A long search for lost service members

William Lindauer sat at a table outside the Embassy Suites grand ballroom and opened his mouth long enough for DNA technician Nicole Yee to swab the inside of his cheek.

Lindauer, 86, is hoping the moment of discomfort might end a lifetime of mystery.

On May 3, 1944, his uncle Joe Lindauer's B-17 Flying Fortress disappeared after a bombing raid on Hamburg, Germany.

No one saw the bomber go down and for more than six decades, Lindauer, of St. Petersburg, has wondered and worried about the fate of his uncle and crewmates.

"We think they may have crashed into the North Sea," Lindauer said.

Lindauer was one of nearly 200 people from a 300-mile radius of Tampa who came to the hotel Saturday to take part in a daylong program put on by the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office.

The agency is charged with searching for more than 83,000 service members since World War II who never have been found.

The programs are held monthly around the nation, said Army Maj. Carie Parker, a spokeswoman for the Department of Defense Office of POW/Missing Personnel.

Held in Tampa for the first time since 2007, the program, Parker said, gives families a chance to get updates on what is being done to find their loved ones, the latest technological and political breakthroughs and a chance to commiserate with others who know the searing pain of not knowing.

As Lindauer had his mouth swabbed in hopes that his DNA sample could be used to help identify his uncle if a body ever is found, family members who filled the grand ballroom took part in a remembrance ceremony.

One by one they stood up and told their stories of sorrow.

On March 15, 1966, Jim Stewart's father, Air Force Col. Peter J. Stewart, took off from Ubon Air Force Base, Thailand, on a mission over North Vietnam.

What happened remains a mystery and became a long-simmering dispute between the Stewart family and government.

It also resulted in "An Enormous Crime," a book written by Stewart's sister, Elizabeth Stewart.

Col. Stewart, who was born in 1918, was never found. The family doesn't know if he died in a crash or in captivity.

Elizabeth Stewart, mother Margaret and the others listened as Thomas Holland, Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command scientist, explained some of the science and the challenges and successes of the recovery program, which began in 1995.

With an annual budget of about $100 million, a dozen teams of anthropologists, explosives experts, intelligence analysts, communications officers and others fan out across the globe looking for service members' remains. And one of the world's most advanced labs helps to analyze the discoveries.

To date, more than 1,300 service members have been identified.

The program is slated for budget and staff increases, but Holland said that in today's budget climate, there are no guarantees.

"For the price of one airplane, we have a program that can help identify the remains of the pilot," he said.

Even though her mother-in-law had died Friday, Sandra Siciliano of Tampa said she had to attend the program.

Pointing to a map of North Korea, she showed where her uncle, Army Pfc. John Franklin Jr., was captured and taken to a prison camp in North Korea during the first weeks of the Korean War.

His family never saw him again, she said.

"He was my favorite uncle," said Siciliano, who was 10 when she last saw him.

"My grandmother died of a broken heart. I came here to bring peace to my grandmother's soul," Siciliano said.