News-Info-Alerts

Re: It Isn't Easy

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: February 27, 2003

"Locating remains takes diligence

 
Finding remains isn’t easy, according to Joint Task Force — Full Accounting members who rotate in and out of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia 10 times a year.


Thirty to 95 specialists — linguists, Green Berets, explosive ordnance and mortuary affairs specialists — conduct needle-in-a-haystack searches for 30 days at a time in less than desirable climates and living conditions.


Many times, they find nothing, and some have died trying. While surveying potential sites for full-scale excavations, a Russian-made MI-17 helicopter crashed into a mountain in Quang Binh province, Vietnam, killing 16 people, including seven Joint Task Force — Full Accounting service members last April.


But when something seemingly small turns up, that’s a cause for celebration, said Army Staff Sgt. Elke Landenberger, one of the many who digs to find her comrades.


“It’s exciting to find something,” Landenberger said on the flight home to Hawaii. “The first time I pulled a tooth out of a [sifting] screen blew me away. You know what it is when you see it. You hold it up and everybody comes running, amazed. It’s like finding gold.”


A naturalized American citizen originally from Heidelberg, Germany, Landenberger said she understands the value of the repatriation missions to those who have suffered.


“This is my country now,” she said. “What we’re doing is very honorable.”


The U.S. government thinks so, too. It’s performed this mission in one form or another since 1973. As cooperation between Southeast Asia governments and the United States grew, efforts to search and recover remains ramped up.


Since 1992, when the Defense Department created the task force, workers have made more than 3,400 case investigations and 590 recovery operations. The result? Repatriation of more than 500 of the 2,584 unaccounted-for Americans since 1975.


Most of the task force, like its commander Brig. Gen. Steven Redmann, believes until the nearly 2,000 others remaining are found, its work isn’t complete.


“The work in the field our folks do is the most demanding. It’s real dedication to have people come over here to do that. It’s the importance of the mission that carries them through,” said the general, who’s also the first Air Force officer to lead the joint task force. “When they see a ceremony like this, it provides closure for them.”


Meanwhile, repatriation efforts continue in other parts of the world. Since the Korean War, more than 150 sets of remains have been recovered from North Korea. All told, more than 88,000 service members are still missing in action from all conflicts. A staggering 78,000 are from World War II.


— Staff Sgt. Jason Tudor"