Amna Nawaz: On this Memorial Day, of the approximately 81,000 American service members who are still missing from past wars, the majority died in World War II 80 years ago.
But cutting-edge technology is now available that can identify remains that were once thought to be impossible to identify.
And as Nick Shifrin reports, it's enabling the U.S. military to deliver on its promise to “leave no one behind.”
Nick Shiffrin: This weekend, a funeral will be held in an Oregon, Ohio, town for the first time in 80 years.
No one here has ever met the man we call Uncle Jack, Staff Sergeant Jack Coy.
But his great-niece, Shaunelle Johns, holds on to his memories tightly.
Shaunelle Johns, niece of Staff Sgt.
Jack Coy: He was a very handsome man.
My great-grandmother, grandmother and great-aunt always talked about him.
I feel like I know him even though I have never met him.
Nick Shifrin: In 1941, at age 18, Coy graduated from high school and enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps.
He wrote home from boot camp saying he wanted to be a pilot.
Shaunelle Johns: “PS I want to be a pilot when I grow up.”
Nick Shifrin: He ended up becoming a gunner on an American bomber.
Then, on February 24, 1944, he flew aboard a B-24J Liberator on what may have been his final mission… NARRATOR: American fighter planes flying an epic mission deep inside Germany.
Nick Shiffrin: …dropped thousands of pounds of bombs on Germany.
However, the plane was hit by German artillery fire over Bad Salzungen.
Two crew members parachuted out and survived.
Coy and the other five were never heard from again and their bodies were never identified.
Shaunelle Johns: His beard is still here.
Nick Shifrin: For many years, all that remained of Johns and his aunt, Beverly Hahn, was a small collection of his personal belongings.
Shaunelle Johns: We have a lot of pictures of him in uniform.
We have many of the pin badges and medals he had on his uniform.
There are a lot of letters.
Nick Shiffrin: That includes a letter that Koi's mother wrote to him just a few weeks before she died, just before his 21st birthday.
Shaunelle Johns: “We hope to see you by your birthday.
Ocean of love, mother.”
And his birthday was in July.
oh.
It's really hard to read.
NICK SHIFFRINN: But then, in 2020, more than 70 years after Johns enlisted and his plane crashed, the niece of Johns' mother, Jack Coy, received a letter before she passed away that brought back some nostalgia.
Shaunelle Johns: The Army contacted my mother and asked if she could provide DNA because the Army is still identifying the remains of soldiers who died in World War II.
And I looked at her and I said, “We have to do this.”
We need to bring him home.”
TIM McMAHON, DIRECTOR OF DNA OPERATIONS, MILITARY MEDICAL EXAMINER: It's such an honor for us to help bring their loved ones home.
NICK SHIFRIN: Tim McMahon is the director of operations for the DNA identification laboratory for the military medical examiner system.
They then used new technology to identify some of the carp's remaining bones.
Tim McMahon: Every single one of our missing service members is a hero who was killed in action.
They gave their lives to defend our beliefs.
So the least we can do is honour them and continue to use science to bring them home.
NICK SCHIFFRINN: Scientists working at our lab in Dover, Delaware, use cutting-edge technology that's five to seven years ahead of state and local crime labs.
WOMAN: The alleged Golden State Killer who terrorized… NICK SCHIFRIN: Just like DNA technology is solving cold cases from a decade ago, their lab is also using it to identify military remains from decades ago.
In what condition might these remains be delivered?
Tim McMahon: Most of this material was from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, and even though it had been in the environment for 50 to 80 years, our methods were optimized to remove it.
Nick Shifrin: Next-generation sequencing uses magnets to enable scientists to extract human DNA even when the DNA material is degraded or only small amounts can be processed.
Tim McMahon: This allowed us to concentrate human DNA and get results.
And thanks to it, 162 online identifications of fallen heroes have been made since 2016 that would not have been possible without this new methodology.
Kelly McCaig, Director of the Ministry of Defence's POW/MIA Accounting Service: As a country we have a duty.
This is a sacred promise made not only to the service member, but more importantly, to their family members who are waiting for answers.
NICK SCHIFFRINN: Kelly McKeague is director of the Department of Defense's POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
Using anything they can find – even buttons – they recover, identify and repatriate Americans missing from every conflict, from World War II to Operation Iraqi Freedom.
His agency recovers remains through field missions such as this one in Vietnam's Dien Bien Province in 2015.
One of his biggest challenges is the 1,576 U.S. soldiers still missing in Vietnam.
KELLY MCCAIG: The Witnesses are aging.
The witness is dead.
First-hand witnesses tell us it was a jet plane, that it was going 600 miles per hour when it hit the ground, and that the acidity of Vietnamese soil was the pH level of a lemon.
So often, our team is only able to find teeth or deteriorated bones.
Nick Shiffrin: So, I think it's fair to say that time is very important in that sense, especially… Kelly McCaig: Absolutely true.
In fact, time and numbers, pure numbers, are our biggest enemies.
Nick Shiffrin: Although the vast majority of remains are deemed unrecoverable, there are still tens of thousands of remains that can be recovered and can provide dignity to those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
KELLY MCCAIG: This is a contract that is made with the service member, and it's not only fulfilled with their family, but it's also fulfilled with the country.
Sends a strong signal.
We remain true to our spirit of never abandoning our fallen comrades.
My heart aches when my sons and daughters return home.
NICK SHIFFRINN: The day before Memorial Day, it happened in Oregon, it happened in Ohio, it happened for Uncle Jack and his family.
Does doing this on Memorial Day weekend give it even more special meaning?
Shaunelle Jones: Yes.
He wanted to make sure we would never forget our uncle, but more importantly, he wanted to make sure.
They sacrificed their lives for us and for this country, and we wanted to make sure that everyone there remembered them all on Memorial Day.
And we need to remember and thank them.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Nick Schifrin with “PBS NewsHour.”
