News-Info-Alerts

Re: NAF - Bits 'N' Pieces

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: August 12, 2002

"BITS 'N' PIECES
THE NEWSLETTER OF THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF FAMILIES
FOR THE RETURN OF AMERICA'S MISSING SERVICEMEN
+ WORLD WAR II + KOREA + COLD WAR + VIETNAM + GULF WAR +

August 10th, 2002

Senate Passes Speicher Bill

Expert Says, Don't Give Up On Speicher -
Chances the Navy Pilot Is Alive Are "Not Small"

CIL-HI and JTF-FA To Merge... See What We Said In 1999

Alliance Provides POW Document, They've Never Seen

World War II POW Released From Russia

Fully - What Does It Mean

Korean Family Get Answers

Family Asks.... What Did The Government Know and When Did They Know It

Did It Fall Through The Cracks Or Was It Pushed

All this and more in this edition of Bits

The National Alliance of Families mourns the passing of Ruth Danielson, mother of POW/MIA Mark Danielson. The following comes from Rod Utech "It is my sad duty to report that Ruth Danielson, mother of Capt. Mark G. Danielson, USAF passed away today, July 15, 2002. Members of her family were with her at the time."

"Mark was the electronic warfare officer aboard an AC-130A gunship that was shot down near the A Shau Valley, June 18, 1972. He was tracked for 48 hours afterward by analysts at NSA as he was being moved from location to location. In May 1994, a crash site investigation turned up 300 bone fragments and five teeth, two of which were identified as Mark's. Although Ruth refused to accept these remains as sufficient evidence of death, on November 17, 1994, a group burial of co-mingled remains was held at Arlington National Cemetery. Ruth insisted that we all continue to wear Mark's bracelet...." Cards may be sent to Lea Dickenson (Ruth's daughter) at 6230 Tuckerman Ln. Colorado Springs, CO 80918.



Speicher Bill Passes Senate - On Monday evening July 29th, the Senate, by voice vote, passed S 1339 - The Speicher Bill. We thank all of you who worked so hard to get co-sponsors for this important legislation.

We expect the Speicher Bill to be signed into law sometime in September.

Congratulations, you all did a terrific job.





Expert Says, Don't Give Up On Speicher - from the Jacksonville Times Union, August 2nd, by Paul Pinkham - "Chances a missing Jacksonville Navy pilot is alive 11 years after being shot down over Iraq are "not small," the United Nations' former chief weapons inspector in Iraq told U.S. senators during a hearing in Washington this week."

"Richard Butler said his conclusion is based on information that has been made public and documents he has seen related to Capt. Scott Speicher."

"There are individuals who are interested in his welfare and who keep a dossier on all of this, and I have seen all of those materials," Butler testified Wednesday before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Iraq. He didn't elaborate on the dossier."

"Speicher was left for dead after his FA-18 Hornet was shot down on the first night of the Persian Gulf War. But intelligence officials concluded he survived the crash and was captured by the Iraqis. The Navy changed his status last year from killed to missing in action."

"Butler, formerly Australia's U.N. ambassador, was executive chairman of the U.N. Special Committee on Iraq from 1997 to 1999. The committee was created after the Persian Gulf War to monitor and eliminate Iraq's chemical, ballistic and biological weapons."

"Following his testimony, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., asked if he had information on Speicher's condition or whereabouts. Butler said he didn't but added: "The possibility that he is alive is not small, and I therefore do not believe that we should give up on him."

"Butler couldn't be reached yesterday, but colleagues said the dossier he referred to probably was intelligence he received as part of his duties in Iraq. "He is one of the most expert people on how Iraq works," said Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin. "He's stating publicly ... that Speicher may be alive."

"Jacksonville attorney Cindy Laquidara, representing Speicher's family in Orange Park, was encouraged by Butler's remarks but disappointed at continued delays on Speicher's case. "In the national discussion on Iraq, there has not been any recognition that we have an MIA over there," she said. "If he is alive, he can't survive there forever. If he is alive, he has served 11 years under horrific conditions."



"The possibility that he is alive is not small, and I therefore do not believe that we should give up on him." Richard Butler must have seen



CIL-HI and JTF-FA To Merge - During the DPMO briefing at this years annual meeting Major Andrew Gillespie mentioned that by the year 2003 CIL-HI and JTF-FA would merge into one organization. The reason, according to Major Gillespie, is to streamline efforts. As the organizations exist now, CIL-HI reports to the Army and JTF-FA reports to Pacific Command.

This prompted a question from Lynn O'Shea who asked - in any merger one organization usually becomes dominate, while the other eventually disappears. Which organization would be the dominate organization and who would the new organization report to.

Basically the answer was that neither organization would be dominate over the other and the new organization would report to PacCom (Pacific Command.) An official press release was issued on June 24th 2002.

According to JTF-FA Release No. #02-09 - "The Department of Defense has recommended the merging of

the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii (CILHI) and Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA) into one organization. The goal is to have the organizations merged by October 2003."

"The recommendation was made by the U.S. Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Command to merge both units to increase the operational efficiency under the same commander and staff."

"The new command would have the mission to search for, recover and identify remains of American military personnel and American civilian personnel unaccounted for from World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War and the Vietnam War. The merging of the two units and standup of a single joint command is operationally sound and will clearly demonstrate the U.S. Government's increased commitment to resolving the accounting mission," said Joint Task Force-Full Accounting Commander Brig. Gen. Steven J. Redmann."

"All present day missions and functions at CILHI and JTF-FA will continue, unless otherwise directed by the Department of Defense. The merger will not lessen either organization's commitment or efforts to the accounting effort. All investigative and recovery teams will continue deploying worldwide in full strength."

"CILHI and JTF-FA remain devoted, dedicated and determined to achieving the fullest possible accounting of our missing personnel from our nation's wars. This is another step to increase efforts for the mission of bringing home our unaccounted for service members. Combining both our assets, personnel and expertise can only equal a stronger and more efficient organization," said CILHI Deputy Commander Johnie E. Webb Jr...."

Johnie Webb says..... that should reassure us all ---- NOT!

This development will come as no surprise to regular readers of Bits. Back on Feb. 5th 1999 we wrote -

"According to the Defense Missing Personnel Recovery & Accounting Strategic Plan" briefing slides, under the topic "Goals" item 4 reads "Transition the accounting process for prior conflicts from active operations to reactive efforts triggered by new information by FY2004."

We then told our readers "... the personnel allocation from FY99 to FY04, for JTF in FY99 is 161. The space for the FY004 allocation is blank. Does that mean they don't know how many people they will need or that they will not need any employees? Do you need a JTF if you don't plan on active operations?" We wrote this in 1999.

During 1999 and into 2000 we continued to challenge DPMO on their Strategic Plan. We told our readers that JTF-FA would cease to exist as we knew it and we were accused, by DPMO, of spreading misinformation.

Well, the fact is by October 2003 JTF-FA will cease to exist as we know it. Why is that October 2003 date important? By October 2003, the Dept. of Defense budget for Fiscal Year 2004 should be in place and we told our readers back in 1999 that there were no personnel allocations for JTF-FA as of 2004.

Now, you may all be comfortable with the assurance of Johnie Webb that it will be business as usual (and as bad as that is, it is better than the alternative) but we are not. There is a telling quote in that press release "All present day missions and functions at CILHI and JTF-FA will continue, unless otherwise directed by the Department of Defense."

"Unless otherwise directed by the Department of Defense...." - DPMO said it all in 1999 "Transition the accounting process for prior conflicts from active operations to reactive efforts triggered by new information by FY2004."

Today, we will go out on a limb and predict that once the merger of CIL-HI and JTF-FA occurs, eventually, CIL-HI will become the dominate organization and JTF-FA will eventually fade away, as will the investigations into the fate of our Prisoners and Missing.

This, we are sure, will be denied. Just as it was denied that JTF-FA, as we know it, would disappear by the year 2004.



The Alliance Provides Another Family With A Document They've Never Seen - without going into detail, at this time, the National Alliance of Families located a CIA document which describes the downing and capture of one American pilot. Based on the time and location, the captured POW was correlated to one of two individuals on board the aircraft.

We provided the document to the family of one of the men named and we were told that they had NEVER seen this document before. So much for the families being provided all information on their cases.

We are sure those in Washington will be hearing from the family soon.



World War II POW Found In Russia - from Agence France Press, July 13th, by Katinka Mezel "The last of 150,000 Austrian prisoners of war captured by the Soviet Union during World War II has returned home to his family after 60 years in exile...."

"He was taken prisoner by Soviet forces in 1943, and held in a detention camp in the Russian province of Smolensk until 1950. It was there he met his second wife, Nadezda Jakusevic, a Belarussian woman whom he married in the forced labour camp where they were both held."

"Harald Knoll, of the Ludwig Boltzmann historical research institute, which was instrumental in returning Steeg to his homeland, said Soviet prisoners of war had a tough time. "They were not treated as well as Austrians taken prisoner in the west. Labor was harder, and the whole country suffered from a lack of infrastructure," he explained."

"In 1950 Soviet authorities liberated Steeg from the prison camp, but refused to allow him to return to Austria, his dearest wish. Instead they gave him Soviet nationality. Steeg moved to Baran, Belarus with his wife and worked there as a teacher. The couple went on to have three children."

"Steeg stayed in the Soviet Union for family reasons "and because he was afraid of the Soviet authorities," said Knoll. It was only recently that Stefan Karner, a director of the Boltzmann Institute, discovered Franz Steeg's case in the Moscow archives and resolved to help him return to his homeland."

"With the aid of the Austrian foreign ministry, which intervened in the case in April 2002, Austria's last prisoner of war captured in the former Soviet Union was finally able to return home late on Friday."

"Steeg, who is suffering from cancer, showed signs of illness as he arrived in Vienna with his granddaughter Svetlana, who is in her early 20s. Small and white-haired, he carried his deep emotion with dignity. He is to live in a home for the elderly where he will receive all the medical care he needs."

"Asked how he plans to deal with his two families in Austria and Belarus, he whispered: "That's very easy, it's wonderful having two families."

"In 1945 there were some 150,000 Austrian prisoners of war in the Soviet Union, most of whom returned to Austria between 1945 and 1948, according to Knoll. In the west, Britain took 200,000 Austrian war prisoners, the United States 150,000 and France between 50,000 and 100,000. "Their repatriation was completed in 1946," he said."



Franz Steeg is the second POW "found" in the former Soviet Union in recent years. It begs the question, if the Soviets held low level, seemingly not well educated individuals with no technical expertise, why wouldn't they hold high ranking, well educated individuals with vast amounts of technical expertise?



Fully - according to my thesaurus 'fully" means "to the fullest extent without limitation" keeping that in mind - early this year the Bush Administration certified that the Vietnamese were fully cooperating on the POW/MIA issue. The certification then went on to outline areas where more cooperation was needed.

This week the Associated Press, in an article by Tini Tran, reported, "Vietnam has agreed to new measures to help account for Americans missing from the Vietnam War, including giving U.S. experts access to government archives, a senior U.S. official said Friday."

"Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Jerry Jennings, concluding a week-long visit to Vietnam Friday, said the first initiative would be an archive research program. It would give U.S. experts access to policy-level POW/MIA information in various files, including those in the ministries of public security and defense, and the Politburo. The program was agreed to during a meeting Jennings had Friday with Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung."

"The positive reception from the Vietnamese side is "indicative of a new level of cooperation" on this issue, Jennings said. He said he was also able to inaugurate a program of interviewing senior Vietnam War-era military leaders for information that could help locate missing soldiers..."



We've asked the question before and we will ask it again, how can the Vietnamese be "fully cooperating" when new levels of cooperation are continually needed?



Korean POW/MIA Family Gets There Answers - the following is excerpted from The Daily Oklahoman, July 31, 2002, by Ron Jackson - "Mamie Boyiddle died without knowing whether her oldest son was alive."

"Pfc. Silas Wayne Boyiddle - Mamie's son - served in the Korean War and was reported as missing in action in June 1951. Mamie endured the unknown for the next 41 years, until her death 10 years ago. Mamie's two surviving sons, William and Hicks, wonder whether she suffered unnecessarily."

"The Boyiddle brothers saw a 51-year family mystery end over the weekend at the Korean and Cold War Annual Government Briefings in Arlington, Va. Government officials gave them an undated two-page report that narrates the capture and death of their oldest brother..."

"How long has the government known?" said William Boyiddle of Anadarko. "We don't know. But if they have known all this time, I kind of don't think it was right. They should have let her know."

"Attempts to contact government officials in Washington were unsuccessful."

"Government officials approached the Boyiddles in September about their missing brother. They said 19 sets of remains had been recovered near their brother's last known location in South Korea, and they wanted to conduct DNA tests to determine whether a family match was possible. One of the remains was that of an American Indian."

"Despite the lack of a DNA match, the trip was far from unproductive for the Boyiddles. Officials surprised them by giving them the report that framed the brutal last days of their brother's life. A stamp on the report indicates it was "Reviewed by DPMO (Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office)," July 10, 2002."

"The report states that Silas Boyiddle was among the first American and Republic of Korea forces to engage the North Korean People's Army in combat in the summer of 1950. Boyiddle was a member of the Army's L Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, and participated in a series of battles during a fighting retreat by the allies...."

"On July 11, 1950, Boyiddle's 3rd Battalion was ambushed near Choch'iwon, South Korea, by an enemy mortar barrage. North Korean tanks and more than 1,000 enemy troops flanked the besieged units, dividing the American soldiers. Of the battalion's 667 soldiers, more than 60 percent were killed in the battle."

"Silas Boyiddle eventually ended up among the captives, whose numbers swelled to roughly 750 with the inclusion of civilian men and women. The prisoners were then forced in mixed groups to march northward to North Korean prison camps south of the China border. The report refers to the ordeal as the "infamous death march."

"Along the way, the prisoners endured freezing temperatures, unsanitary conditions, disease and lack of medical care. Boyiddle, who had been captured in summer-weight clothing, may have endured temperatures as low as 50 degrees below zero, the report states."

"The report lists Boyiddle's official date of death as Oct. 31, 1950 - eight months before his family learned he had been missing in action. "I felt badly when I read the report," William Boyiddle said. "My brother basically starved to death."

"Government officials also showed the Boyiddles a written account from a former American POW who survived the deadly march and ensuing captivity. He claimed to have been on a four-man work group that helped bury Silas Boyiddle at the Manp'o prison camp."

"They wouldn't let us take a copy of that paper," William Boyiddle said with a shrug. "I don't know why.... But we did leave feeling certain that his remains would be returned home someday...."

"They told us they have already recovered 44 remains from the Manp'o prison camp," William Boyiddle said. "Those remains are in Hawaii (at the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory), and Silas might be among those. If not, they say they know where he is buried."

"William and Hicks Boyiddle are determined to have Silas reburied at the Old Post Cemetery at Fort Sill someday. "Thank God we know about him now," said Hicks Boyiddle, who was 5 at the time his older brother was officially reported missing in 1951. "It's sad the way he died, but I'm sure proud of my older brother. Think of the things he saw or the things he lived through.... He's a warrior."

An earlier article, dated July 22nd, also by Ron Jackson illustrates the uncertainties every POW/MIA family lives with. "ANADARKO - William Boyiddle is confused these days, suspended somewhere between hope and closure...."

"The mystery might end this week."

"DNA tests released by the U.S. government may answer the question once and for all for the Boyiddle family. Blood samples were taken from William and his younger brother, Hicks, in December to be tested along with remains salvaged from a Korean War battlefield site in the summer of 1950."

"William and Hicks Boyiddle will learn the results at the Korean and Cold War Annual Government Briefings, set for Thursday through Saturday in Arlington, Va. "In a way, I guess, I'm hoping it's not him," William Boyiddle said. "Maybe he's still out there somewhere alive, but if not, then we'll bring him home...."

"Whatever it takes to bring him home," Hicks Boyiddle said. "My mother always prayed and asked God to return her son to his homeland." News of Silas Boyiddle's disappearance first sent shock waves through the Boyiddle clan on a hot June day in 1951...."

"Everything has been inconclusive to this point," William Boyiddle said."

"Through the years, family members tried to solve the mystery by piecing together the fragments of evidence in their possession. Perhaps the most compelling evidence of survival came from the letter of an Ohio man who claimed he served in the same company as Silas."

"The man wrote that he had been with Silas at a concentration camp where a number of their comrades were dying from malaria. Silas, he said, was severely sick with malaria the last time he saw him. "He could never tell us for sure if he lived or died," William Boyiddle said."

"Mamie Boyiddle always felt she knew her son was still alive. "She just always thought she would hear from him, even right up until the time of her death," said Joe Fish Dupoint, a close family friend."

"A picture sent by Silas to his mother before his disappearance has haunted the Boyiddles over the past half-century. In the black-and-white photo, Silas is standing by an Asian woman and child. No identifications were written on the back of the photograph."

"Who were they?" William Boyiddle asks. "Was that a girlfriend or a wife? Maybe he defected and decided to live over there."

"I read an article about these American soldiers who defected during the Korean War and how some of them wanted to come back to the states. They said they had seen other Americans over there. Maybe that's where Silas is. "Or maybe he was captured and taken to China. Who knows?"



"How long has the government known?" - that was the question asked by William Boyiddle, "We don't know. But if they have known all this time, I kind of don't think it was right. They should have let her know."

Mr. Boyiddle, we know how long the government knew. They knew immediately after the Korean War. During his debriefing, returned POW Johnnie Johnson told of a list he methodically and heroically maintained during his captivity. The list, smuggled out in a toothpaste tube, contained the names of Tiger Group POWs who died in captivity. The information contained in the "Tiger" or "Johnson" list as it is known, was not shared with the families.

DPMO knew of the "Tiger List" in 1995, when it was once again brought to the attention of the U.S. government. The name of Silas Boyiddle is clearly listed. Obviously, the information was not shared with the Boyiddle family. We now wonder how many other families were never notified and are left to wonder as the Boyiddle family... "Or maybe he was captured and taken to China. Who knows?

We contacted the Boyiddle family and spoke with William Boyiddle. He confirmed to us that neither he nor his mother was ever told of the "Tiger List." He only learned of the list while in D.C. He also told us of an error in one of the stories. His mom did not die 10 years ago. She died about 5 years ago. Well after the "Tiger List" arrived at DPMO. Had his family been told of the list and what it meant, it would have provided his mother with some piece of mind.

We first learned of the list in September 1996 and reported on it in the September 7th 1996 edition of Bits N Pieces.

The following is reprinted from Bits Sept. 7, 1996 - " Korea - an excellent story by Associated Press reporter Bob Burns brought to light the story of former Korean War POW Wayne "Johnnie" Johnson, captured by North Koreans in July 1950. At great personal risk, 18 year old Pvt Johnson kept a record of every death in the "Tiger Group" of American POW's. According to the AP article "about 500 of the original 758 captives died." For his heroic efforts to track the deaths of American POW's, Mr. Johnson was awarded the Silver Star, in August of 1996.

The following is excerpted from the 1996 AP article - "In tiny handwriting, he clandestinely recorded each death, including about 100 during a nine-day "death march" in November 1950 along the Yalu River. Most were soldiers. Some were civilians, a few nuns, a Korean boy the guys called Johnny. "I just felt like someone would want to know when these people had died," Johnson says. His captors forbade record-keeping, but Johnson quietly persisted. When the war's end brought freedom, he smuggled out his notes in a toothpaste tube."

The article continues, "On scraps of paper carefully hidden from prison guards, Johnson wrote down each fallen comrade's name, rank, Army unit, date of death and hometown. There was no room for details or explanations: just cold, bare facts.

"... William Griffith, F,34, 11-1-50, Pittsburgh, Pa." "F" was Johnson's designator for private first class; 34 meant the 34th Infantry Regiment.

"... Leonard Provost, P,21, 2-14-51, Santa Clara, N.Y." "P" meant private; 21 was the 21st Infantry Regiment, Johnson's unit. On and on it goes...."

"..."The List," as Johnson's tattered tabulation of tragedy has been dubbed, came to light in the Defense Department after Sgt. Victoria Bingham, an Army researcher dealing with Korean War POWs, got wind of what Johnson did. She caught up with him in 1995 at a reunion of former POWs in Sacramento, Calif. Johnson had shared his list with Army debriefers after the war, but some of the information fell through the cracks and was not passed to victims' families."

"Officials at Bingham's office, which is in charge of accounting for servicemen missing from the Korean and other wars, are using Johnson's list to cross-check their incomplete database. Larry Greer, spokesman for the Defense POW-MIA Office, said it has enabled the Pentagon to determine for the first time that some men listed as missing had been prisoners of war."

"Johnson is proud of his Silver Star but still is haunted by memories. He said he frequently relives a particularly horrifying moment of the 1950 death march. On the morning of Nov. 1, a North Korean colonel the prisoners called "Tiger" halted the procession. He climbed atop a dirt mound and ordered 1st Lt. Cordus Thornton of Dallas to join him. The colonel wanted to show the prisoners the price they would pay if they straggled and slowed up the march. "He put his pistol to (Thornton's) head and shot him," Johnson said. "It splattered his skull and brains on us right there in the front row. That stays with you a long time."



Our closing comment, in 1996, is just as appropriate now - "The information "fell through the cracks."
How many times have we heard that. The documents, the reports, the lists, fell through the cracks.
When so much falls through that crack, one must ask ....
did it fall or was it pushed?"


We promised you a report on our meeting... look for it in the next Bits.

DOLORES ALFOND -
National Chairperson (dolores@nationalalliance.org)
425-881-1499
LYNN O'SHEA -
Director of Research (lynn@nationalalliance.org)
718-846-4350"