BYU students search for lost veterans decades later

PROVO — BYU students are working with a program that helps people from Utah and beyond finally get answers about family members lost to foreign wars.

The program is called the Defense POW MIA Accounting Agency, and students are working to finally repatriate the remains of veterans lost as long ago as World War II.

Suzanne Adams is an associate professor of history and the director of the BYU Center for Family History and Genealogy. She said it uses every resource at its disposal, even the DNA of relatives, to find lost service members and identify remains.

"Almost every family member could be eligible to submit DNA, so we research a variety of records," Adams said.

In fact, Adams herself is a DNA donor, who is using her genetic code to help identify and return the remains of her great-uncle Richard Harris. She said it is amazing to know that these people are truly never forgotten.

One service member the program returned home was Jim Chipman, a Marine A-6 pilot who went down in a jet over North Vietnam. He was killed during a mission in December 1972; in 2023, his remains were finally returned to his family in American Fork.

His son, Scot Chipman, said the family is extremely grateful to have him back where he belongs.

"It may seem like sometimes they have given up, but they have a big program and lots of money behind trying to bring back everyone who's ever served. So they're not giving up; there's always hope."

Most recently, BYU reported its work helped bring home Lt. Blaine Wilcox and Lt. Edgar W. Nevois, two airmen who went down during a mission in Politz, Germany.

Adams said anyone still searching for answers can go to dpaa.mil to register as next of kin and submit records for missing soldiers.