News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

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

Re:DPMO Weekly Update - 19 NOV 98

Date: December 04, 1998

Defense POW/MIA Weekly Update

THREE SERVICEMEN ACCOUNTED FOR

The remains of three American airmen previously unaccounted-for from the war in Southeast Asia have been identified and returned to the United States for burial.

The first set of remains is identified as those of Maj. Woodrow W. Parker II, US Air Force, of St. Petersburg, Fla. The other remains are those of ParkerÕs aircraft commander. At the wishes of his family, the identity of these remains will not be released. Since the end of American participation in the war in 1973, the remains of 505 Americans have been recovered and identified; 2,078 remain unaccounted-for. A third Air Force officer has also been identified, but his name is not being released at the request of his family.

On April 24, 1968, Parker and his aircraft commander were on a combat mission over Quang Binh province, North Vietnam, when their F-4D Phantom crashed amid a large fireball. The flight leader was unable to establish radio contact. No parachutes were observed, nor was there an emergency signal detected. Hostile threats in the area precluded airborne or ground search and rescue operations.

In April 1992, a joint U.S.-Vietnam team, led by the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, interviewed several local informants in a village near the location of the loss. Three informants turned over human remains and survival- related items that had been collected at the crash site years earlier. In July of 1992, a second joint U.S.-Vietnam team returned to the site and recovered aircraft wreckage and crew-related equipment.

A third joint team excavated the crash site during Aug.-Sept. 1993 and recovered aircraft wreckage, life support equipment and several skeletal fragments.

Anthropological analysis of the remains and other evidence by the US Army Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii confirmed the identification of Parker and his aircraft commander.

REMAINS OF U. S. SOLDIERS RETURN FROM NORTH KOREA

Remains believed to be those of nine American Servicemen were repatriated from North Korea across the demilitarized zone at Panmunjom Nov. 6. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs Robert L. Jones was present to witness the turnover.

The remains were recovered by a joint U.S.-North Korean team operating near Kujang-dong along the ChÕong-chon River, 100 miles north of Pyongyang, for the past 24 days. This is the fifth joint operation in North Korea during 1998 and the ninth overall since these recoveries began in 1996. This is the largest number of remains recovered from any single operation. Representatives of several veterans and family organizations were invited by the North Korean government to visit the excavation site. This delegation expressed its appreciation for cooperation on this humanitarian mission, and conveyed its hope that further cooperation would help provide more answers to American families in the future.

Since July 1996, these joint teams have recovered what are believed to be the remains of 27 soldiers. One was identified as US Army Corporal Lawrence LeBouef of Covington, La. Several other identifications are imminent.

These operations are the result of negotiated agreements between the government of the Democratic PeopleÕs Republic of Korea and the US government, led by the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office. The DPMO has also obtained agreements to conduct archival research inside North Korea of wartime military records that may relate to American POWs. Three such visits have been conducted in 1997 and 1998, with hundreds of documents obtained which relate to American prisoners.

With more than 8,100 Servicemen missing in action from the Korean War, the DPMO and the military Services have mounted a massive outreach effort to locate families of the missing from the Korean War and from the Cold War.

The expanded outreach effort is to accomplish several goals. First, family member reference blood samples are needed to compare to mitochondrial DNA sequences from recovered skeletal remains. Second, family members often possess personal or wartime documents that may aid in identifying an unaccounted-for Serviceman. Finally, the military Services are seeking to keep family members updated on specific recovery operations and if remains are recovered and identified, families will be asked to make decisions regarding the burial of the serviceman.

Beyond the Korean War outreach effort, families of Cold War unaccounted-for servicemen are also being sought. Through the work of the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs, the remains of 18 servicemen shot down during the Cold War have been recovered and identified, with more than 120 still unaccounted- for.

Each of the services has established a toll-free number to keep these families fully informed on Korean War and Cold War remains recovery operations. Family members of these servicemen should contact the appropriate service casualty office to provide name, address and relationship to their loved one.

If the missing serviceman was in the Army, the number is (800) 892-2490. The Navy number is (800) 443-9298. The Air Force number is (800) 531-5501 and the Marine Corps number is (800) 847-1597. Families of civilians missing from these conflicts may contact the State Department at (202) 647-6769.

JONES ADDRESSES NATIONAL VETERANS DAY EVENT

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs Bob Jones addressed the annual Veterans Day memorial service at the Punchbowl National Cemetery in Honolulu.

He pledged to do everything possible to uphold the nationÕs commitment to achieve the fullest possible accounting for every American missing in the service to his or her country. Many of Hawaii's sons never returned from hostile action, Jones noted, but the U. S. government carries out an active effort to bring them all home.

He highlighted the worldwide operations taking place to account for AmericaÕs missing servicemen and civilians. He addressed analysis and recovery operations related to losses from World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War and the Vietnam War, noting the repatriation earlier in the week of remains believed to be three American servicemen from Vietnam and nine from North Korea. Jones witnessed both repatriations in ceremonies at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi, and on the Demilitarized Zone at Panmunjom in Korea.

VIETNAM POW/MIA TALKS END Senior Defense officials have concluded a series of high-level talks in Hanoi, Vietnam, reviewing progress on cooperation on the issue of the fullest possible accounting of Americans missing in action from the war in Southeast Asia.

Led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs Robert L. Jones, the delegation met with key vice ministers whose agencies work with American officials on POW/MIA accounting. JonesÕ discussions centered on the four broad areas related to achieving the fullest possible accounting against which VietnamÕs level of cooperation on the issue is measured.

These areas include resolving discrepancy cases and live sightings, as well as conducting field activities; recovering and repatriating American remains; accelerating efforts to provide documents that will help lead to an accounting; and providing further assistance in implementing trilateral investigations with Laos.

He noted the increasing levels of commitment to this mission by the Vietnamese populace. Citizens have approached U. S. teams, he said, with information about American losses or burial sites. He cited such positive actions as an indicator of the Vietnamese government's improvements in staffing, responsiveness and professionalism. Jones urged the ministers to continue such improvements, with emphasis on working with neighboring governments to share POW/MIA-related information. American, Vietnamese and Lao officials regularly investigate loss sites on the Vietnam-Laos border.

The U. S. government, Jones said, has noted significant improvement in the quantity and quality of Vietnamese unilateral investigations over the past year. Vietnamese unilateral teams have discovered new crash sites and provided valuable information on American remains as yet unidentified at the U. S. Army's Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii.

In an effort to assist the Vietnamese in resolving some of their cases, Secretary Jones announced that U. S. archivists have located U. S. Army records relating to burial sites of Vietnamese military casualties. He offered access to these records in the National Archives, and assistance in indexing and copying the records for return to Vietnam.

Earlier, U. S. and Vietnamese representatives met in Da Lat, Vietnam, to assess the past 10 years of U. S. -Vietnamese joint activity. Leading that delegation was Brig. Gen. Terry L. Tucker, commander of the Joint Task Force- Full Accounting (JTF-FA), headquartered at Camp Smith, Hawaii. Gen. Tucker joined Secretary Jones in Hanoi for the policy-level discussions with the Vietnamese ministers.

At the Da Lat meeting, both sides focused on improving the effectiveness of joint investigations and recoveries which began in 1985. U. S. teams were first granted access to Vietnam that year and returned with remains of Americans missing in action from the war. The JTF-FA is the DoD agency which leads operations in Southeast Asia to resolve unaccounted-for cases there.

Over the past 10 years, U. S. -Vietnamese teams have conducted 2,000 case investigations, nearly 5,000 individual interviews and 300 site excavations in almost 1,000 cities and villages. They also examined more than 28,000 records and documents. U. S. and Vietnamese delegates at Da Lat pledged to continue such cooperation in the future, to include examining initiatives to make field operations more efficient, such as clearing decades of thick jungle underbrush prior to the beginning of on-site excavations. Such clearing operations can take a day or two at every recovery operation.

At the conclusion of their Vietnam visit, Secretary Jones and Gen. Tucker witnessed a repatriation ceremony at Noi Bai Airport, Hanoi, at which the remains of American servicemen recently recovered in joint operations were returned to American control.

RUSSIAN DOCUMENTS RELEASED TO U. S.

Officials of the Russian government have presented to the U. S. a collection of some 6,000 documents and 300 photographs from their military archives which relate to one of their combat units which flew in the Korean War.

During the 15th Plenum of the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIA Affairs held in Moscow last week, the Russians presented to the documents and photos from Russian Ministry of Defense Archives in Podol'sk. All the archival material passed to the American side pertains to the Soviet Union's 64th Fighter Aviation Corps which flew 74 percent of all the combat sorties flown by the communists forces during the Korean War.

The material contains descriptions of air combat between Soviets and the UN air forces, most of which were American. Often the records describe where aircraft crashed and on occasion note whether parachutes were seen. In a few cases there are photographs of aircraft wreckage and, in a few cases, remains of American airmen.

These archival documents will be used by American analysts at the Defense POW- Missing Personnel Office to clarify the fates of unaccounted for American servicemen from the Korean War. The documents may assist future U.S.-North Korean Joint Recovery Operations to locate remains of missing American airmen.

US researchers working in Podol'sk selected the material for photocopying. However, until the Russians passed this material to the US side last week, American researchers were allowed only to read the documents and to take notes. A preliminary analysis of US notes has already allowed the Department of Defense to pass information to the families of missing personnel. Now that the Defense POW-Missing Personnel Office has possession of these photocopies, analysts will analyze them for additional information on unaccounted for Americans.

As each Russian document is catalogued, it will be analyzed by Russian- speaking analysts. Meanwhile, a copy of the Russian documents will be sent to the Library of Congress where it will be translated. Once translated, an electronic copy will be sent to FOIA [Freedom of Information] Branch at DPMO where it will be redacted according to privacy and McCain Act standards. The redacted version of the document will then be sent to the Library of Congress where it will be made available to the public.

Cataloging, analyzing, translating, redacting, and releasing documents is a continuous process. As each document completes this process, a copy of the original and a translated version will be provided to affected families and placed into the public domain. Nevertheless, in view of the large number of documents involved, it is anticipated that it will take at least a year to process all the documents.

RUSSIANS MEET U. S. AIR FORCE FIGHTER PILOTS

Five U. S. Air Force fighter pilots from the Korean War met with Russian officials recently to share information on American shootdowns of MiG aircraft.

The unprecedented meeting was arranged through the U. S. - Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs, which is staffed by the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO). Russian members of the commission requested assistance in resolving cases of Russian airmen missing in action from the Korean War.

A detailed analysis of the Russian cases, including the date, time and location of the shootdowns, indicated that any of these five Air Force pilots could have knowledge of the Russian cases.

The Russian side of the commission has assisted U. S. investigators for several years in interviews with Russians who have shared information about U. S. MIAs. A small U. S. team is stationed full time in Moscow, from where it conducts archival research, site visits and interviews with Russian citizens who may have knowledge of American MIAs.

The commission was established in 1992 by Presidents Bush and Yeltsin to examine information relating to Americans who may have been held by, or transferred into the former Soviet Union during the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Cold War or World War II.

The six Russian officials visited the National Archives, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the DPMO and the offices of Senator Bob Smith and Congressman Sam Johnson, both U. S. commissioners. The Russians and Americans exchanged documents during these visits which may be of assistance to both sides in their analyses of unaccounted-for servicemen. The documents given to the Americans are currently being reviewed by DPMO analysts who are seeking to correlate them with American losses in an effort to further clarify the fates of Korean War-era pilots.