WELCOME HOME, WILBUR MITTS

Dear , 

On September 11th, Project Recover team members flew from across the nation (some members came straight from a recovery mission in Kwajalein) to attend the homecoming and memorial of Navy airman, Wilbur Mitts, in Seaside, CA. Project Recover began the search for Mitts' Avenger over 20 years ago, after visiting the site of a lone Avenger wing in the waters of Palau. In 2015, we found his plane in the harbor. For 20 years, we thought of Wilbur and his family as we worked diligently through our process of research, search, documentation and recovery. That diligence and perseverance brought us to Seaside, CA, 79 years and one day after Wilbur went missing, to meet his family. 

The Mitts family gathers around Wilbur's photo during the post-memorial lunch. 

Photo by Cody Rheault.

Along with a large group of veterans, active military, law enforcement, and surrounding community members, we held his family in this moment, to bring the family closure and witness the collective unity and healing that continues to inspire our work.

John Marsack, Project Recover Team Member, and Legion Undersea Services Co-Founder, presents the American flag flown over Mitts' crash site in Palau to Diana Mitts, Wilbur Mitts' niece. 

Photo by Cody Rheault.

Since 1993, Project Recover has located and documented sites associated with over 300 MIAs. In 2021, in partnership with The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), we also expanded our capabilities to conduct recovery missions. Our first recovery mission was conducted on Mitts' Avenger.

OUR FIRST ANNUAL MISSION MILES EVENT - SUCCESS!

Photos submitted by participants of the Mission Miles 2023 challenge.

In September, Mission Miles participants logged 8596 miles in honor of our MIA service members. We raised over $40,000 with our donors through this virtual nationwide Mission Miles event. Our own Project Recover Team Members led the charge, along with several of our Gold Star MIA family members and a great group from the nCino organization! We had 27 states represented, in addition to Washington D.C., Guam, Canada, and Saipan!

If you didn't participate this year but want to be notified before registration next year, just respond to this email and let us know!

HAVE EXTRA UNITED AIRLINES MILES?

(OR KNOW SOMEONE WHO DOES?)

Project Recover was recently selected to participate in United Airlines' Miles on a Mission program. If you have extra United Airlines miles, you can gift some to Project Recover and help to get us to our search and recovery missions. United Airlines is the only airline that flies from the U.S. to Palau, and we head to Palau at least once a year, if not more. Also, United Airlines is going to match the first 50,000 miles we receive! Travel is our organization's largest expense, so these miles will be very valuable to our missions!

Project Recover team members working the sifting station on a recovery site. 

Photo by Chris Perez.

The Project Recover Team