And sometimes those thought lost came home:
I am reading the fascinating autobiography of Gregory "Pappy" Boyington - WWII Marine Corps Aviator and top fighter ace until he was shot down and captured by the Japanese. This guy was a natural author and his sense of humor is priceless. I think he needed it to get by as a prisoner of war on the Japanese mainland in 1944 - and long since presumed dead by the US authorities.
Of many hairy moments, perhaps the hairiest of all was when his captors showed him US newpaper reports that he had been posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor - he had been rumbled.
Ordinarily, such a distinction might be well appreciated but Pappy had mixed feelings since he had pretty much yarned his captors into believing that he was some kind of pen-pushing, non-combatant staff officer, rather than a fighter hot-shot who had wiped out a couple of squadron's worth of Japanese aviators.
Luckily, his hero credentials worked in his favour, but for a while he thought that Medal of Honor was going to get him posthumous all over again!
Great bloke, great read.