SIOUX CITY, Iowa (Tribune News Service) — Michael Franken remembers sitting in meetings with families who had relatives missing from military conflicts dating back to World War II.

He listened as the sister of one of those missing men told military officials she could still picture what she was wearing the moment her family received the telegram informing them that her brother was missing and likely killed.

So whenever the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, or DPAA, announces it has recovered and identified the remains of a U.S. service member, Franken feels a little of the family's joy, knowing the closure they'll receive.

"I watch from afar. I'm always pleased to see when a recovery occurs," he said.

A retired U.S. Navy vice admiral from Lebanon in rural Sioux County who now lives in Sioux City, Franken takes special interest in seeing those remains found and returned to families. Under his leadership, the process of recovering and identifying the remains of missing U.S. military personnel was reorganized under the DPAA, a U.S. Defense Department agency formed in 2015 through the merger of other agencies. Franken was its first director.

It was a hectic seven-month duty, exposing Franken to Defense Department efforts he hadn't even been aware of. But seeing families gain closure upon seeing a loved one returned made all that work worth it.

"Those that we can find within reason and provide closure is a noble mission," he said.

Recovery of remains had been ongoing for years, of course, but in 2015, then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel of Nebraska thought the process could be done in a better, more efficient way. He tasked Franken with figuring out how.

Franken can laugh now about how daunting the assignment was. He said that at the time, he knew almost nothing about the department's recovery procedures or efforts.

But he did know how important it was for families to have the remains of their loved ones returned home. He thought back to his grandfather, who lost a brother in World War I.

"It hit me that some of these families, if they know their loved ones were out there, they would like to have them returned and buried in the family plot," Franken said.

Franken said he was given carte blanche to create a new structure for the agency. He oversaw a change in policy, choosing to contract with archaeologists and experts from countries where American remains were located. Rather than paying the cost of housing large parties of U.S. workers and officials overseas, a smaller number is needed to oversee search and recovery missions.

With his urging, Congress also approved the exhumation of hundreds of sets of remains recovered from battleships destroyed during the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. Those sailors and Marines had been buried in graves in Honolulu for decades but were never identified. Franken said it made sense that every effort should be made to identify them, and since then, hundreds have been.

"I thought we could add an act of happiness and emotional closure to those who lost their lives in the earlier days of World War II," Franken said.

Not all service members who have been killed in overseas conflicts will be located. Of the more than 81,700 U.S. military personnel who served as far back as World War II still missing, more than 41,000 were lost or buried at sea and are not recoverable. There are no records of where many others went missing, making recovery impossible.

"There are some situations, sad to say, where we have no idea," Franken said.

Franken retired in 2017 after nearly 40 years in the Navy, a career in which his assignments took him to four continents, combat zones and the halls of Congress to work with policymakers.

The short stint with the DPAA required him to work long hours with few days off, but because of the importance of the agency's work, those busy days are not the lasting memory he has of the duty.

"The only lingering emotion I have is joyous," he said.

An emotion the families of those whose missing service members are found and returned home would surely identify with.

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