News-Info-Alerts

Re: So That No One Gets Left Behind

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: February 28, 2003

"Vet works to ensure 'no one gets left behind'
A Colchester man strives to get military personnel home

By RAY HACKETT Norwich Bulletin

COLCHESTER -- Outside Richard Cyr's home on Gill Street, below the America flag on a flagpole in the front yard, flies the familiar black POW/MIA flag.

It's a reminder that the job of bringing home those who died defending their country in Vietnam is not finished. The U.S. government makes a promise to every man and woman who serves in the military: No one gets left behind.

There are still 31 men from Connecticut in Vietnam.

"Full accountability is almost impossible," Cyr, a Vietnam veteran and vice chairman of the national POW/MIA Committee for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said. "But the government is doing right by those who have served in continuing to search for those who were left behind until we have full accountability that satisfies everyone."

Educating the public and keeping the promise alive is the primary goal of the VFW's POW/MIA committee, Cyr said.

It is an issue near and dear to many in eastern Connecticut. According to the 2000 U.S. census, there are more veterans living in eastern Connecticut's 2nd Congressional District than any of the other four districts in the state.

And eastern Connecticut has a strong voice in matters relating to veterans' affairs.

In addition to Cyr, who is serving his second term as vice chairman of the national committee, Dr. Ben Hong of Norwich, a Gulf War vet, is national Surgeon General and attorney John Cotter of Norwich, a Vietnam vet, recently was appointed to the POW/MIA Committee.

U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2nd District, is a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee and recently was named chairman of the subcommittee on Veterans' Health.

Edward Banas of Voluntown, a former Norwich police officer, is VFW vice commander and will be installed as national commander in August. Banas left Sunday for a tour of excavations near Hue, where MIA remains are sought.

"I think what Eddy is doing is very important because we need to maintain communication with the Vietnamese," Cyr said. "We need to continue to talk with them and the villagers to find these locations or identify new
locations."

Of three southeastern Connecticut men listed as MIA at the end of the Vietnam War, only one has been recovered -- Air Force Maj. Peter Cleary, also from Colchester. His remains were buried at Arlington National Cemetery last year.

Cyr said the effort to recover the remains of the missing is important because it brings closure to the families, especially veterans' children.

A member of the VFW since his discharge from the Navy in 1969, Cyr had the opportunity to accompany Banas on his trip to Vietnam this week but opted not to go, saying, "Truth is, I retired two years ago because of lung problems and I wouldn't have been able to go trucking through the jungle with him."

He paused.

"The real truth," he added, "is that I don't ever want to leave this country again. This is my home."

The U.S. government spends $100 million a year to recover the remains of lost personnel from all wars: 78,000 are unaccounted for from World War II; more than 8,100 from the Korean War; 120 from the Cold War, and one from the Gulf War.

When the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the tally was 2,585.

"When I was first appointed to the committee two years ago, that number was down to 1,956," Cyr said, wearing a black POW/MIA T-shirt as he sifted through the papers stacked on the coffee table in his living room. "Today there are 1,902."

Not all will be recovered, including the 31 from Connecticut, because of Vietnam's acidic soil. Others were lost at sea.

The Pentagon has moved 609 to the "no longer pursued" status, including Air Force Maj. Peter Hesford of Mystic, shot down over Laos on March 21, 1968.

In an interview with the Bulletin last year, Arnold Hesford, a retired pilot living in Florida, said the government exhausted all venues and the family has accepted his younger brother's remains will not be found.

"Some people have found closure and don't want to re-open the wounds," Cyr said. "Others still have hope that someday the remains of a loved one will be found and finally brought home. That's why we keep looking. They deserve that."

© 2003 Norwich Bulletin"