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Missing in action (MIA) is a status assigned to a member of the armed services who is reported missing following combat. The person in question may have been killed, wounded, captured by the enemy, or may have deserted. If they were indeed killed in action, neither they nor their grave can be positively identified.

The issue of missing service personnel has existed for as long as there has been warfare, but became particularly notable during World War I where the mechanised nature of modern warfare meant that a single battle could cause astounding numbers of casualties. For example, the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme in France bears the names of 72,090 soldiers, all of whom went missing in action during the Battle of the Somme, were never found and who have no known grave. Similarly, the Douaumont ossuary contains 130,000 unidentifiable sets of French and German remains from the Battle of Verdun. There are many missing service personnel from later conflicts such as World War II and the Korean War etc.

Problems and Solutions

Until around 1914, service personnel in most countries were not routinely issued with ID tags. As a result, if someone was killed in action and their body was not recovered until much later, there was little or no chance of identifying the remains. Starting around the time of the First World War, nations began to issue their service personnel with purpose-made ID tags. Usually, these were made of some form of lightweight metal such as aluminium. However, in the case of the British Army the material chosen was compressed fibre, which was not very durable. Although wearing ID tags proved to be highly beneficial, the problem remained that soldiers' bodies could be completely destroyed (or buried) by the type of high explosive munitions routinely used in modern warfare. Additionally, the combat environment itself could increase the likelihood of missing personnel e.g. jungle or submarine warfare, and air-crashes in mountainous terrain or at sea. Finally, since soldiers had no strong incentive to keep detailed records of enemy dead, bodies were frequently buried (sometimes with their ID tags) in temporary graves, the locations of which were often lost or obliterated e.g. the forgotten mass grave at Fromelles. As a result the remains of service personnel might not be found for many years, if ever. When missing service personnel are recovered and cannot be identified after a thorough forensic examination, the remains are interred with a tombstone which indicates their unknown status.

The development of genetic fingerprinting in the late 20th century means that if cell samples from a cheek swab are collected from service personnel prior to deployment to a combat zone, identity can be established using even a small fragment of human remains. Although it is possible to take genetic samples from a close relative of the missing person, it is preferable to collect such samples directly from the subjects themselves. It is a fact of warfare that some service personnel are likely to go missing in action and never be found. However, by wearing ID tags and using modern technology the numbers involved can be considerably reduced. In addition to the obvious military advantages, conclusively identifying the remains of missing service personnel is highly beneficial to the surviving relatives. Having positive identification makes it somewhat easier to come to terms with their loss and move on with their lives. Otherwise some relatives may suspect that the missing person is still alive somewhere and may return someday.

US Armed Forces

The term is commonly used for an individual missing in combat. Its American abbreviation (not commonly used elsewhere) is MIA.

Vietnam War

Following the Paris Peace Accords of 1973, 591 U.S. prisoners of war were returned during Operation Homecoming. The U.S. listed about 1,350 Americans as prisoners of war or missing in action and roughly 1,200 Americans reported killed in action and body not recovered. Many of these were airmen who were shot down over North Vietnam or Laos. Investigations of these incidents have involved determining whether the men involved survived their shootdown, and if not efforts to recover their remains. POW/MIA activists played a role in pushing the U.S. government to improve its efforts in resolving the fates of the missing. Progress in doing so was slow until the mid-1980s, when relations between the U.S. and Vietnam began to improve and more cooperative efforts were undertaken. Normalization of U.S. relations with Vietnam in the mid-1990s was a culmination of this process.

Considerable speculation and investigation has gone to a theory that a significant number of these men were captured as prisoners of war by Communist forces in the two countries and kept as live prisoners after the war's conclusion for the United States in 1973. A vocal group of POW/MIA activists maintains that there has been a concerted conspiracy by the Vietnamese government and every American government since then to hide the existence of these prisoners. The U.S. government has steadfastly denied that prisoners were left behind or that any effort has been made to cover up their existence. Popular culture has reflected the "live prisoners" theory, most notably in the 1985 film Rambo: First Blood Part II. Several congressional investigations have looked into the issue, culminating with the largest and most thorough, the United States Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs of 1991–1993 led by Senators John Kerry, Bob Smith, and John McCain. Its unanimous conclusion found that "no compelling evidence that proves that any American remains alive in captivity in Southeast Asia."

This missing in action issue has been a highly emotional one to those involved, and is often considered the last depressing, divisive aftereffect of the Vietnam War. To skeptics, "live prisoners" is a conspiracy theory unsupported by motivation or evidence, and the foundation for a cottage industry of charlatans who have preyed upon the hopes of the families of the missing. As one skeptic has written, "A vast mythology has built up around what really happened to these individuals. Mis-information, pseudo-history, deliberate fabrication are rampant. As a result, myths are regularly proclaimed to be fact." Believers reject such notions; as one wrote in 1994, "It is not conspiracy theory, not paranoid myth, not Rambo fantasy. It is only hard evidence of a national disgrace: American prisoners were left behind at the end of the Vietnam War. They were abandoned because six presidents and official Washington could not admit their guilty secret. They were forgotten because the press and most Americans turned away from all things that reminded them of Vietnam."

Gulf War

During the Gulf War of 1991, an American pilot named Scott Speicher was reported as MIAafter his F/A-18 was shot down in northern Iraq. In 1997, a Defense Department document leaked to the New York Times showed that the Pentagon had not been forthcoming with information previously requested by U.S. Senator Rod Grams. Senator Grams publicly accused the Pentagon of misleading him, and joined with Senator Bob Smith in calling for an investigation by the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee. In the lead up to the Second Persian Gulf War Speicher's status was changed from Missing in Action to Missing-Captured, a move that suggested he was alive and imprisoned in Iraq.

Iraq War

A small number of coalition soldiers went missing in action in Iraq following the 2003 invasion. In one prominent case, a US Marine of Lebanese background, Wassef Ali Hassoun, went missing and claimed to have been captured. He later turned up in Lebanon, and was flown home to the U.S. It was soon discovered Hassoun made the kidnapping story up, and Hassoun is currently a fugitive.

On October 23, 2006, US Army soldier Spc. Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie was captured by insurgents and is listed as missing-captured. He appeared in a proof of life video in February 2007 but he hasn't been seen or heard from since. A $50,000 reward is being offered by the US government for information leading to his recovery. On May 12, 2007 a US Army observation post was overrun by Iraqi insurgents, four American and one Iraqi soldier were killed, three other US Army soldiers were captured. They were Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr., Pvt. Byron W. Fouty and Spc. Alex R. Jimenez. Pfc. Anzacks' body was found in the Euphrates River south of Baghdad on May 23, 2007 bearing signs of torture. On June 4, 2007. The ISI claimed that they killed Fouty and Jimenez and also claimed that their bodies are buried and will not be returned to their families. Since the war began 4 US servicemen are still listed as MIA. On 3/30/08 the military announced the discovery of the remains of Keith Matthew Maupin.

On Wednesday July 9, 2008, the bodies of the Alex Jimenez and Byron Fouty were found in an area south of Baghdad known as the "triangle of death". The families of the victims were notified Thursday night, and the Defense Department released a statement to the public on July 11, 2008.

Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie and Scott Speicher are the only American soldiers still missing in Iraq.

Colloquial usage

MIA is sometimes used in American English to describe difficulty finding something. "The TV remote is MIA." It is less often used in this context in UK English, where the equivalent phrase is "gone AWOL".

See also

• KIA – Killed In Action
• WIA – Wounded in action
• POW – Prisoner Of War
• DUSTWUN – Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown, a recently-introduced temporary status for servicemembers who have been missing in action for ten days or less
• Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command

Notes

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7679697.stm
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/4374611.stm
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4755183.stm
4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4198304.stm
5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/7745635.stm
6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/174121.stm
7. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/193380.stm
8. "Executive Summary". Report of the Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. United States Senate. 1993-01-13. Retrieved 2008-01-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. "MIA Facts Site". Joe Schlatter. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
10. Sydney Schanberg (September 1994). "Did America Abandon Vietnam War P.O.W.'s?". Penthouse. Retrieved 2007-06-01.
11. St. Petersburg Times - December 14, 1997 Senate to review gulf war pilot's fate
12. MISSING IN ACTION IN 2001, PRESIDENT CLINTON MADE A DECISION THAT PUSHED SCOTT SPEICHER BACK INTO THE HEADLINES AND SPARKED A RENEWED EFFORT TOWARD SOLVING A 10-YEAR-OLD MYSTERY. The Virginian Pilot; Jan 4, 2002
13. BBC NEWS | World | Americas | US marine declared deserter again
14. Detroit Free Press, Saturday July 12, 2008
15. Bodies Of Missing Soldiers Found In Iraq : NPR
16. Bodies of 2 missing US soldiers are found in Iraq - Yahoo! News

External links

• UK and Australian MIA soldiers in forgotten mass grave at Fromelles
• U.S.-Russia Joint MIA/POW Commission
• Report of the State Senate Committee on POW/MIA Affairs at the Library of Congress
• Current status of MIA's from the Vietnam War

• Military terminology
• Military personnel
• War casualties