News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: NLF Update Line

Date: January 11, 2002

"Update Line
HAPPY NEW YEAR: It is our hope and prayer that 2002 brings many answers for POW/MIA families from past wars and, very importantly, that God will bless the United States and those now serving our nation.

STILL MISSING: According to the Department of Defense, there are still 1,948 Americans missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. Of the total, 1,469 are in Vietnam, 411 in Laos, 60 in Cambodia and 8 in the territorial waters of the PRC. Over 90% of all Vietnam War missing were lost in Vietnam or areas under its wartime control.

JOINT OPERATIONS RESUME IN VIETNAM: A team of 95 US personnel from the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, Central Identification Laboratory and DIA's Stony Beach POW/MIA team has begun the 68th Joint Field Activity in Vietnam. This operation will consist of six recovery teams and one investigation team, operating for a period of approximately 30 days in eight provinces in central Vietnam. The joint teams plan to investigate as many as 29 cases and recover six cases.

CILHI PURSUING WWII ACCOUNTING: CILHI is also sending a recovery team to Kwajalein Island, located in the Marshall Islands, to recover remains of nine Marine raiders who were executed by the Japanese Navy in October, 1942. This operation follows the prior recovery of the remains of 19 Americans from the Marine Raider Battalion. In the summer of 2001, six were sent home for burial and 13 were interred at Arlington National Cemetery. This team will also try to recover as many as three B-24 bomber crews buried on the same Island, plus two additional teams will be conducting recoveries in Papua New Guinea. One team will try to recover the remains of three airmen lost in March of 1944; the other team will try to recover the remains of a pilot who went down in his P-38 aircraft in December, 1943.

Comment: CILHI's ability to expand its recovery mission is the direct result of increased personnel and resources for which the League has fought since the late 1970s. The ever-expanding CILHI role is a clear indication of the global effort that is now being pursued; however, at no time should priority focus on those still missing from the Vietnam War be reduced. There are still open questions as to whether any Americans are still held prisoner, as there are regarding Korean War missing.

NOTES: The League's 33rd Annual Meeting will be held June 19-22, 2002, at the Crystal City DoubleTree Hotel in Arlington, VA. Registration and reservation forms will be available soon.

POW/MIA car-window decals are available at a cost of $20 per 100, by sending a check to the League. POW/MIA lapel pins are also available at $3 each or 2/$5.

THE LEAGUE HAS MOVED: The new League office location is 1005 North Glebe Road, Suite 170, Arlington, VA 22201. It is still not completed, but is open on a limited basis, trying to be as responsive as possible. The League office hopes to be fully functional toward the end of the week of January 15th.

An undergraduate student, Molly McDonald, has joined the League for a three-month internship to learn about the issue and its role in Washington, DC, as well as assist in the League office. Should you call the office, please welcome Ms. McDonald.

For added information on any subject, please contact the League's web site at www.pow-miafamilies.org or call the national office at 703-465-7432. If no one is available to take your call, please leave a message and your call will be returned.

The National League of Families of
American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia
1005 North Glebe Road
Suite 170
Arlington, Virginia 22201
(TEL) 703-465-7432
Federal Tax ID #23-7071242"