PACIFIC WRECKS INCORPORATED

The mission of Pacific Wrecks is to bring home missing-in-action (MIA) service members from past conflicts; to research and share information on these conflicts including the locations, airfields, aircraft, and ships involved; to conduct oral history interviews with veterans and their relatives; and to protect remaining aircraft, ships, and battlefield sites to preserve their legacy for the future.

Pacific Wrecks engages in on-site field expeditions to locate, document, and preserve wreckage worldwide with a strong focus on Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, areas of intense air, naval, and ground combat during World War II. We also perform historical research using a variety of primary source documents, collect written and oral histories from veterans, and share this information publicly through a comprehensive website (www.PacificWrecks.com) used by families of MIAs, historical scholars, and anyone with an interest in this topic to facilitate information sharing.

Pacific Wrecks has been working to document and preserve wreckage sites, publicly share information about World War II in the Pacific and the Korean War, and bring home MIA service personnel since 1995. We have strong partnerships with historians, archivists, archeologists, museum curators, and government officials in the Unites States, Australia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, the Philippines, and Japan. Pacific Wrecks volunteers leverage their expertise in historical and genealogical research, underwater archaeology, media production, language and cultural anthropology of the Pacific, GIS mapping, and new technologies including sonar and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) drones to fulfill our mission.

Our major accomplishment is the Pacific Wrecks website, a freely accessible online database of the people, places, and events crucial to understanding World War II in the Pacific Theater and the Korean War. We also review popular and scholarly books, magazines, and films dealing with this subject. Veterans or their family members can submit photos or information or request help researching a person, place, or event.

In total, Pacific Wrecks has documented thousands of aircraft, shipwrecks, and battlefields, including many with associated MIA remains. We have orchestrated or facilitated the reporting of sites plus the identification and recovery of remains of the fallen to the proper government authorities in the United States, Japan, and Australia. We have also coordinated the return of identifiable personal effects such as dog tags found in the field to surviving veterans or family members.

In the future, we will continue our ongoing mission of information sharing, documentation, and field searches and conceiving future expeditions to locate and identify America's Missing In Action. As America's World War II Greatest Generation further fades into distant history, we need to redouble our efforts to preserve their legacy by sharing their history with the public and continuing our search to bring home those service members still missing worldwide.