One family lost 2 sons during WWII. It took 80 years to bring the last soldier home.

Elsie Thompson, the youngest of seven children, lost two brothers during the Second World War. Her brother, Phillip Engesser, returned home to rest, but his older brother Marcus Engesserhas just been brought back to his California hometown more than 80 years after his death thanks to an identification from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Engesser served with Company L of the 31st Infantry Regiment during World War II, operating in the Philippines. He was captured following the American surrender of the Bataan Peninsula in April 1942, the DPAA said, and forced to participate in the Bataan death march before being interned in a notorious prison camp. He died of malaria in September 1942 and his remains were buried in a mass grave in the camp. More than 2,800 American soldiers died at the camp before its liberation in 1945, the agency said.

In 1947, this tomb was exhumed and the US Army attempted to identify the soldiers buried there. At the time, most of the remains were considered unidentifiable and were buried in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial as Unknown. Engesser’s name was engraved on the cemetery’s Walls of the Missing.

Thompson, 92, remembers Engesser as a “good” and “handsome” older brother. It was difficult for her family, she said, to never have his remains. Thompson’s daughter, Joanne Smith, even remembered her grandmother writing a letter to the Army seeking Engesser’s body so he could be buried next to the family.

“My mother went through a lot because she lost several children during the war,” Thompson told CBS News. “I think it was very difficult for my mother. (Marcus) is the only one, we didn’t have any material from him.”

In 2018, unknown remains buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial were disinterred again to be studied by the DPAA. Mitochondrial DNA analysis, dental and anthropological analyzes and other evidence allowed scientists at the DPAA laboratory to positively identify some of the remains as belonging to Engesser in 2023. Thompson told CBS News that she was informed of the identification in 2024, and said the closure it is wonderful”.

“It was emotional hearing what was happening to Marky,” Thompson said, adding that he plans to leave Engesser’s remains with his mother, siblings and other family members. “It’s been quite an experience.”

What is the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency?

Thompson is just one of thousands of people who have had their family members’ remains returned through the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. The agency counted 158 soldiers missing last year. Identifications bring closure to families and provide an opportunity for fallen soldiers to be buried at home.

The call for the identification and recovery of fallen soldiers was brought to the forefront of the nation’s consciousness during the Vietnam War, according to Ashley Wright, DPAA public affairs specialist. The United States “has always tried to explain our disappearances,” Wright said, starting with the American Graves Registration Command after World War II. That command would attempt to make identifications based on the best science available at the time, Wright said.

As science evolved, however, so did recoveries and identifications. There are about 72,000 soldiers from World War II, about 7,500 from the Korean War and more than 1,550 from the Vietnam War who are still missing. But since the first Gulf Wars, there are only six soldiers missing, Wright said, and there are no soldiers missing from the war in Afghanistan. Technology has played an important role in recent conflicts, ensuring soldiers are identified and returned home.

“It’s just a sharp decline with each conflict,” Wright said. “The cases we’re working on now are not easy, or they would have been resolved sooner. They’re difficult cases. They’re difficult cases… We continue to do what we can to bring these families to account.”

How does DPAA identify fallen soldiers?

Wright said “history, diplomacy and science intersect” to help the DPAA lab make identifications.

The process starts with history: Agency investigators and experts begin by combing through archival records to learn as much as they can about where a fallen soldier was last seen. Investigative teams will travel to the area to speak to any surviving witnesses and examine the area for clues to confirm whether anyone has gone missing there.

The agency operates in 46 countries, with just one exception: North Korea. Diplomacy is small enough to connect with individual locations, Wright said, as sometimes a dead soldier may have disappeared on what is now private land.

Once DPAA investigators determine they are in the right location, a recovery mission is sent to the area. These teams of 15 to 25 people, Wright said, included explosive ordnance disposal experts who can handle live munitions that may be on site. Medical personnel, senior recovery specialists and forensic photographers are also part of these groups, and up to 100 local residents may be involved in the physical work of excavating and searching for remains. Recovery missions spend 30 to 60 days on the ground, Wright said, before returning to the DPAA laboratory.

Back in the laboratory, various scientific techniques are used to try to identify fallen soldiers. Forensic odontologists, or dentists who can look at medical records and compare them to teeth found in the field, can match dental evidence to profiles of missing soldiers. Other unique bones, such as the clavicles, are compared. For soldiers who went missing during the Korean War, experts compare the results of tuberculosis skin tests done before someone was sent to the remains found.

The remains are then arranged and x-rayed for later comparison. Other forms of analysis include mitochondrial DNA analysis and isotope analysis, which can determine what a person ate decades ago. This could help identify the remains of American soldiers – who typically ate a corn-based diet – from the remains of local residents who may have eaten differently. DPAA also collected matching DNA from family members like Thompson.

Once a fallen soldier has been presumably identified, family members are asked to provide a reference DNA sample. Finally, a medical examiner will sign a report making the identification, and emergency officials will contact family members for a full briefing.

The process is meticulous and long. Families can spend decades wondering what happened to their loved ones, Wright said, as did Thompson.

“Each case is different and faces its own challenges, and each case is special,” Wright said. “Each of these cases has a family member. Each of them has a comrade in arms who still wonders what happened to them. This number has definitely not gone unnoticed in any way.”

Bringing closure to families

Wright said the DPAA’s goal is to provide closure for family and loved ones like Thompson and Smith. After family members are informed of their loved one’s identification, military personnel work with the families to provide a burial with full military honors.

“Even if we find and identify just a single tooth, they will receive full military honors because they made that ultimate sacrifice,” Wright said.

Smith said this closure was “incredible” for her family and said she is honored that her uncle would receive a full military funeral. She said she and Thompson could meet the plane that would take Engesser’s remains to California on the tarmac. They also received Engesser medals.

“My grandmother went through so much… After all these years, coming full circle, having (Engesser) come home and be buried with his mother, it means so much,” Smith said. “I’m so grateful my mom was alive to see this happen. I know it means a lot to her to have her brother back on American soil.”