With the signing of the Paris Peace Accords on 27 January 1973 all U.S. prisoners were to be released under Operation Homecoming. The United States Department of Defense (DOD) listed 311 Americans as missing in Laos, however on 1 February 1973 the North Vietnamese handed the Americans a list of prisoners of war in Laos which included only nine Americans: seven servicemen and two civilians. U.S. agencies believe that as many as 41 Americans may have been held prisoner by the Pathet Lao. Charles Shelton who was captured on 29 April 1965 was listed as a prisoner by the DOD until September 1994. As at 26 July 2019 the DOD's Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency listed 286 Americans as missing in Laos of which 263 were classified as further pursuit, 12 deferred and 11 non-recoverable.