News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci
(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: POW-MIA and NATO Expansion

Date: June 19, 1998

The following just in from Roger 'Bear' Young.

"The following is a transcript of a reply I received on 18 Jun 98 from Sen. John McCain in regards to my request to not vote for NATO expansion until former Soviet-block countries divulge all information concerning our POW/MIAs that may have been transferred through, or kept in those countries, following the Korean and Vietnam conflicts.

To many in the POW/MIA community much of the language used will look familiar. Any emphasis is mine.

http://members.aol.com/bear317d/nato.htm

Regards,

Roger Young - The Northwest Veterans Newsletter

UNITED STATES SENATE

June 2, 1998

Mr. Roger R. Young
[Address Here]

Dear Roger:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the role of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, countries soon expected to join the NATO alliance, in accounting for missing American servicemen.

I share your concern about the fate of our missing personnel in Korea and Southeast Asia. As a former prisoner of war (POW) myself, a member of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs in the early 1990s, and a regular visitor to Southeast Asia to inspect the accounting work being carried out in the field, I have been actively involved in efforts to resolve the fate of missing American service members.

I have no information suggesting that Poland, Hungary, or the Czech Republic has withheld evidence from the United States about missing U.S. personnel since the end of the Cold War. I believe these former Soviet bloc countries have been cooperative in our continuing efforts to determine the status of missing Americans since the Iron Curtain fell in 1989.

Nonetheless, we must not abandon our goal of conclusively determining the fate of those Americans missing since the Korean and Vietnam wars. For this reason, I supported an amendment to the resolution of ratification for the protocols to the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty on the accession of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic that would require the President to certify to Congress that those countries are fully cooperating with U.S. efforts to obtain the fullest possible accounting of captured and missing U.S. personnel from past military conflicts.

This measure, which passed the Senate by an overwhelming vote on April 29, 1998, specifically requires the President to certify that the governments of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic are facilitating full access to relevant archival material and identifying individuals who may possess knowledge of captured and missing U.S. personnel.

I trust that this legislation will enhance the ongoing field activities aimed at accounting for our missing service members. I also believe incorporating Poland, Hungary, and the Czech

Page 2

Republic into the Western alliance will contribute to our accounting efforts by promoting high-level military and civilian exchanges. It is my hope that our newfound strategic partnership with these Central European nations will allow the highest possible level of access to archives and individuals possessing information related to missing American servicemen.

I have enclosed a recent report by the Department of Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office describing the status of our accounting efforts in Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. I hope you find this material useful.

Thank you for contacting me on this sensitive issue. Please stay in touch.

Sincerely,

/S/

John McCain
United States Senator

JM/dt
Enclosure

[Transcript of Enclosure]

Seeking Answers to US POW/MIA Issues with Eastern European Nations
Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO)
March 2, 1998

The U.S. Government places the highest importance on the fullest possible accounting of America s POWs and MIAs, and makes every possible effort to find and return these special Americans to our soil. This effort includes pursuing reports that the former Soviet Union used Central European countries for transhipment or detention of American POWs during the Cold War.

U.S. Government attempts to make inroads into Eastern Europe to obtain information relevant to the U.S. accounting efforts for Korean, Vietnam, and Cold War POW/MIAs started in 1992 through the efforts of Secretary of State Baker. Additionally, the U.S. side of the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs (USRJC) established contacts in 1997. These contacts have laid the groundwork for continued research and an ongoing quest for books and journals that may contain information relating to missing Americans. A second dimension of this initiative involves identifying, locating, and interviewing individuals who may have information relevant to the goals of the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission.

The following is a brief summary regarding the work undertaken with East European countries on the issue of missing American servicemen. Comments below center on the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland, with which the DPMO's Joint Commission Support Directorate has established working relationships in support of the Commission's objective. These three countries have shown a responsiveness to U.S. Government requests for cooperation on inquiries into this issue.

Czech Republic

In 1995 Secretary of State Baker made requests for assistance in determining the fates of U.S, servicemen unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War. Specifically, the SecState sought to corroborate claims that Vietnam POWs had been transferred to the Soviet Union. In November 1992, the U.S. side of the USRJC visited Prague to reinforce and publicize the effort. The U.S. has sent researchers to the Czech Republic three times, and is finalizing a work plan for follow-up action.

The Czechs pledged recently to continue searching carefully in their archives for any data that may relate to American POWs as well as for documentation from the International Control Commission. To date, they have searched the State Central Archives, the archives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, the archives of the ministries of Health, Education, Defense and Foreign Affairs, and the Military History Archives.

They are now searching the archives of all the secret services in an effort to identify all Czechoslovak personnel who were stationed to China, Korea, or Vietnam during the wars.

They have provided U.S. officials three photographs of American POWs in Korea.

In July 1997, the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs met with President Havel and the Defense, Foreign Affairs, and Interior ministries.

[End of enclosure received]