COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – Texas A&M University researchers are partnering with a Department of Defense agency to find and identify missing American service personnel from World War II to current conflicts.
According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, approximately 80,000 prisoners of war and missing in action soldiers have not returned to American soil. Texas A&M anthropology assistant professor Katie Custer Bojakowski said the students are dedicated to this research.
“We have amazing students who want to serve — they want to be a part of a mission that is bigger than them,” Bojakowski said.
Texas A&M master’s student Jackson Baker joined the project in 2022, creating a list of Aggies missing in action and learning their stories to preserve that history. His latest project focuses on Aggies who were in prisoner-of-war camps.
“My research focus is learning about prisoners of war in the Philippines during World War II and specifically studying the notebooks from an Aggie who was captured over there,” Baker explained.
Baker and the team of student researchers have compiled a list of more than 200 Aggies who are still unaccounted for. The research provides families and descendants with answers about their missing relatives.
“It is one of the most important moments of their life when they get answers – it does not matter how many generations are removed that is still family member that served their country that is buried in an unknown location that deserves to come home,” Bojakowski remarked.
In addition to the research, the university encourages people who have relatives who are unaccounted for to go to the Defense POW/MIA’s website to begin conducting research.
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