The University of Wisconsin Missing in Action Recovery and Identification Project (UW MIA RIP) honors the sacrifice of brave Americans who paid the ultimate price for our freedoms. Our primary mission is to recover missing U.S. military personnel from past global conflicts. Additionally, we educate students and communities year round on the importance of past national service and help bring closure to the families of the missing.

OUR HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

Our team hopes to expand the UW MIA RIP’s current mission and focus on the recovery and identification of MIA service members from Wisconsin. The project will continue in its role as a DPAA strategic partner, but will also serve as a resource for the families of the over 1,500 Wisconsin MIA.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The UW MIA RIP works to recover, identify, and repatriate MIA U.S. service members by conducting annual field excavations and year-round research assistance to families of missing service members. The project consists of an interdisciplinary team of academic experts and student volunteers in the fields of history, archaeology, forensic anthropology, and biology, collaborating to make these missions possible and to make these missions a success.

The UW MIA RIP was the first academic institution to partner with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). The DPAA is an organization in the Department of Defense agency that is responsible for identifying and repatriating the remains of the approximately 82,000 MIA U.S. service members.

With our program as a model, the DPAA now partners with over fifty other academic and non-profit institutions for MIA identifications. The DPAA assigns the UW MIA RIP team MIA recovery cases and provides informational and logistical support. Past DPAA assignments have focused on the European Theater of World War II.