News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: DPMO Weekly Update

Date: February 13, 2001

"Defense POW/MIA Weekly Update
January 31, 2001

WWII, KOREAN WAR REMAINS DISINTERRED IN HAWAII

Four sets of remains believed to be those of missing in action servicemen from War World II and the Korean War were disinterred recently from Hawaii's National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

The cemetery, known as the Punch Bowl, is the resting-place of more than 800 "unknown" remains from the Korean War, and more than 2,000 from WWII. Most of the Korean War remains were received by the U.S. after the ceasefire in 1953. Another 204 were turned over by the North Koreans between 1991 and 1994 and are currently in the possession of the Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI). The Punch Bowl Cemetery is part of the National Cemetery Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs.

These disinterments are a follow-on action to exploit the science of mitochondrial DNA, which enabled CILHI to identify the remains exhumed from the Tomb of the Unknowns in 1998. CILHI specialists reviewed records of servicemen buried in the Punch Bowl which appeared to offer a probability of identification and selected four for disinterment. Mitochondrial DNA is used by CILHI scientists in about 45% of the identifications from WWII, the Korean War, the Cold War and the Vietnam War.

In September 1999, CILHI disinterred two sets of remains believed to be those of Korean War soldiers. Since that time, the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) has carried out hundreds of tests on these remains, but has been unable to establish a reliable "sequence" of test results. Scientists at AFDIL have theorized that a preservative chemical used in the 1950s may be blocking the extraction of the DNA.

These two sets of remains were thought to have the highest probability of identification, and potential family members of these unknowns were contacted to obtain DNA information.

The additional four sets of remains disinterred recently are also viewed by CILHI scientists as offering a high probability of identification. Family members believed to be associated with these remains have been contacted.

CILHI has requested that AFDIL conduct mitochondrial DNA tests to compare to family samples. These were the two agencies which successfully identified 1st Lt. Michael Blassie from the Tomb of the Unknowns in 1998. Blassie's remains now rest at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis.

REMAINS REPATRIATED FROM SOUTHEAST ASIA

Remains believed to be those of six unaccounted-for American servicemen from the war in Southeast Asia will begin the journey home to American soil this week from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. An all-service honor guard will commemorate their arrival on Feb. 9 in a ceremony at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.

Following the Hickam ceremony, the remains will be taken to the Army's Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii (CILHI), where the forensic identification process will begin.

A repatriation ceremony was held for one set of remains from Cambodia on Feb. 7 at the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia. A separate ceremony is scheduled for four sets of remains from Vietnam on Feb. 8 at the Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam. From Vietnam, the five sets of remains as well as one set of remains from Laos will be flown to Anderson Air Force Base in Guam. From there, they will be flown to Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, to arrive on Friday.

Military and civilian members who recovered the remains during recent search and recovery missions include personnel from Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA), CILHI, the Joint Field Operating Base Hawaii (Stony Beach) and technical representatives from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the Kingdom of Cambodia. The missions are part of an on-going effort to provide the fullest possible accounting for American servicemen still unaccounted-for as a result of the Vietnam War.

AMERICAN AND CHINESE VETS MEET ON KOREAN WAR MIAS

The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs, Robert L. Jones, traveled to Beijing in January with a group of six American veterans of the Korean War to meet with Chinese counterparts. This visit initiated the U.S. - China Korean War Veterans Exchange Program to support and augment oral history and archival research efforts underway in China.

During this trip Jones and the delegation had opportunities to discuss accounting issues with his counterparts in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the Red Cross Society of China, and the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Engaging the PLA in the Korean War accounting process has been a chief Department of Defense goal for a number of years, and the assignment of a PLA official as one of the points of contact for this visit was a significant accomplishment.

The initial meeting took place at the Headquarters of the Red Cross Society of China. The Society's deputy director, Mr. Wang Xiaohua, greeted the delegation and noted the significance of old foes meeting in peace and friendship. Mr. Xiang Xu, a retired political commissar for the PLA, made opening remarks for the Chinese veterans, and Mr. Harley Coon, President of the Korean War Veterans Association, responded for the U.S. veterans.

The U.S. veterans expressed the hope that this would be the first of many exchanges, and that the dialogue between veterans would increase the flow of information about the Korean War between the two sides. They added that POW/MIA accounting issues remain important to Americans. The U.S. veterans also keyed on several substantive areas of concern relevant to the Korean War accounting process. For example, they inquired about "other records," possibly held by the Red Cross, as opposed to the MFA or PLA, that might be found at outlying regional sites. Also, in response to the Chinese veterans' discussion of an annual meeting of former POW camp administrators, the U.S. veterans expressed an interest in having a U.S. representative invited to a future session for oral history purposes.

The U.S. veterans had further opportunities to discuss accounting issues with their Chinese counterparts during a tour of the Forbidden City, a visit to the Korean War Exhibit at the PLA Military Museum, and during formal lunches and dinners. During one of these discussions the Chinese veterans mentioned that they did not have the benefit of organized, non-governmental veterans organizations like those in the U.S., and hoped to learn more about such organizations from the U.S. veterans.

At the conclusion of the trip, Jones and the six U.S. veterans held a press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Jones expressed hope that programs such as the veterans exchange would build confidence and increase information sharing between U.S. and Chinese organizations. Each of the veterans expressed satisfaction with the exchange, and they felt that increased cooperation in accounting programs would result.

DPMO HOSTS PERSONNEL RECOVERY CONFERENCE

DPMO hosted the Fourth Annual DoD Personnel Recovery Conference at the end of January in Crystal City, Va. The goals of the conference were:

* To heighten awareness of personnel recovery at the highest levels of the U.S. government. * To exchange ideas within the recovery community. * To identify and resolve policy-level issues pertaining to personnel recovery within DoD and the interagency community. * To chart a course for the future of personnel recovery within the Department.

The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs, Robert L. Jones, welcomed the attendees to the conference. Jones asked the audience to use their time at the conference to determine the following:

* Do DoD's personnel recovery policies support operational requirements? * Do DoD's personnel recovery acquisition and research and development efforts provide the right equipment? * Does DoD's personnel recovery force structure ensure the right recovery assets are in the right place at the right time?


The keynote address, "U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) Vision of the Future for Personnel Recovery," was given by the Deputy Commander in Chief, USJFCOM, Vice Adm. Martin Mayer. Mayer discussed USJFCOM's plans for personnel recovery, as the command recently assumed DoD Executive Agency for personnel recovery from the U.S. Air Force.

The Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force, Gen. John W. Handy, also addressed the conference to discuss the Air Force's roles and responsibilities for personnel recovery. Handy stressed that although the Air Force no longer is the Executive Agent for personnel recovery, it continues to allocate substantial resources and training to the personnel recovery mission.

This year's conference had 450 attendees, more than twice the number of any previous year. Thirty-four flag officers and civilian-equivalents attended. In addition, for the first time ever, representatives from allied militaries also attended. Resolving the issues discussed at the conference will help to ensure that if American or allied service men and women become isolated, our forces will have the tools required to return them with honor.

DPMO DIRECTOR MEETS WITH SOUTHEAST ASIAN AMBASSADORS

The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs, Robert L. Jones recently met with the ambassadors from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam to discuss ongoing accounting operations and upcoming initiatives. Lao Ambassador Vang Rattanavang and Jones reviewed the progress that U.S.-Lao Joint Recovery Operations have made during the past several months. This progress included raising the U.S. personnel cap from 40 to 50, and allowing greater flexibility in both the length and location of recovery operations. More importantly, the Ambassador gave indications that the Lao government is willing to continue reviewing measures to improve the effectiveness of these operations, a theme echoed that same week by the Lao Minister of Defense during a separate meeting with the Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Command. Although U.S.-Lao cooperation in the POW-MIA mission requires further improvement, significant progress has been made over the past several months.

Later, Jones hosted a lunch with Vietnamese Ambassador Le Van Bang. He expressed his appreciation for the Ambassador's support regarding President Clinton's recent visit to Vietnam, hailing the trip as opening a new era for bilateral relations. Jones noted that such advances were made possible in large part, because of cooperation on POW/MIA accounting efforts. He asked the Ambassador to encourage Vietnamese authorities to sustain unilateral investigative efforts, and commended Vietnamese cooperation in DPMO's oral history program. Both Jones and Le Bang discussed personnel changes and transitions in key governmental positions pertaining to the change in the Administration, but each stressed continued commitment to the accounting process. In closing, Jones presented a large quantity of U.S. archival material containing information on Vietnamese wartime losses to assist in Vietnam's internal accounting efforts.

In another working lunch, Jones met with Cambodian Ambassador Roland Eng and Hun Manet, son of the Cambodian Prime Minister. Jones and Eng reviewed the successes from the past year, especially the most recent Joint Field Activity. They also discussed the recent V211 cemetery find, and potential Vietnamese recovery operations there. Jones expressed gratitude for Cambodian government cooperation in POW - MIA issues, and he requested continuing support, especially with an upcoming joint analyst-to-analyst meeting, trilateral operations, and assistance in finding witnesses, such as from the Khmer Rouge. The ambassador was happy to note that Cambodia is taking the lead among Southeast Asia nations in POW - MIA cooperation, and requested Jones' help to ensure U.S. government officials are aware of his nation's efforts. Eng requested forensic training for Cambodian scientists, and asked if anything further could be provided to Cambodia for humanitarian assistance. Jones noted that it would probably be easier on his part to possibly obtain some forensic training, which is legally permitted, but he would inquire on the ambassador's behalf.

DPMO HOLDS NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER BREAKFAST

DPMO held a Prayer Breakfast last week in conjunction with the National Day of Prayer. DPMO's guests included the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Anthony Principi, representatives of veterans' service organizations, representatives of family organizations, and former POWs and family members of unaccounted-for servicemen who reside in the Washington, D.C. area. The guest speaker was retired Air Force Lt. Col. Norman Duquette, a former POW from the Korean War.

The ceremony included the presentation of the colors, pledge of allegiance, and missing person ceremony punctuated by prayers and Biblical readings.

Duquette gave a stirring speech that included the history that led to the Korean conflict, recognized nine members of his squadron who remain unaccounted-for, described the events of his shootdown and capture, and described his life and the conditions in various POW camps within North Korea and China.

Duquette also described his isolation with a small group of prisoners, who refused to yield to their interrogators' demands to issue untruthful propaganda statements on behalf of their captors. He said that even though an armistice was signed, the prisoners were not immediately made aware of it, and the enemy continued to seek propaganda statements from the prisoners.

One uplifting moment that Duquette described near the end of his speech concerned the prisoners' repatriation. He told of being in a three-truck convoy that was halted for three hours, when it was only a few a few miles from freedom at Kaesong. Although the prisoners believed that some act of treachery was about to occur, they were actually waiting for the vehicle carrying Marine Gen. Raymond Davis to arrive and lead them out of North Korea.

Duquette ended his speech by describing two of his recurring dreams. In the first, he is imprisoned, but is able to call out to American to rescue him. In the second, he is buried, and hopes that someday, someone will find him. Concerning his latter dream, he urged DPMO to continue its efforts to ensure that Americans buried in distant lands from long-ago wars be returned to their homes and families.

DPMO PARTICIPATES IN CASE COORDINATION CONFERENCE

DPMO analysts joined recently with others from the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, the DIA's Stony Beach and the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii for the 21st Case Coordination Conference.

The purpose of this coordination conference was to establish the "next steps" in seeking to resolve 196 cases involving 370 individuals. The analysts agreed that promising leads were available to continue the pursuit of 355 of the 370 cases. They moved two other individuals from the "no further pursuit" category to one of continued pursuit. In the absence of current leads, 12 cases were placed in the "deferred" category, meaning that should additional evidence be obtained these cases could be moved to an active pursuit category again. Only one case was moved to the "no further pursuit" category, as the search for all evidence has been exhausted, and no further leads exist on which to continue the search. The analysts believe that the remains of the serviceman are unrecoverable in this case."