MIA Hunters estimates that approximately 86,000 service personnel have MIA status. They assist the U.S. government by finding information and/or remains of some.

Bryan Moon, MIA Hunters

Traveling to foreign lands and remote jungles, Missing In Action (MIA) Hunters find service personnel that have been lost during times of war. 

With twenty-four missions behind them, Aviator Bryan Moon and his family started the group after they developed an interest in finding crash sites of planes.

Finding an early crash site, the group found passenger remains. 

 “I realized that little was being done to find them, said Bryan. “I could do this and be of help to somebody else.”

 Some wonder ‘why bother?’  Over sixty years has passed since many of these individuals have gone missing. Why pay to change something you cannot change.

 Why? Ask the Gowen family

 During World War II Red Cross staffer Harriet Gowen of the Twin Cities, Minnesota, disappeared. Finding her crash site, and remains, the MIA Hunters reported the site to the U.S. Army recovery team.

Harriet’s parents died shortly before the find. However, they had left a burial plot between them in case their daughter ever came home.

This is one of many stories I heard from Bryan and Cicely Moon. Their work finding American’s on the ‘missing in action’ list is a worldwide endeavor.

Sitting down with them in their living room, adorned with Bryan’s artwork that he creates and sells to fund the group, I heard stories from the past as well as strategies for the MIA Hunters expanding their efforts.

 The group is planning its largest mission ever for spring, 2010. Their goal is to find more MIA more quickly.

 MIA Hunters is now paying local natives to scout for and take photographs of crash sites. This enables the MIA Hunters to move more quickly from site to site. Once at a site, MIA volunteers search for dog tags, identification numbers on planes and guns and other markers that they will map. They place a United States flag at the site.

After the mapping of each site, MIA Hunters forwards the information to government agencies for follow-up and recovery.

 As we talked, the Moons were waiting for their doorbell to ring with a delivery of crash site photographs. They arrived just after I left – and nine more sites were confirmed.

 In 2008 U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Dennis Schulstad gave the MIA Hunters a stamp of official recognition stating that:

  “MIA Hunters is the No. 1 source, the No. 1 civilian assistance in helping the U.S. Department of Defense reunite world family members with their families.”

 For the Moons and other MIA Hunters, the question remains how many people, like Harriet Gowen are lost?

 How many families are still seeking answers about their loved one?

 Estimates are 1,800 American MIA’s from the Vietnam War, 8,500 from the Korean Conflict and 76,000 from World War II.

The MIA Hunters have their work cut out for them.

Mission Director Bryan Moon is 81 years old. The average age of the mission members is between 60-65 years. Women and men participate.

 Volunteers pay for their participation.

 They are told before signing on to anticipate some risk, long hikes and little rest. They can also expect great camaraderie and the experience of a lifetime.

 For the 2010 mission, volunteers are told to expect remote jungle territory, 90-degree heat and/or torrential rain.  In many areas, they may be the first American group to visit the area.

 In his writing, Bryan asks:

 “Why would these volunteers choose to join such an amazing, and arguably thankless, not-entirely-safe adventure mission? Ask these adventurous people why, and the answers vary. Some go because they are super patriots. Some go for the adventure of a lifetime.

 “Some go because their fathers were lost in WWII. And others go because they simply cannot leave our MIA heroes lost forever. “

 When asked how and why he is doing so much for the good of others, giving so much of his time and money, British-born Moon told of a defining moment from his childhood during WWII.

 When he was 12 years old his home was bombed just one week before Christmas. His family moved to a country college boarding school. Five miles away was a U.S. Army base.

His first memorable concept of ‘payback’ happened here too. He and his buddy were asked by a crew of men in a jeep passing by them, “Kids - how would you like some ice cream?”

 He said he hadn’t had ice cream for more than two years and it tasted just great. That day he said to himself, “When I am able, I am going to return the favor.”

 He is paying back those soldiers, and all the others who have given their lives, with his leadership of MIA Hunters.

 MIA Hunters is a registered charity, able to provide a tangible tax benefit to volunteers, which, in turn, allows them to grow and find more MIA’s. About 75% of the volunteers needed for spring 2010 are identified.

 Artwork sales help support MIA Hunters. Moon creates whimsical art that is collected by people who love the humor and style. His more serious works are in permanent collections of the Leigh Yorkey Museum, the United States Air Force Academy and the Army and Navy Club in Washington, D.C. among others.

Photo Credits-  Laura Stone (Graveyard), David Coleman (Flags), and Sonya Etchison (F-16) at Dreamstime

Leadership development expert & educator, Donna Rae Scheffert knows how public action by others for others improves lives - she helps people to get involved and provides tools to propel them toward their goals easier, faster, and with more fun. Read more from Donna Rae at Online-Leadership-Tools and follow Donna Rae on Twitter or Facebook.