News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: NLF Update Line 11 August

Date: August 30, 2000

National League of Families UPDATE LINE: August 11, 2000

Thank you for calling the National League of Families Update Line. This message is being recorded on Friday, August 11th. The number of Americans missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War is still 2,014.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/MIA Affairs Bob Jones is currently in Vientiane, Laos, for talks, having met with Vietnamese officials August 7-10th. He will be in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for talks on Monday. As his first trip to Vietnam since Secretary of Defense Cohen's visit last March, the League urged Jones to reinforce the Secretary's message on the need for Vietnam to increase its unilateral actions to locate and return remains that cannot be recovered by joint field operations, plus turnover archival records not yet provided. The League also again urged Jones to respond to the Lao Foreign Minister's offer, made to the League's May 1999 delegation, to bring in Lao officials to receive briefings by JTF-FA, CILHI and DIA's Stony Beach personnel regarding US accounting efforts in Laos. The Lao Vice Foreign Minister will visit Washington, DC, later this month at Jones' invitation. During his visit, he will meet with State and Defense Department officials and the League's executive director. He will also travel to Hawaii for briefings and meetings with officials at CILHI, JTF-FA and CINCPAC en route back to Laos. JTF-FA Commander BG Harry Axson will host the Vice Minister in Hawaii.

Three more Americans lost during the 1975 attempted rescue of the Mayaguez crew off the coast of Cambodia are now accounted for, though no names were publicly released at the request of their families. This brings to 12 the number of remains recovered and identified from that tragic incident. Between 1991 and 1999, US, Cambodian and Vietnamese personnel conducted 7 joint investigations, and Cambodian officials unilaterally turned over remains associated with this incident on 3 occasions. The identifications, made by CILHI, were achieved using technology available from the Armed Forces mtDNA Laboratory in Maryland. The accounting for these 3 Americans brings the number still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War to 2,014, 1,514 in Vietnam. Of the 427 still missing in Laos and the 65 unaccounted for in Cambodia, approximately 85% were lost in areas under Vietnam's wartime control. There are also 8 Americans still unaccounted for in the territorial waters of the PRC.

A team of 43 US specialists from Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, Central Identification Laboratory and Stony Beach is now in Laos conducting joint field operations. Scheduled to conclude around August 24th, they are conducting remains recoveries over a 30-day period at 3 sites in 2 separate provinces. On August 26th, a larger US team will begin monthlong joint operations in Vietnam. This team will work with Vietnamese citizens and specialists in 16 provinces and cities to investigate 32 cases and excavate six or more sites, including both aircraft and ground losses.

At the League's 31st Annual Meeting, June 22-25th in Washington, DC, Deputy Secretary of Defense Rudy de Leon delivered the keynote address. The League was very pleased with his specific commitments to resolve problems concerning additional personnel and resources needed for the accounting effort. Serious follow-up actions are now ongoing. For copies of Secretary de Leon's address and that given by Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera at the annual dinner, contact the League's national office.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day will be September 15th this year. The national ceremony will be held at 11:30 a.m. at the Pentagon, hosted by Deputy Secretary of Defense de Leon. Planning is well underway for ceremonies across the nation and around the world at US military installations. Contact your local post office and nearby military installations for information regarding ceremonies to be held in your area. By law, the League's POW/MIA flag will fly over most US Government buildings, all US Post Office facilities, major military installations and Federal cemeteries on National POW/MIA Recognition Day. The last required date this year for flying our POW/MIA flag will be Veterans Day, November 11th.


POW/MIA car-window decals are available at a cost of $20 per 100 by sending a check to the League office at 1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 919, Washington, DC 20036. POW/MIA lapel pins are also available at $3 each or 2/$5. For added information on any subject, please contact the League's web site at www.pow-miafamilies.org or call the national office at 202-223-6846. If no one is available to take your call, please leave a message and your call will be returned. Again, thank you for calling.