Yes they get paid, but where it goes depends on how they filled out their paperwork. One of the forms you fill out is what happens to your pay and allowances if you are:KilledDeclared POW/MIAThe general guidance given when I joined was to put 100% of it to your designated beneficiary if you were killed and 80% of it (you could select whatever percent you want) if you were MIA. Reason was that some people were POW/MIA for an extended period of time (years) in Vietnam. Their wives kept collecting all that money and then left them/divorced. The servicemember returned and had no money because the now ex-wife had spent it all. So what we were told (July 1985) was to select 80% so that youu2019d at least have something if this happened.Bottom line is that while MIA/POW, the servicemember keeps getting paid. Period. Where it goes/who can access it depends on the elections the servicemember made when they joined the military/last updated the paperwork.