The placard under this shirt tells the story as such:

Shirt worn by Joseph Mobley during his time as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. He was shot down in 1968 over North Vietnam and taken prisoner. Mobley spent 1,724 days in captivity. Once he returned in 1973, he began a steady rise in leadership within the U.S. Navy, ascending to Commander of the Naval Air Force of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.

In the case of Joseph Mobley his incarceration in a POW camp had a happy story, but for many, many more that were forced to wear the same shirt, it did not turn out so well.

According to the Defense Prisoner of War * Missing Personnel Office there are still 1,639 unaccounted for soldiers from the Vietnam conflict. That is almost one missing soldier for every day the Joseph Mobley was held in captivity.

When you look at the other conflicts managed by the department you see some other shocking numbers.

From World War II there are over 73,000 soldiers unaccounted for.

From the Korean War, almost 8,000.

Look at the shirt above, then spend some time on the DPMO website, only then can you even start to get an idea of the losses these wars are still costing us.

For an even more incredibly picture, take a look at this chart maintained by the Mobile Riverine Force Association that numbers as closely as possible the missing and unaccounted for from all US conflicts up to Somalia. Yes, there are still unaccounted for troops from the conflict that was popularized by Black Hawk Down.

Never forget the soldiers that didn’t make it home, and cherish the ones that did.