Move Back
![John McCain]()
Arizona Sen. and former Republican presidential nominee John McCain, who served as a bomber pilot in the Navy during the Vietnam War, became a prisoner of war after his plane was shot down over Hanoi, North Vietnam, in 1967. McCain, who was held captive for five and a half years as a POW, was released in 1973.![Jessica Lynch]()
Former private first class Jessica Lynch, who was rescued by U.S. Marines on April 1, 2003, from a hospital in Nasiriyah, Iraq, became the first POW to return home from the Iraq War. Lynch was captured by Iraqi forces after an ambush on her convoy on March 23, 2003. After receiving a tip from an Iraqi civilian, U.S. forces launched a nighttime raid on the hospital, rescuing Lynch and recovering the bodies of eight American soldiers.![Scott O'Grady]()
Former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot Scott O'Grady evaded capture when his F-16 was shot down over Bosnia in June 1995 by a Soviet-made SA-6 mobile missile. After surviving for six days by eating leaves, grass and ants, O'Grady was rescued by U.S. Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit.![Thomas Rice Jr.]()
The remains of 23-year-old Army specialist Thomas Rice Jr. of South Carolina -- missing for four decades in Vietnam -- were recovered in March 2009 at a crash site in south central Vietnam. Rice and three other servicemen were conducting a mission in 1965 when their Huey helicopter disappeared.![Donald C. Grella]()
The Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command found the remains of missing U.S. soldier Don Grella in April 2009 after nearly 44 years of searching for Grella, whose Army helicopter went down in a dense jungle on Dec. 28, 1965, near An Khe, Vietnam.![Michael]()
This image provided by the U.S. Navy is an Oct. 11, 2002, photo of Navy Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher, the F/A-18 "Hornet" pilot who was shot down over Iraq on the opening night of Operation Desert Storm in January 1991. The Pentagon initially declared him killed, but uncertainty led officials over the years to change his official status a number of times to "missing in action" and "missing-captured." The Pentagon said the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology on Saturday positively identified Speicher's remains, buried in the desert and located after officials received new information from an Iraqi citizen about a crash.Recovered: U.S. Military's Commitment to Its Lost Forces
The recovered remains of the first American lost in the Persian Gulf War after nearly two decades of uncertainty underscore an invaluable promise: The U.S. military will never give up the search for one of its own. The Pentagon's announcement Sunday that it had positively identified the remains of Navy Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher, whose fighter jet was shot down over the Iraq desert on the first night of the 1991 war, is the latest example of the military's long-standing commitment to bringing its troops home.
Move Forward
- Recovered: U.S. Military's Commitment to Its Lost Forces
