More Than 600 POW/MIA Family Members Gather in Dover for DPAA Family Member Update

On Saturday, September 12, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency held its official Family Member Update in Dover, Delaware, bringing together more than 600 POW/MIA family members from across the country.

The event marked the largest turnout for a DPAA Family Member Update to date and provided families with an opportunity to hear directly from the organizations responsible for the accounting mission.

Throughout the day, representatives from DPAA, the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, and other organizations involved in the identification and accounting process provided updates, presentations, and information about ongoing efforts to account for missing American service members.

Family members also had the opportunity to meet privately with representatives from their respective Service Casualty Offices to ask questions about individual cases and better understand the processes involved in family outreach, DNA collection, identification, and notification.

For U.S.S. Arizona families, the weekend carried particular significance.

A dedicated U.S.S. Arizona breakout session brought family members together to discuss the identification project, the upcoming disinterment effort, and what families can expect as the mission moves into its next phase.

For years, many of the questions Operation 85 heard from families centered around one fundamental concern:

Will the U.S.S. Arizona Unknowns ever be identified?

In Dover, the conversation had changed.

Instead of asking whether the identifications would happen, families were asking how the process would work, what would happen after disinterment, how DNA and other forms of evidence would be used, and what to expect as preparations continue for the upcoming disinterment ceremony in Hawaii on December 7.

That shift represents an extraordinary milestone.

The conversation has moved from uncertainty about whether the mission would ever advance to practical questions about how the identification process will unfold.

Sixteen U.S.S. Arizona family members participated in the Dover events, giving relatives an opportunity to meet one another, share experiences, and hear directly from the professionals involved in the accounting mission.

For Operation 85, seeing those families together was an important reminder of why this effort began and how far the mission has come.

The Dover Family Member Update also highlighted the broader importance of the POW/MIA accounting mission. Behind every case is a family that has waited—sometimes for generations—for answers.

Operation 85 is honored to support those families and to work alongside DPAA, AFDIL, the Service Casualty Offices, and other partners dedicated to fulfilling the nation’s promise to account for its missing service members.

We look forward to reuniting with many of our U.S.S. Arizona families again in Hawaii this December.

Unknown No More.