News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

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

Re: POW-MIA Remarks - Alphonse D'Amato

Date: September 22, 1998

NATIONAL POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY
(Senate - September 18, 1998)

[Page: S10606]

Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I rise to remind everyone that today is National POW /MIA Recognition Day. On this day, we should remember, give tribute to, and stand in solidarity with the loved ones and families of the thousands of Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen who were or are Prisoners of War and Missing in Action. I am humbled by and grateful for their love of country and their sense of duty and honor.

Amidst the somber thoughts, the feelings of gratitude and pride that this day brings, as a Nation we must be uneasy. Uneasy because while we are a nation at peace and the wars in which these men fought are long over, they have not all returned home and we should not rest until their families have their loved ones back.

These Americans swore an oath to support and defend the constitution and carried that promise through to the ultimate sacrifice for this great nation. While thousands died, many others endured years in starved, tortured, isolated misery before regaining the freedoms we enjoy. Their persistence, integrity and heroism are shining examples of the core values on which this nation was founded and became great.

Mr. President, we need to produce results. Headway is being made, but there is still a long way to go before we have the fullest possible accounting of all POW /MIA personnel.

Over the past six years, 136 Americans have been accounted for from Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia thanks to extensive field work. Earlier this month, thanks to the US-Russia Joint Commission on POW /MIAS established in 1991, seventeen airmen were at long last identified, returned to their native soil laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. These brave airmen were shot down over Soviet Armenia in 1958, during the height of the Cold War. For their loved ones and family members, the long wait is over, but by no means will their loss or sacrifices be forgotten. For many, however, the anguish continues.

While much of the focus on POW /MIAs has rightly been on Southeast Asia where 2081 personnel remain unaccounted for, we must also honor those who were held prisoner and who are missing in action in other remote parts of the globe. More than 80,000 Americans remain missing and unaccounted for from World War I, World War II and the Korean conflict, and countless others from the Cold War.

These great Americans and their families have the gratitude of a great and free nation, but we in the Senate shall not rest until all are returned or accounted for. I urge you, Mr. President, the Administration, the Departments of Defense and State, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the National Security Agency to redouble their efforts to bring our boys hone as quickly as possible. Let us all take to heart the motto from the POW /MIA flag, which flies over the Capitol today, and which is displayed every day in the Capitol rotunda: `YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN.'