Proudly Serving Those Who Served
P. O.  Box 303
Hurricane, WV 25526, U.S.A.
304-757-9766

FEDERAL RESEARCH DIVISION

History of the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Database

The LoC database was established by law contained in  Title 50 USC Sec 435N. Title 50 USC 435N, otherwise known as the McCain Bill and signed into law on December 5, 1991.  The law stipulated that documents contained in the Department of Defense (DoD) files be placed in a library-like facility in the National Capitol Region for access by the public. The collection database was to contain information that relates to persons still unaccounted for as a result of the Vietnam War. There were 2,266 personnel, military and civilian, unaccounted for at the time of passage of the McCain Bill. Therefore, those who were prisoners of war and returned alive to US control in 1973 or those  non-surviving POW/MIAs, whose remains had been returned to and identified by US authorities prior to December 1991, are not included in the LoC POW/MIA Database.

Further, the McCain Bill directed that each primary-next-of-kin (PNOK) has the option of denying release to the public data pertaining to their unaccounted for loved one. For those reasons, when searching for information on a person who has been or is carried as unaccounted for, one may not be able to locate information on the individual. There are records pertaining to 1,705 personnel out of the original (as of Dec. 5, 1991) 2,266 unaccounted for in the LoC Database. The remaining 561 files pertaining to the unaccounted for persons were denied public access by the families in compliance with the consent provisions of the McCain Bill.

Last updated:  November 1, 2008