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                            Cold War
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 Cold War Accounting
 In addition to the thousands of missing personnel who fought communist forces during wars in Korea, Vietnam, and other conflicts, many missing personnel risked their lives off of the battlefield while collecting intelligence on communist countries. The sacrifice made by these Americans enabled the U.S. and our allies to contain the threat of communist expansion until the collapse of the Soviet Union.
                                    According to U.S. records, at the height of the Cold War, the West carried out more than 3,000 reconnaissance flights annually. About half of these occurred over or near communist-controlled Yugoslavia, Hungary, East Germany, North Korea, Albania, and the People’s Republic of China; the others occurred over or near the former Soviet Union.
                                    DPAA is currently investigating 14 missions from the Cold War era in which aircrew members were lost and remain unaccounted-for. Available evidence suggests that most of these incidents were over-water losses. A total of 128 American missing personnel went missing on these missions, and DPAA and its predecessor organizations are proud to have identified several of these individuals and returned them to their families.
                                    DPAA and our partners continue to build on prior investigative efforts around Cold War losses.
                                
                                
                                DPAA-SEALPersonnel Unaccounted For - Cold War
                                                        Personnel Unaccounted For
    
                                        126 American missing personnel are unaccounted for from 14 Cold War missions
                                                
                                                Cold War incidents took place near North Korea, the East China Sea, the Straits of Formosa, the People’s Republic of China, North Vietnam, and over or near the Soviet Union.
                                                Personnel Unaccounted For - Cold WarDPAA-SEALU.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs
                                USRJC on POW/MIAs
            U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs
                    Joint Commision Support Division
                    Through its Joint Commission Support Division (JCSD), Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) provides administrative and analytic support to the U.S. Side of the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs (USRJC) and conducts research in Russia on missing U.S. service personnel. JCSD also assists the Government of Russia with efforts to account for its missing.
                    USRJC POW/MIAsDPAA-SEALPersonnel Accounting Progress in China
                                China
            China Operations
                    Total Each Category
                    IdentifiedRemains repatriated through unilateral operations (2014)
                    1
                    0Remains repatriated through unilateral operations (1975)
                    2
                    2Remains recovered and repatriated through investigative and recovery operations since 1992
                    23
                    23Total remains identified 1975 to present
                    --
                    25
                    
                    
                    Personnel Accounting Progress in China
                            
                            
                            Cold War Facts & Figures
                                    Dates
                                            Sept. 2, 1945 – Aug. 21, 1991
                                            Location
                                            The former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Hungary, East  Germany, North Korea, Albania, China
                                        
                                        Missing as of 1973*
                                            128
                                            Accounted For**
                                            2
                                            Unaccounted For
                                            126
                                        
                                        *Casualty numbers are related to only those associated to our mission starting from 1973 to present and don't reflect the total number of missing from each conflict.
                                    	
                                        **To respect the next-of-kin, individuals are only displayed as “Accounted For” in the grids and case profiles when (1) DPAA has made the identification, and (2) the next-of-kin has been notified.  
                                        
                                        Numbers that are not associated with individual names will continue to update as soon as an identification has been made.
 Search Cold War Missing Personnel Profiles
 
  How You Can Help
 To learn about how you can submit documentation about a case, send us your loved one’s photo, contact your Service Casualty Officer, or help in any other way, please 
            click here.
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