News-Info-Alerts

Re: Missing Personnel Office Members Ring NYSE Bell

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: September 29, 2002

"Air Force service members ring NYSE closing bell

From staff and wire reports

Three people from the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, stand on the New York Stock Exchange platform as they ring the bell to close the trading day Sept. 20. From left are Dick Grasso, chairman and chief executive officer of the New York Stock Exchange; Barney Frampton and Jim Russell, from the missing persons branch at the Air Force Personnel Center; Lt. Col. James Hedgepeth, an AFPC judge advocate; John Eric Smith, NYSE broker and Jo-Ann Loftus, manager of public affairs in government relations for the NYSE. — Mel Nudelman, NYSE

SAN ANTONIO — A strange set of circumstances led to three Air Force personnel officials ringing the closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 20 to mark National Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Day.

Jim Russell, Barney Frampton and Lt. Col. James “Todd” Hedgepeth were in New York for a monthly meeting for families of service members still listed as missing in action. Russell and Frampton work in the missing- persons section of the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. Hedgepeth is a legal advisor in the office.

A few weeks before the trip, Russell learned that the stock exchange flies the black POW/MIA flag over the trading floor. He called Jo-Ann Loftus, the exchange’s public affairs manager, to see if he and his colleagues could have a photo taken on the floor with the flag in the background.

It was a great idea, said Loftus, adding that she had been wearing a silver POW/MIA bracelet for more than 30 years. The name of the missing airman was 1st Lt. Jefferson Scott Dotson, she said.

It was a surprise for Frampton, who overheard the conversation.

“He said the name, and I instantly knew who he was,” Frampton said.

“It was my case,” he said.

Dotson was an F-100F copilot shot down over Laos on Aug. 9, 1969. Later that year, he was promoted to captain while in MIA status.

In an unusual coincidence, Dotson’s remains had been repatriated and identified earlier this year.

Frampton prepared to tell Loftus all about the airman she calls “my captain.” He dug in the file, found an extra Polaroid of Dotson and prepared a POW/MIA recognition poster, the photo and the explanation of the shootdown and took them to New York.

“When we presented them to her, it was like instant tears, lots of hugging,” Frampton said. “It was extremely emotional — and rightly so. When you’ve been wearing something like this for over half your life, it just has a lot of meaning.”

“I couldn’t say anything,” Loftus said. “Here was this young man that has been with me for all of these years. I never knew what he looked like, and now here he was right before me. He is a handsome man.”

Word of the “reunion” spread throughout the exchange. Dick Grasso, chairman and chief executive officer of the NYSE, asked Frampton, Hedgepeth and Russell if they would ring the closing bell and pound the gavel that day in honor of POW/MIA Recognition Day.

Loftus asked Hedgepeth to carry Dotson’s photo with him during the ritual.

“I wanted to make sure my captain was there,” Loftus said. “A lot of people work here for many years and never get to step on the platform.”

Now that Loftus knows her captain has returned home, she will follow tradition and present her bracelet to Dotson’s family. She intends to get another.

“Whichever name I receive, I’m sure I will treasure it always,” Loftus said. “It will be a part of me as was my captain.”

Staff writer Rod Hafemeister contributed to this report.

©Air Force Times"