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To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: He's Home

Date: November 09, 2000

33-year wait precedes MIA's funeral Navy pilot's remains returned from Vietnam
Associated Press Friday, November 3, 2000

Augusta --- After more than 33 years of waiting, Chris Rich will finally attend his father's funeral Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery.

Navy Cmdr. Richard Rich was shot down in Vietnam in May 1967, just 15 days before he was scheduled to return home. Chris Rich has been notified that scattered remains found last spring were identified as those of his father. He will accompany the remains to the burial site.

''As hard as it is to live with these bone fragments as him, to hold and to touch them is almost the same thing as being able to go to the casket,'' Chris Rich said. ''I'll be able to close this chapter of my life.''

The remains --- 30 bone chips and a tooth --- were studied at the Army's Central Identification Lab in Hawaii. Secretary of Defense William Cohen visited the crash site where they were found about 20 miles southwest of Hanoi last spring, bringing attention to the case.

It is the only excavation Cohen has visited since taking office in January 1997, said Pentagon spokesman Larry Greer.

''The commitment that the government has spelled out is, we will seek the fullest possible accounting of all missing in action from all conflicts,'' Greer said.

There are still 1,991 soldiers listed as missing in action from the Vietnam War, according to the Pentagon. Excavations of crash sites are continuing.

Chris Rich's wife, Dianne, is the daughter of Air Force Tech Sgt. Thomas Moore, who is listed as missing in action.

''Three decades is a long time to wait to have to bury someone,'' Dianne Rich said. ''It's something we wait for --- you live for the day to come so you can say goodbye.''

Family members, members of Richard Rich's squadron and children of other soldiers listed as MIA will attend Tuesday's service. There will be a 21-gun salute, a playing of tapes and a Navy fly-over.

Chris Rich will break apart an MIA bracelet with his father's name engraved on it, burying one piece with his father's remains and placing the other by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

He also will remove a copper bracelet he has worn for 20 years in memory of his father.

''That bracelet is a man,'' Rich said. ''These were made to remind people they were a prisoner of war or missing in action. When they come home, there's no reason to wear them anymore.

''He's home.''