PROVO, Utah — For nearly a decade, BYU students have helped identify the families of missing service members killed during combat, a commitment that continues on this Veterans Day.
Family History student research teams working at the BYU Center for Family History and Genealogy are notified of lost service members by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). The teams then work to connect them with any next of kin.
According to the school, most of the service members involved were killed during World War II or the Korean War.
"We are finding people with ancestors that have been lost to these wars, and we're helping give hope that these soldiers may be exhumed and returned at some point," said BYU senior Molly Petersen. "We don't know when, but we definitely are helping them remember their family.”
The teams comb online documents, many of which are in languages other than English, which the school said makes the BYU students perfect for the task, having learned other languages while on missions or other travels outside the U.S.
The documents contain information such as birth dates or marriage and death records that help connect the service members to living family. Once a match is made, the family is contacted and asked to submit a DNA sample to confirm a connection.
BYU officials shared that seven cases in which remains of a service member were returned home have been recorded since the project began.
"I feel pretty lucky to be able to work on this project where I'm making a difference," explained senior Megan Smith, "not just for people who have already died, but also for living people who didn't know about their military family members."
Family members who are still hoping to learn the fates of missing service members can CLICK HERE to register.