News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Speicher Remembered

Date: January 13, 2001

"Missing Gulf War Pilot Remembered
By RON WORD, Associated Press Writer

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - The hometown of an American pilot shot down in the Gulf War still is filled with reminders of his life - and monuments of a death that is now in question.

The Navy announced Thursday it has changed the status of Lt. Cmdr. Scott Speicher from killed in action to missing in action, prompting Jacksonville residents to wonder whether he may have survived.

"I was in the service and you just don't leave people out there," said Jim Cherney, who taught Speicher at Forrest High School in 1975 and said an investigation of the crash was long overdue. "I hope this can bring about some closure for the family."

Speicher was presumed dead at 33 after his plane went down Jan. 16, 1991, the first night of the war. But President Clinton said Friday the government has asked Iraq to explain what became of Speicher in response to information suggesting he might be alive.

"He was a real good student. He was goal oriented. He was a good athlete. He was the All-American kid," Cherney said. "He was one of those kids you just knew would make something from his life."

The entrance to the high school includes a statue of Speicher, and his alma mater, Florida State University, built the $2 million Scott Speicher Tennis Center in 1993. His name was also engraved in a memorial to Gulf War dead at Mayport Naval Station near Jacksonville.

Speicher's final flight was from the deck of the USS Saratoga, which was based at Mayport.

Another memorial sits outside Lakeshore United Methodist Church, where Speicher taught Sunday school. The black marble monument lists the details of Speicher's crash and includes an American flag and a picture of a jet plane and American flag.

Speicher is also memorialized with a marker placed on an unmarked grave in Arlington National Cemetery."