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You Are Not Forgotten

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Pallbearers carry a casket containing the body of Nicholas Oresko, a New Jersey soldier who had been the nation's oldest living recipient of the Medal of Honor, during funeral services at George Washington Memorial Park, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013, in Paramus, N.J. Oresko died at the age of 96 on Oct. 4. The Army master sergeant was badly wounded as he single-handedly took out two enemy bunkers during World War II in the Battle of the Bulge in 1945. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Pallbearers carry a casket containing the body of Nicholas Oresko, a New Jersey soldier who had been the nation's oldest living recipient of the Medal of Honor, during funeral services at George Washington Memorial Park, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013, in Paramus, N.J. Oresko died at the age of 96 on Oct. 4. The Army master sergeant was badly wounded as he single-handedly took out two enemy bunkers during World War II in the Battle of the Bulge in 1945. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

There's nothing quite as primal for a soldier than the need to return home. American troops have fought in far-flung battlefields across the globe. And sometimes, they don't make it back. In fact, there are thousands of soldiers who simply disappeared into the haze of battle, their bodies never found.

Their remains, if there are any, are scattered in some of the most remote and inhospitable spots in the world. But these are the places where members of J-PAC go... the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command is an elite military division tasked with locating and recovering soldier's remains. It is staffed by some of the world's top forensic archaeologists whose mission is to fulfill a promise at the heart of the military code: bring all fallen soldiers home.

Guests

Bryan Bender, national security reporter for the Boston Globe. His new book is You Are Not Forgotten: The Story of a Lost World War II Pilot and a Twenty-First-Century Soldier's Mission to Bring Him Home.

This segment aired on November 7, 2013.

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