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Re: NAF Bits 'N' Pieces
To: ALL
From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci
(POW-MIA InterNetwork)
Date: September 10, 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 +
September 7, 2002
We've Got A New Look - Those who receive Bits by fax or read it on the internet will notice that, we have revised our logo. Sadly, we have added a fourth figure to the logo, to represent our Gulf War POW/MIAs. We pray for the day, we can remove a figure from the logo and hope that we will never again have to add another.
Show Your Support - As we approach September 11th we are asking all our readers to join the nationwide show of Remembrance and Support for those who lost their lives on September 11th and those who are now fighting America's War on Terrorism.
On September 11th, show your support by driving with your headlights one. Show the world...
We Will Never Forget!
National Alliance of Families Mourns The Passing of Opal Fieszel Button, mother of POW/MIA Lt. Col. Clifford W. Fieszel, Sept. 30, 1968. Mrs. Fieszel passed on August 1, 2002.
For those who have not heard we have lost a dear friend, when noted author, and expert on the Korean aspect of POW/MIA issue, Laurence "Larry" Jolidon passed suddenly on August 20th. At the time of his passing Larry was in Bosnia working as Director of Communications for the Commander of the NATO Peace Stabilization Force.
Larry was a great friend to the Alliance and our POW/MIAs. Perhaps Dick Stanley, of the Austin American-Statesman, said it best in his article of August 21st, - "He was really modest but also very patriotic.... The patriotism shines in his self-published 1995 book "Last Seen Alive: The Search for Missing POWs From the Korean War.... "This has been the forgotten war," Jolidon told the American- Statesman in 1995. "It's past time that those who fought in the Korean War got some recognition."
There will be a memorial service, for Larry, at 3 PM September 20th at the Freedom Forum ,1001 Wilson Blvd Arlington VA.
To the Fieszel and Jolidon families we offer our deepest sympathy.
Is DPMO Ready To Handle A Large Number of POWs, MIAs or Isolated Personnel - not according to the Anser Mission Area Analysis Completed in October 2000. Granted the Analysis is almost two years old, but based on slowness or failure to implement recommendations of past studies, this quote could very well apply today.
"Since theater Commanders-in-Chief have been able to execute successful personnel recovery missions for more recent losses, many commanders do not seen an immediate need to improve personnel recovery capabilities. The relatively small number of aircraft and personnel losses in recent conflicts also contributes to this perception."
"A longer-term perspective, however, suggests and additional need: development of an integrated personnel accounting and recovery architecture for future conflicts. Defense planning scenarios postulate situations in which the United States could face thousands of casualties and hundreds of prisoners of war (POWs) within a week's time. The current independent processes would be hard-pressed to recover and account for this number of individuals."
One of the recommendations of the Anser Analysis is the consolidation of CIL-HI and JTF-FA. Had this recommendation come solely as a result of the Anser Analysis we would be far less uncomfortable with this upcoming change.
However, our regular readers know the decision to consolidate CIL-HI and JTF-FA came as early as late 1998 or early 1999, well ahead of the Anser Study, as part of the DPMO Five Year Strategic Plan. Goal #4 of that Five Year Plan was to "Transition the accounting process for prior conflicts from active operations to reactive efforts triggered by new information by FY 2004."
In their 1999 POW/MIA Accounting booklet DPMO stated, as their "Vison" "By the end of the year 2004, we will have moved from the way the US Government conducts the business of recovery and accounting to an active program of loss prevention, immediate rescues, and rapid post-hostility accounting."
By October 1999 the DPMO "Vision" was revised, to state: "By the end of the CY 2004, DoD will have moved from the way the USG now conducts the business of recovery and accounting to an active program of loss prevention, immediate rescues and rapid post-hostility accounting."
The Strategic Plan was also revised in October 1999. Goal #4 stated: "Without degrading the current accounting opportunities, transition all historical accounting processes from prior conflicts to efforts triggered by new information by FY 2004." View at www.nationalalliance.org/spoct99.htm
When all this was hot news back in 2000, we stated that based on the tone and direction, the government was positioning themselves so they would never again be involved in a 12, 25, 30, 50, or 55 year recovery operation.
Of course, this problem could be solved by making sure all live POWs are repatriated at the end of a war. Unfortunately, in our haste to end past conflicts or incidents men like Roger Dumas, Richard Deseautel, Samuel Busch, David Hrdlick, John McDonnell, Scott Speicher and so many others have become cost of doing business.
As we once again prepare for war, this is something we should all remember and vow to never again allow an American POW to be left behind.
Speaking of War With Iraq - What will happen to Scott Speicher? From The Florida Times-Union, August 24th - "Talk of war with Iraq has hindered diplomatic efforts to determine the fate of a Jacksonville Navy pilot missing since the Gulf War, one of a group of U.S. senators leading the search for information said yesterday."
"Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., in Jacksonville to campaign for fellow Democrats, said he and Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., even canceled plans for a fact-finding mission to Baghdad. "We couldn't insinuate ourselves in any regard in that type of military conflict," Nelson said. "The potential military action against Iraq complicates our effort to get any information on Scott Speicher."
"Nelson and Roberts are part of the so-called "Speicher posse," a group of senators aggressively pushing the missing Navy captain's cause on Capitol Hill. The senators are responsible for two Speicher-related bills approved by the Senate last session. One requires regular Pentagon briefings on Speicher's status to key senators. The other offers asylum to any foreign national who returns Speicher to U.S. soil. Both have a good chance of passage in the House, said U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla."
"The posse also quizzes defense and intelligence officials about Speicher at committee hearings, social gatherings and virtually every other opportunity, said Nelson, a member of the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees. "We've gotten the attention of the Department of Defense," the first-term senator said. "At least it's on their radar screen."
"Speicher's FA-18 Hornet was shot down over Iraq on the opening night of Desert Storm in 1991. He was believed killed, but was reclassified as missing in action last year."
"The United States and Iraq have traded diplomatic notes on Speicher but haven't come to any agreement. On Wednesday, John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, accused Iraq during a Security Council meeting, of failing to cooperate on the Speicher issue."
"Navy Secretary Gordon England is considering another reclassification to missing-captured or prisoner of war, a change pushed hard by Roberts. Some say that proposal is prompted by hard liners in the Bush administration building their case for an invasion of Iraq."
"But Nelson said the two issues are separate. "I think what [Iraqi President] Saddam Hussein is going to do is use Scott as a wedge against the United States if Scott's alive, and if Scott's not alive, he'll try to create the illusion, by a strong silence, that he might be alive," Nelson said."
"Nelson also criticized those who think the United States should give up on Speicher. At the very least, he said, Speicher's family in Orange Park deserves to know what happened."
Tell Us - if the Navy Secretary changes Speicher's status to POW, does he become the last POW of the first Gulf War or the first POW of the Second Gulf War?
Sources have told us Speicher is alive, others say no or there is no evidence one way or the other, that Speicher is alive. If he is alive, someone better make a move and make it soon. If full blown war comes Speicher's chances could diminish drastically.
Who Is This Soldier - On August 28th The Associate Press reported on the location of remains believed to be those of a United States pilot lost in southern Vietnam. The remains were found complete with dog tag, and military ID card with name and photo. What makes this story unique is that the pilot is not on the list of unaccounted for servicemen missing in Southeast Asia..
The following is excerpted from the AP article - "A group of Vietnamese scrap metal scavengers found two sets of human remains in the wreckage of a helicopter in southern Vietnam, along with papers indicating at least one may have been an American pilot, officials said Thursday...."
"...One set of remains was found in the helicopter's front seat, along with a dog tag, personal papers and an ID card with a photograph and name, a village official said. A photo of the U.S. military ID obtained by The Associated Press showed that it belonged to a 2nd lieutenant."
"Another smaller set of remains with no dog tag or personal papers was found in the back seat, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity."
"A team from the Hanoi-based joint U.S. military group responsible for searching for Americans missing from the Vietnam War was at the site Thursday investigating the report, Marine Maj. Tom Dicken said. He declined to release the name until investigators can confirm that it matches the body, but said it was not one found on the list of Americans known to be missing in action from the war."
"The area around Long Thuan village, 45 miles southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, was thinly populated during the war and communist soldiers stayed among the villagers, the official said. Villagers at the crash site said they believed the helicopter went down around 1971 or 1972...."
"Not On The List of Americans Known To Be Missing In Action From The War" - How can someone disappear, in a helicopter and not be on the list of Americans known to be Missing In Action from the war.
Well, we can come up with four possible answers:
The first, highly unlikely and farfetched, is that the pilot stole the chopper, went AWOL and is listed as a deserter. We told you it was farfetched.
Second, almost as unlikely and farfetched, is that the Vietnamese set this up and the dog tag and ID card are fake. We said farfetched.
Third, remains recovered during the war were erroneously identified as this pilot and returned for burial, leaving someone on the missing list who should have been identified and accounted for. Based on past identification problems at the DaNang and Ton Son Nhut Mortuaries this is certainly a possibility.
Fourth, a clerical error omitted the name of this pilot from the list of missing. However, while this would be the simplest explanation it is as disconcerting as a possible misidentification. If one name was omitted from the list of missing, how many more could have been omitted.
We eliminated the possibility of a loss on a covert mission, where the loss location would have been misrepresented to a family. Had this mission been covert, the pilot would have been sanitized, meaning no dog tag, military ID card or any other identifying material.
Who is this 2nd Lt. Who May Have Been Lost In 1971 or 1972, near Long Thuan village, 45 miles southwest of Ho Chi Minh City?
The Search For Remains In North Korea - from the Associated Press, Aug. 25th - "Pyongngyang, North Korea - Forensic experts arrived in North Korea on Saturday to search for the remains of U.S. soldiers listed as missing in action in the Korean War. The team will be searching two locations in this reclusive communist nation, said Lt. Col. Orlando Lopez of the Defense POW Missing Personnel Office. He did not elaborate."
"More than 8,100 U.S. troops are unaccounted for from the 1950-53 Korean War. Since 1996, U.S. teams have recovered 159 sets of remains in North Korea, 13 of which have been identified. The monthlong search starting Saturday is the second of three the United States plans in North Korea this year. The third search will begin in October."
"The Pentagon said this week that in the first search, U.S. teams recovered remains believed to be those of seven U.S. soldiers. Six of the seven were recovered near the Chosin Reservoir about 50 miles north of Pyongyang, the capital. U.S. forces suffered heavy casualties in the area in late 1950, and many Americans were hastily buried in shallow graves during a retreat. Pentagon officials have estimated that the Chosin area could eventually yield remains of 1,000 U.S. servicemen."
"The seventh set of remains was recovered along the Chongchon River near the junction of Unsan and Kujang counties. The area was the site of fighting between the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry and 25th Infantry Division and Chinese forces in November 1950."
Support S-1226 The POW/MIA Flag Bill - You all did so well with S 1339, "The Speicher Bill" that we are, once again, asking for your help. S-1226 - "The POW/MIA Flag Bill" would require the POW/MIA Flag be flown permanently at the World War II Memorial, The Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
As of this date the bill has 16 co-sponsors. It needs more. Please write, call, or fax your Senators asking that they support S- 1226 - the POW/MIA Flag Bill. Remember security measures are still in place. The fastest way to get to your senator is a call or fax. Emails DO NOT WORK. To find your senators fax number visit
http://www.nationalalliance.org/senate.htm
The following Senators are already cosponsors of S 1226 - They are Sen Wayne Allard, Sen Joseph Biden Jr., Sen Jim Bunning, Sen Max Cleland, Sen Susan Collins, Sen Jon Corzine, Sen Larry Craig, Sen Michael DeWine, Sen Russell Feingold, Sen Judd Gregg, Sen Jesse Helms, Sen Tim Hutchinson, Sen Mitch McConnell, Sen Rick Santorum, Sen Bob Smith, Sen Robert Torricelli
Dept. of Defense Uses Military Personnel for Germ Warfare Experimentation - from Union-Tribune by James W. Crawley, July 15th - "It was 35 years ago, but Phil Fetkenhauer remembers how a small boat cruised several hundred yards ahead of his destroyer, the Herbert J. Thomas, spewing what scientists said were harmless clouds of mist. As the clouds drifted overhead, the crew ran to general quarters. "The whole idea was to see if the ship could operate" during chemical attacks, said the San Diego Navy retiree."
"After each test, Fetkenhauer, who worked on the exposed flight deck, had to strip off his coveralls and take a shower in the specially modified destroyer's revolving-door airlock. The civilian Army scientists on board said the showers were just a precaution and there was no danger to the crew, he recalled."
"But in recent weeks, the Pentagon has acknowledged that the San Diego-based destroyer and other military vessels were used in biological and chemical weapon tests during the 1960s, some involving nerve agents and potentially harmful bacteria."
"Now, some veterans, like former Thomas gunner's mate Jim Cast, believe those tests caused them health problems. "Our government poisoned us," said Cast, who suffers chronic respiratory problems. "They should have given us a chance to opt out or tell us when we were doing (the testing)."
"Called Project SHAD -- Shipboard Hazard and Defense -- the years-long series of tests involved Navy and Army ships and Air Force and Marine Corps aircraft at sea off San Diego and Hawaii. It was the middle of the Cold War and the United States and Soviet Union had vast stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons."
"For years, the Pentagon denied the tests occurred, but last year the military started releasing limited information about SHAD so the Veterans Affairs Department can determine if the tests caused health problems. Twelve tests have been divulged officially, with 101 tests still classified. More information is anticipated in coming months."
"A Northern California congressman and a Georgia senator are spearheading efforts to force the Pentagon to release all records of the project, including a list of the sailors and soldiers involved, so they can be examined for health problems. Some estimates say 2,800 people may have been exposed on about a dozen vessels. The exact number has not been determined. "This is the Enron, the WorldCom of the Defense Department," said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa."
"He has introduced a bill to force the Pentagon to release more records on the tests. The legislation is co-sponsored locally by Reps. Duncan Hunter, R-52, Bob Filner, D-50, and Susan Davis, D-49. Last week, a Senate committee held hearings on Project SHAD..."
"Many test veterans say they aren't interested in telling their stories -- some because it's ancient history, others fearful they may be disclosing still classified information. And few, if any, crew members knew anything at the time about the nerve agents, germs and other chemicals used in the tests."
"Aboard the Thomas, a specially modified World War II-era destroyer, veterans say the crew was largely ignorant of the details of two tests in February and March 1966 off the San Diego coast. The one-of-a-kind warship had been retrofitted with a pressurization system and an airlock with decontamination showers for crewmen exposed to chemical or biological agents. Unlike other ships of the era, the Thomas was air conditioned."
"Called "Purple Sage" and "Scarlet Sage," the experiments tested the warship's prototypical chemical warfare defense system that isolated most of the crew inside the airtight superstructure."
"In Purple Sage, methylacetoacetate was sprayed from a small boat to simulate nerve gas. The chemical is known to cause minor temporary eye, skin and respiratory tract irritation, Pentagon officials said."
"A week later, the Thomas started four-week-long Scarlet Sage. In this experiment, a bacterium, bacillus globigii, was released by a small boat while the destroyer steamed through a germ-laden mist. Although generally safe, the bacterium, scientists say, could cause disease in previously ill people."
"Cast, a petty officer third class in charge of the forward 5-inch gun turret, knew the ship was designed to protect against chemical weapons, but he doesn't remember being told about the experiments. He and his gun crew were outside the pressurized areas and the turret's hatches were left open because there was no air conditioning. And he said many crew members, including himself, were unaware of the tests so they never wore their gas masks, substituting candy and snacks in the carrying bag each was required to wear at all times. "If there was anything in the air, it was going into my face," said Cast, 57, who lives in Lawton, Okla."
"Fetkenhauer, a boatswain's mate first class, remembered officers telling him the tests were top secret and meant to try the ship's new defenses. Another Thomas sailor, Lt.j.g. Dan Daly, knew a little more than most. He was friendly with the ship's doctor, who told Daly he was collecting test samples after each experiment. "I wasn't paying that much attention," said Daly, a Northridge resident who was the ship's electronic warfare officer. "Since Doc wasn't walking through with a gas mask on, we weren't too concerned." After each test, samples and air filters were packed in metal cylinders and picked up by a helicopter and flown ashore, said Fetkenhauer.
"Hawley said he was involved in later tests off Hawaii and several Pacific atolls. In 1967, he took command of an Army large tug LT-2080 at Pearl Harbor. Despite its Army stripes, the tug was manned by an all-Navy crew. While Hawley said LT-2080 participated in many classified operations during the nearly three years he was in charge, he only talked about one test series, code named "Deseret Test Center Test 68-50," held in 1968."
"For two months, off Eniwetok Atoll, the tug and its four sister vessels steamed back and forth as jets spewed bacteria and bacterial toxins overhead, according to released Pentagon records. In earlier tests, before Hawley was aboard, VX nerve gas was sprayed on several tugs, records show."
"My job was to steer into the cloud for as long as possible," he said. Often, the tug would cruise for two hours through the mist. "I was told it was a classified assignment at sea," he said. When he or the crew asked about the tests, they were told, "You know all you need to know," he added. It wasn't until last year that Hawley found out what was being sprayed on his ship."
"For each trial, the tug boats would be arrayed in a formation while being sprayed. Scientists in a specially built laboratory compartment aft tested the air for toxins, telling Hawley which way to steer. More than three decades later, the SHAD tests are haunting some crew members."
"A lot of shipmates are sick. Some have died and we don't know why," said Cast, who was forced to take early retirement from a civilian job with the Army because of pulmonary fibrosis. He remembers first having lung problems after he left the Navy in 1967 after the Thomas returned from a deployment off Vietnam. Fetkenhauer, Daly and Hawley don't believe the tests caused them ill health."
"Three years ago, after a constituent complained about health problems possibly related to the tests, Rep. Thompson questioned Defense Department officials. Their answer: No such tests occurred. Later, the Pentagon said only chemicals simulating nerve agents were used."
"But in May, military officials admitted that potentially dangerous bacteria and deadly nerve gases, including sarin and VX, were sprayed on some ships. Those nerve agents can cause a range of ills and death. "It was bad science. It was a bad practice," said Thompson. "Someone should have realized these could cause health problems."
"No matter what comes of the controversy surrounding the tests, tug skipper Hawley said he has no misgivings about his participation. "I don't think anyone felt we were being put in danger or used as guinea pigs," Hawley said."
Does anyone think a Military who knowing experimented on their own personnel with nerve gas and toxins could not make a decision that would knowingly leave POWs behind, alive in the hand of their enemy?
Help! - What's The Team. That is what we are trying to find out. We are looking at a document that refers to [something] Team. The word in front of "Team" is almost unreadable. We can tell that it is not LRRPs, Seal, or Special Forces. The word seems to be four (4) letters and begins with a "C"
What type of team is this? If you have a idea email me at lynn@nationalalliance.org
or fax me at 718-846-4635.
For Those Who Wonder - Here is one of the reasons, we keep asking:
Why does Johnie Webb Still Have a Job????
Memo for the Record from Mark Blair of Mortuary Affairs:
To view the actual document visit http://www.nationalalliance.org/blassie/980114.htm
We Know We Promised - for those waiting on a report for this years Alliance meeting its coming. We are having technical difficulties with the tapes as soon as we get them and check our quotes, we will get the report to you.
Contact us here!
DOLORES ALFOND - National Chairperson
(dolores@nationalalliance.org)
425-881-1499
LYNN O'SHEA - Director of Research
(lynn@nationalalliance.org)
718-846-4350"
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