.571 --> 21:25.340 Vietnam in 1966 . He's also never been 21:25.340 --> 21:28.400 found for 28 years . She's been 21:28.410 --> 21:30.900 executive director of the League of P . 21:30.900 --> 21:34.050 O W . M . I . A . Families fighting to 21:34.060 --> 21:37.490 keep awareness of POWs and Mias alive 21:37.500 --> 21:39.960 since before the end of the Vietnam war , 21:40.540 --> 21:42.550 Miss Griffiths understands that 21:42.550 --> 21:44.550 protecting intelligence sources can 21:44.550 --> 21:46.450 slow or block release of full 21:46.450 --> 21:48.530 information to families . She 21:48.530 --> 21:51.100 understands government sometimes can't 21:51.110 --> 21:53.760 publicly release all the facts where 21:53.760 --> 21:55.649 our loved ones were missing . For 21:55.649 --> 21:57.538 instance , we weren't in Laos and 21:57.538 --> 21:59.371 cambodia . So how can anybody be 21:59.371 --> 22:01.149 missing in Laos and cambodia or 22:01.149 --> 22:04.340 certainly captured there ? Yeah , It's 22:04.340 --> 22:07.590 great to be back home in March in 1973 . 22:07.600 --> 22:10.420 American POWs were released . There 22:10.420 --> 22:12.660 were scenes of joyous homecomings 22:13.340 --> 22:16.980 but Vietnam left 22:16.990 --> 22:19.550 bitter social divisions in the country 22:19.560 --> 22:22.110 at this operation homecoming parade in 22:22.110 --> 22:25.120 san Francisco army cameras photographed 22:25.130 --> 22:28.740 returning POWs and anti war 22:28.740 --> 22:31.740 protesters . Miss Griffiths thinks that 22:31.750 --> 22:35.500 divisiveness should remain in the past . 22:37.320 --> 22:40.540 There's no point in , you know , 22:40.550 --> 22:43.070 pointing fingers and casting blame 22:43.080 --> 22:45.310 about who was right in the war . How it 22:45.310 --> 22:47.310 was . Spot of the tactics , youth , 22:47.310 --> 22:49.532 what we need now is while they're still 22:49.532 --> 22:51.532 while family members , close family 22:51.532 --> 22:53.754 members , as is the case in the Vietnam 22:53.754 --> 22:56.340 war are still living . We'd like to 22:56.340 --> 22:59.360 have those answers . Family members we 22:59.360 --> 23:01.770 spoke with tell us the passage of time 23:01.770 --> 23:03.860 doesn't diminish the desire to find 23:03.860 --> 23:06.530 closure or to learn the whereabouts of 23:06.530 --> 23:08.900 missing loved ones . Colonel George 23:08.900 --> 23:11.180 Canyon says the Defense prisoner and 23:11.180 --> 23:13.013 missing personnel office is very 23:13.013 --> 23:14.958 careful not to release information 23:14.958 --> 23:17.640 prematurely . Whatever is shared with 23:17.640 --> 23:20.470 families must be verified . We give 23:20.470 --> 23:23.610 them factual data and we try not to let 23:23.610 --> 23:25.832 them draw their own conclusions because 23:25.832 --> 23:27.832 sometimes the conclusions that they 23:27.832 --> 23:29.999 draw the conclusions that were drawing 23:29.999 --> 23:32.054 may not be consistent . Uh We try to 23:32.054 --> 23:34.388 help them understand what we understand . 23:34.388 --> 23:36.166 We don't want to lead them in a 23:36.166 --> 23:38.388 direction unless we have certainty that 23:38.388 --> 23:40.388 the direction we're leading them is 23:40.388 --> 23:43.510 going to lead to their loved one . When 23:43.510 --> 23:45.288 the patrol returned , the three 23:45.288 --> 23:47.940 surviving members returning case on it 23:47.940 --> 23:50.310 was noted that They only had 23:50.310 --> 23:52.366 approximately 20 rounds between them 23:53.640 --> 23:56.570 and that because of the fire would have 23:56.570 --> 23:58.792 probably been the last attempt major to 23:58.792 --> 24:01.040 get them out . Four members of Breaker 24:01.040 --> 24:03.930 Patrol didn't make it out and there was 24:03.930 --> 24:06.140 no chance to recover the bodies of 24:06.140 --> 24:08.140 second Lieutenant Heinz all Meyer , 24:08.150 --> 24:10.230 Sergeant James , thais , Lance , 24:10.230 --> 24:13.130 corporal Samuel Sharp and petty Officer 24:13.140 --> 24:16.270 Mac Miller . I never knew him . 24:16.640 --> 24:18.930 But when you have a family that 24:18.930 --> 24:21.570 remembers them and keeps them alive and 24:21.570 --> 24:24.160 part of the family , you know the next 24:24.160 --> 24:27.360 generations , they still remember to 24:28.340 --> 24:30.580 Sandy ko Healy would often tell her 24:30.580 --> 24:32.580 daughter about her uncle Mac as she 24:32.580 --> 24:35.930 grew up as an adult , dana fisher said 24:35.930 --> 24:37.830 about creating a scrapbook that 24:37.830 --> 24:40.710 chronicled his life and she found she 24:40.710 --> 24:42.877 could reach out and contact people who 24:42.877 --> 24:44.877 had known the uncle , she never met 24:45.110 --> 24:47.440 through a Vietnam wall website virtual 24:47.440 --> 24:50.360 wall dot org . And just to hear the 24:50.360 --> 24:54.260 stories from them And so 24:54.270 --> 24:57.070 reading their tributes and knowing that 24:57.080 --> 24:59.302 it's been that many years ago And these 24:59.302 --> 25:01.524 people are still thinking about him and 25:01.524 --> 25:03.691 they still remember him and they still 25:03.691 --> 25:07.370 visiting at that wall and then a few 25:07.370 --> 25:11.010 years ago a hopeful sign they 25:11.010 --> 25:15.000 wanted DNA samples and for me that 25:15.000 --> 25:17.150 was a trigger that they may have some 25:17.150 --> 25:19.830 information . They were getting close 25:19.840 --> 25:23.170 but they wanted DNA samples followed 25:23.180 --> 25:25.440 several months later by official 25:25.440 --> 25:29.440 notification collapsed again and I said 25:29.440 --> 25:31.720 it's almost like it's happening all 25:31.720 --> 25:34.720 over again . It's just like , you know , 25:34.720 --> 25:38.560 opening the door and getting 25:39.940 --> 25:43.670 my my brother's name Mac . And uh 25:44.940 --> 25:45.996 I had to go home . 25:49.540 --> 25:53.070 All four breaker Patrol families agreed . 25:53.530 --> 25:55.830 The joint memorial service at Arlington 25:55.830 --> 25:58.320 National Cemetery would take place on 25:58.320 --> 26:01.100 May 10th 2000 and five , the 26:01.100 --> 26:03.570 anniversary of the day that each lost a 26:03.570 --> 26:05.830 cherished family member a day for 26:05.830 --> 26:08.210 mourning . And commemoration , 26:09.940 --> 26:12.550 scores of Vietnam veterans also turned 26:12.550 --> 26:16.090 out to pay their respects . If you 26:16.090 --> 26:18.790 remember a man's name is the greatest 26:18.790 --> 26:20.990 honor you can give him . Do you 26:20.990 --> 26:23.870 remember his life ? He goes on in 26:23.870 --> 26:27.210 history . Yeah . Lance corporal sharks 26:27.210 --> 26:29.400 remains would be buried in his native 26:29.400 --> 26:32.250 California . The other three side by 26:32.250 --> 26:36.160 side here in Arlington . I 26:36.160 --> 26:38.460 have a place now to go to 26:39.740 --> 26:42.190 my brother is in the United States . 26:43.340 --> 26:46.850 Yeah . His home mm 26:52.640 --> 26:54.696 families who have lost loved ones in 26:54.696 --> 26:56.807 service often say how much they value 26:56.807 --> 26:58.696 public expressions of respect and 26:58.696 --> 27:00.751 appreciation for their missing loved 27:00.751 --> 27:02.670 ones in Washington , D . C . The 27:02.670 --> 27:04.726 monuments are one expression of that 27:04.726 --> 27:07.240 appreciation . So are the efforts of 27:07.240 --> 27:09.490 the dedicated service men , women and 27:09.490 --> 27:11.990 civilians laboring in archives , 27:11.990 --> 27:14.200 jungles and mountains around the world 27:14.210 --> 27:15.877 trying to bring their missing 27:15.877 --> 27:18.330 colleagues back home . I'm Master 27:18.330 --> 27:20.960 Sergeant Daniela Marcus . This has been 27:20.960 --> 27:21.560 recon , 27:25.140 --> 27:26.140 Yeah , 27:51.240 --> 27:51.570 yeah .