News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: POW-MIA Search Canceled

Date: November 12, 1999

DPMO PRESS RELEASE NO. #99-28
NOV. 10, 1999

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MIA SEARCH MISSION CANCELED DUE TO VIETNAMESE FLOODS

CAMP H. M. SMITH, Hawaii - Due to devastating floods in the central region of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the US has canceled a scheduled mission to search and recover the remains of Americans who are missing and unaccounted-for from the war in Southeast Asia. The canceled mission, which would have been the 43rd Joint Field Activity held in Vietnam since Joint Task Force-Full Accounting was created in January 1992, is the first time a search and recovery mission has been canceled.

The mission was scheduled to occur Nov. 18 to Dec. 16 in 29 Vietnamese provinces, including the areas most heavily affected by the flooding. The decision to cancel was made today by Adm. Dennis C. Blair, commander in chief of US Pacific Command, based on a recommendation by US Ambassador to Vietnam Douglas "Pete" Peterson.

The primary reason for the cancellation is to ensure the Vietnamese government has full use of their helicopters, which are critical to flying food, medical, and relief supplies and workers to the disaster areas.

"We normally use dozens of helicopter sorties to fly search and recovery teams into remote regions throughout the country," said Army Brig. Gen. Harry B. Axson, Jr., commander of Joint Task Force-Full Accounting. "Our mission would have coincided with Vietnamese relief efforts to recover from a natural disaster that has been described as their worst in a century in terms of lives lost and property damage. Canceling this operation means our mission does not hinder Vietnamese efforts to take care of their own citizens."

Headquartered at Camp H. M. Smith, Hawaii, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting is the lead Defense Department organization responsible for accounting for those Americans who did not return home from the war in Southeast Asia. Currently, there are 2,045 unaccounted-for Americans, military and civilian.

The Task Force normally conducts 11 search and recovery missions per year -- about 35 days in duration each -- in Indochina, five in Vietnam, five in Laos, and one in Cambodia.

A repatriation ceremony of remains believed to be American will still occur as scheduled on Nov. 18 at Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport. Those remains were recovered during a similar operation in September and October. Also unaffected is the next scheduled Joint Field Activity in Vietnam, currently set for Feb. 22 to March 22, 2000.