News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: DPMO Update

Date: September 18, 1999

Defense POW/MIA Weekly Update
September 17, 1999

NATIONAL POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY, 1999
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

As we look back over this century that is swiftly drawing to a close, we recognize that the light of freedom still burns brightly in our world today because of the service and sacrifice of America's men and women in uniform. Through the devastation of two world wars and the brutality of numerous regional conflicts; on peacekeeping assignments and humanitarian missions; from the darkest days of the Cold War to the fall of the Berlin Wall, our Nation's servicemen and women have fought the forces of tyranny and won signal victories for liberty, human dignity, and the ideals of democracy. On every continent, on the seas, and in the air, gallant young Americans have paid for our future with their own, and many have preserved our freedom by sacrificing their own.

On National POW/MIA Recognition Day, we remember with profound gratitude those who suffered captivity and those whose fate remains unknown. Many American POWs were tortured at the hands of their captors; all experienced the ordeal of being held against their will and the anguish of indefinite separation from their families and their homeland.

Today we also honor the valiant families of our fellow citizens who remain missing -- families who have had to suffer not only the absence of their loved ones, but also the uncertainty of their fate. As Americans, we remain unshakable in our resolve to achieve the fullest possible accounting of those missing and to strive to bring home the remains of those who have died. Only by doing so can we begin to acknowledge the debt we owe to these patriots and assuage the grief of the families they left behind for the sake of our Nation.

On September 17, 1999, the flag of the National League of Families of American Prisoners of War and Missing in Southeast Asia, a black and white banner symbolizing America's missing and our unwavering determination to account for them, will be flown over the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Departments of State, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, the Selective Service System Headquarters, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, national cemeteries, and other locations across our country.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 17, 1999, as National POW/MIA Recognition Day. I ask all Americans to join me in honoring former American prisoners of war and those whose fate is still undetermined. I also encourage the American people to remember with compassion and concern the courageous families who persevere in their quest to know the fate of their missing loved ones. Finally, I urge Federal, State, and local officials and private organizations to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies, programs, and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of September in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fourth.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON

ARLINGTON CEREMONY HONORS POWs, MIAs, FAMILIES

Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Henry H. Shelton and Sen. Max Cleland spoke today at a national POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Attendees at the ceremony included former POWs, veterans, servicemembers and family members of missing in action servicemen.

POW/MIA Recognition Day is traditionally held on the third Friday in September. On that day, many states, communities, family organizations, and veterans' organizations commemorate POW/MIA Recognition Day in local ceremonies. The commemoration at Arlington National Cemetery will include formal military honors with assembled troops from all of the military Services and two joint Service flyovers, one with helicopters and one with jet aircraft. As the Department of Defense announced June 17, part of the Sept. 17 ceremony included the formal dedication of a new inscription above the existing dates (1958-1975) on the tomb cover of the Vietnam Unknown in the Tomb of the Unknowns: "Honoring and Keeping Faith with America's Missing Servicemen." The event was open to the public.

DISINTERMENT OF UNIDENTIFIED REMAINS BEGINS IN HAWAII

The disinterment of the remains of two Korean War servicemen previously classified as "unknown" began Wednesday in Hawaii at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, commonly known as the Punch Bowl.

United States Pacific Command will conducted a Joint Services Disinterment Ceremony to honor the deceased servicemen. The ceremony included a joint color guard and two joint Service casket bearer teams.

The Department of Defense announced in May a policy to apply mitochondrial DNA technology to identify Korean War and World War II remains previously classified as "unknown" and interred in national cemeteries. In 1995, DoD certified the use of mtDNA as a reliable forensic tool. Since then, further improvements and refinements in the use of mtDNA technology have occurred to enhance the possibility of positive identification.

"In applying the latest technology available to us, we hope to provide answers to family members who lost loved ones during the war -- some nearly 50 years ago," said Robert L. Jones, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs. "Our work in identifying the Vietnam Unknown from the Tomb of the Unknowns led us naturally to this work in the Punch Bowl cemetery," he added.

In 1998, the Department of Defense identified the Vietnam Unknown as U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Blassie using mtDNA from his remains and matching test results with those from his family. He was killed in Vietnam in 1972, classified as an unknown, and interred in the Tomb in 1984. Blassie's remains now rest at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Mo.

For the past five years, the Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii, has applied the science of mtDNA to approximately 45 percent of its cases. The Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in Rockville, Md., carries out the mtDNA laboratory work.

The cemetery with the greatest number of gravesites containing unknown remains is the Punch Bowl, which is part of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration. This cemetery contains 866 remains of unidentified soldiers from the Korean War. Following the cease-fire in 1953, most of these remains were turned over by the North Koreans.

The records associated with each of the unknown remains located in the Punch Bowl cemetery were subject to a rigorous evaluation before the decision was made to disinter. CILHI determines whether there is strong circumstantial evidence associating a serviceman's name with a set of remains. Since mtDNA is to be used to identify most of these remains, a comparison blood sample is needed. DoD continues to obtain mtDNA samples from family members from each serviceman's maternal bloodline. Scientists believe a total of 50-70 cases may be candidates for eventual disinterment.

The CILHI will direct the identification process and the actual disinterment action, which has been closely coordinated with the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

MIA SEARCH TEAM DEPLOYS TO VIETNAM

A team of 98 mostly Hawaii-based U.S. military specialists leave for Vietnam today with hopes of recovering remains that may lead to the identification of American servicemen missing in action from the war in Southeast Asia.

On Tuesday, members from Joint Task Force-Full Accounting at Camp Smith and the U.S. Army's Central Identification Lab at Hickam AFB will join technical representatives from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to begin joint investigations and remains recovery operations in 23 Vietnamese provinces and cities. Sixty-eight cases involving aircraft and ground losses are scheduled for investigation during the 30-day operation. There are six primary excavation sites and three alternate locations.

Since 1973, the remains of 529 American service members, formerly listed as unaccounted for, have been identified and returned to their families. There are currently 2,054 Americans still unaccounted-for from the war in Southeast Asia, 1,530 in Vietnam.

This will be the 42nd Joint Field Activity conducted in Vietnam, and the 103rd overall JFA in the tri-country region of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia since Joint Task Force-Full Accounting was formed in January 1992 at Camp Smith. The 98 team members are comprised of 46 U.S. Army, 21 Air Force, 12 Navy, 10 Marines, and nine Department of Defense civilians.

DISCUSSIONS CONTINUE WITH CHINESE GOVERNMENT

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Bob Jones departs Sunday for Beijing to continue discussions there on U. S. servicemen missing in action from the Korean War. Jones had previously presented 44 case inquiries to the Chinese. He requested information relating to Americans, drawing from categories: Korean War POW camps; ground battles (Chosin Reservoir, Chongchon River, Demilitarized Zone); air losses; and POW names appearing in Chinese periodicals. While in China he will travel to Mao'er mountain in the south and receive briefings on the joint U.S.-China operation to recover the remains of WWII American airmen whose B-24 crashed in 1944.

Published by the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office
(703) 602-2102
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