News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

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

Re: DPMO Weekly Update

Date: July 29, 1998

Defense POW/MIA Weekly Update

KOREAN WAR REMAINS RETURNED

Remains believed to be those of three American soldiers were repatriated last week in United Nations Command military ceremonies in the demilitarized zone at Panmunjom.

The remains were recovered in joint operations between U. S. and North Korean specialists. The U. S. ArmyÍs Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI) and DPMO officials made up the U. S. side of the team. This was the second joint operation of 1998 and the fifth since the beginning in 1996 of this bilateral work. Since 1996, remains believed to represent 11 soldiers have been recovered. The first remains were recovered in July 1996, identified by CILHI and returned to the family for burial in the U. S. with full military honors.

Three more joint operations are scheduled for this year in North Korea.

JTF-FA OPERATIONS BEGIN IN LAOS

The Joint Task Force-Full Accounting has begun its 39th joint field activity in Laos to conduct joint investigations and remains recovery operations across six Lao provinces. The operations are scheduled to last 33 days, and the joint team plans to excavate as many as eight sites.

The U. S. team will consist of 43 specialists with experience in investigations and remains recovery operations and will be joined by Lao officials. The excavations are conducted by elements composed primarily of members of the U. S. ArmyÍs CILHI.

Team leader is U. S. Army LTC Robert Gahagan, commander of JTF-FAÍs detachment 3 in Vientiane. There are 2,086 Americans still unaccounted-for in Southeast Asia. Of that total, 446 are unaccounted-for in Laos.

DPMO TO INTERVIEW FORMER POWs

Korean War analysts from DPMO will attend two veteransÍ reunions in August, the Korean War Ex-POW Association Convention in Portland and the 1st Cavalry Division Association Reunion in Buffalo.

Analysts will be conducting interviews in order to obtain circumstances of loss information on servicemen still unaccounted-for from the Korean War. Information from these interviews will be used to support the development of team search packets for future joint remains recovery operations in North Korea.

FAMILY LIAISON OFFICER ADDRESSES HOMETOWN VETS

U. S. Navy Commander Steve Dohl recently addressed a group of veterans in Calumet City, Ill., on the work of the U. S. government to account for MIAs from all conflicts. A native of Lansing, Ill., Dohl took time away from his vacation to speak to American Legion Post 330 about DoDÍs efforts in this humanitarian mission.

Dohl serves on the staff of the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office in Washington and works as a family support/casualty liaison officer. He assists the military service casualty offices and individual family members in remaining updated on worldwide accounting efforts. He is a helicopter pilot, a 16-year veteran of Navy service, and has been assigned to DPMO for 1-* years.

NATIONAL VETS GROUP DONATES U. S. FLAG

AMVETS, a national veterans service organization, has donated an American flag to DPMO to display at the monthly family update meetings around the country. These updates are some of the most successful programs in outreach efforts to provide current information to POW/MIA families. Each month, government officials travel to major metropolitan areas to brief families on the status of individual cases and on the governmentÍs operations and policies in accounting for the missing. In expressing his appreciation to AMVETS, Bob Jones, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs, wrote Joe Ramsey, the Executive Director, National Service Foundation of AMVETS, "ItÍs organizations like the AMVETs and others who provide their time, efforts and sacrifices for all the men and women in the Armed Services which make us all proud to be Americans."

Published by the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office
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