US conducts underwater excavation in PH waters to recover WWII remains

The United States is conducting a major underwater excavation in the Philippines to recover the remains of American service members missing since World War II, an official said Wednesday (Manila time).

“Right now, we have teams in Leyte, Luzon, and Mindoro,” US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) Director Kelly McKeague said during a virtual press briefing.

“The support we receive from the entire Philippine government is truly extraordinary, and it helps strengthen the alliance between the United States and the Philippines,” he added.

On March 15, the US agency said its leadership and staff from the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial joined a recovery team at an underwater site in the Philippines on March 7.

McKeague said the operation in Subic Bay is the agency’s “largest, most complex underwater mission ever,” which began in February last year.

The excavation centers on a Japanese transport ship mistakenly bombed by US forces in December 1944 while carrying Allied prisoners of war.

The vessel was transporting more than 2,500 Allied POWs when it was attacked and later sank in Subic Bay. More than 250 missing Americans may still be inside the wreck, McKeague said.

The mission follows years of preparation, including underwater surveys and the creation of a three-dimensional image of the wreck using advanced technology.

Local authorities, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines, are assisting in the recovery efforts.

“This mission is rooted in a sacred promise that the United States will search for, recover, and identify the remains of Americans missing from past wars. We do this to provide answers to their families and the nation,” McKeague said.

“It is more than a military mission. It is also a tool of diplomacy that binds allies, strengthens partners, and reconciles with former enemies,” he added.

Similar operations are being conducted across the globe.

In Asia and the Pacific, aside from the Philippines, the US also carries out recovery missions in Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Laos, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Kiribati, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands.—MCG, GMA News