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THE MISSING MARINES LIST

Names & Faces

A comprehensive collection of more than 3,000 names, pictures, and profiles.

A Searchable Database for Missing Marines.

Last Updated 25 January 2024

The Missing Marines List represents over decade of research. It contains the names of over 3,000 WWII-era Marine Corps and Navy medical personnel who are considered non-recoverable or have been accounted for since 7 December 2011. It is based on the official DPAA list (with a few key differences) and includes personnel lost in the Continental United States (CONUS) which the DPAA does not track.

More than 1,500 individual profiles are available to read now, with more on the way. Additional research is available for any name on the list.

About The Missing Marines List.

Sources, sorting, shorthand, and more.

The Missing Marines List tracks all unaccounted-for Marine Corps and attached Naval personnel from September 1941 to Feburary 1946, as well as those who have been accounted for since 7 December 2011 – the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

You can sort the Missing Marines List by the following parameters:

Name: the name under which an individual served in World War II. Note that this is not always the same as a birth name. For example, Jesse Rutherford Jr. served as “Raymond Miller” and his identity was not revealed until after his death.

Unit: the last-known military organization with whom an individual served. Examples:

• 2nd Marines (B/1) is Company B, First Battalion, 2nd Marines.
• “Marine Detachment” is a small Marine unit serving aboard a larger Navy installation, either a station or a ship.

Squadrons are abbreviated according to 1940s regulations:

VMB – Bomber
VMBF – Fighter Bomber
VMD – Photographic
VMF – Fighter
VMF(N) – Night Fighter
VMJ – Utility
VMO – Observation
VMSB – Scout Bomber
VMTB – Torpedo Bomber
VMTD – Target Towing

Higher echelon aviation units are designated as MAG (Marine Air Group) or MAW (Marine Air Wing)

Location: the approximate area or battle in which the individual was last seen. Somewhat rough in the case of aviators whose exact last position is not known.

Loss Date: the date the individual was reported KIA or missing in action; essentially the last time they were known to be alive. Official “declared dead” dates for MIA personnel are commonly given as one year and one day after they were reported missing, though longer intervals are not unusual. Loss Date is not the same as Declared Dead.

Town: The official address on file for the individual, almost always the residence of their emergency next of kin. Due to family members moving during the war, this is not always the same as a “hometown” where an individual grew up.

State: Same as above. Note that states with heavy military presence or training camps (e.g. California and Florida) are unevenly represented; this is often due to spouses or parents moving to be closer to their serviceman or for war work.

Accounted: Whether the individual has been officially accounted for by the DPAA since December 2011.

There are currently no plans to expand Missing Marines to include other branches (outside of cases directly related to USMC losses) or other eras. For updated info on  missing service personnel from other eras, visit the DPAA’s official lists:

World War II
Korean War
Vietnam War
Cold War
Iraq & Other Conflicts

(Note: the DPAA is not in active pursuit of any World War 1 cases.)

However, Missing Marines fully supports the research and recovery of all service members. If you’re seeking information about another branch or conflict, send us a message and we’ll be glad to assist.

The original Missing Marines List was based on the official tally published by the now-defunct Defense Prisoner of War Missing Personnel Office (DPMO). It has undergone countless revisions since 2011 as new information comes to light. The list is regularly checked against Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) data for discrepancies.

Principle primary sources include:
Official Military Peronnel Files (OMPF)
Individual Deceased Personnel Files (IDPF)
USMC Casualty Cards
War diaries and operational reports

Photographs are pulled from a variety of period publications, official files, archival collections, and public records. For more information about specific sources, contact the webmaster.

The list updates after every confirmed recovery – and aside from that, whenever we have time! New profiles are added in chronological order; currently, (as of May 2023) profiles are available through the beginning of 1944.

“CONUS” (Continental United States) indicates an individual lost within the borders or  offshore of the contiguous 48 states. These are all non-combat losses; the majority are pilots or aircrew who died in training accidents.

These men are not tracked by the DPAA, but are included in the Missing Marines List in commemoration of their sacrifice.

The goal of the Missing Marines List is to provide the most comprehensive, complete, and accurate compilation of data. Thus, this list includes CONUS losses (not tracked by DPAA) and Navy medical personnel attached to USMC units (listed appropriately under Navy losses by DPAA).

During the course of researching the list, a few dozen discrepancies were identified between the original DPMO list and primary sources. A number of these have been resolved as simple database errors (e.g. an individual buried at sea incorrectly listed as non-recoverable). Several others (about twenty) are still pending resolution based on further research.

Many vital sources are readily available online. Ancestry includes muster rolls and draft records; Fold3 has war diaries and operational reports; Newspapers.com shows high-quality scans of millions of articles. While each requires a subscription for full access, they are among the most heavily relied-upon sources used by Missing Marines.

Archival sources, including OMPFs, IDPFs, and X-files, are available through the National Archives system. These may be requested by the public via the Standard Form 180. Direct next of kin (spouses, siblings, or children) of the deceased can use the online portal. Processing time from NARA can be anywhere from a few days to several months. As an alternative, one can hire a researcher to make a copy and deliver scans for a flat fee. Missing Marines recommends (but is not affiliated with) Golden Arrow Research and Redbird Research.

Finally, MissingMarines maintains an extensive (but by no means complete) collection of IDPFs, OMPFs, X-Files, and Marine Corps casualty cards. Individual files are available upon request.

Contact Us.

7 thoughts on “The Missing Marines List”

    1. As of 30 July 2021 Taps for accounted USMC
      July 29, 2021
      Marine Accounted For From World War II (Waltz, R.)

      July 29, 2021
      Marine Accounted For From World War II (Hayden, H.)

      July 29, 2021
      Marine Accounted For From World War II (Farris, F.)

  1. As of 30 July 2021 Taps for accounted USMC
    July 29, 2021
    Marine Accounted For From World War II (Waltz, R.)

    July 29, 2021
    Marine Accounted For From World War II (Hayden, H.)

    July 29, 2021
    Marine Accounted For From World War II (Farris, F.)

  2. I had the Honor of attending Glenn Whites funeral service in Emporia ks, I talked to his niece before the service, my uncle Alexander Peña was in Glenn’s regiment at Tarawa, Glenn was in the 1st battalion, my uncle was in the 3rd battalion, My Uncle Alex was later KIA on Tinian, July 30th 1944, those Brave Valient Marines will not be forgotten, Heroes all of them Heroes.

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