News-Info-Alerts

Re: NLF Update Line

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: July 08, 2003

"Update Line
POW/MIAs – VIETNAM WAR: According to CILHI, there are now 1,874 Americans still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, 1,433 in Vietnam, 377 in Laos, 56 in Cambodia and 8 in the territorial waters of the PRC. Over 90% of all Americans missing from the Vietnam War were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Laos and Cambodia under Hanoi's wartime control. The names of Americans recently accounted for will be provided when announced by the Department of Defense.

PRESIDENT'S SUPPORT: President George W. Bush drew attention to America's continuing priority on accounting for our missing during his Memorial Day address at Arlington National Cemetery. He also stated to the League Executive Director that we must be persistent in pressing for answers. The League appreciates the President's strong support.

SRV DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS WITH LEAGUE AND SENIOR U.S. OFFICIALS: The League's Executive Director and Board Member Karen McManus met on June 6th with Vietnam's Deputy Foreign Minister. Focus was on the need for Vietnam to respond to the President's criteria on unilateral action, and Minister Nguyen Dinh Bin was quite clear about his government's understanding of the need for improved SRV efforts to provide access to relevant archival records and sources of information and remains of missing US personnel that can't be recovered in the field.

JOINT OPERATIONS: POW/MIA consultations were held May 22nd in Laos, and a DPMO Policy Team met with Lao counterparts this morning in Vientiane to pursue agreement on the agenda for a July visit by Dep. Asst. Secretary of Defense for POW/MIA Affairs Jerry Jennings. A period of unilateral Lao investigations was recently underway, and joint field operations resume June 23rd. With open-ended support by the Cambodian government, DIA's Stony Beach team is conducting ongoing investigations to develop leads that help account for missing Americans. Month-long field operations in Vietnam recently ended and will resume this week. Operational assessment talks were held May 22nd to discuss future field operations, excavations are going well, but greater seriousness and expansion are needed in archival research, source interviews and field investigations. Mr. Jennings will visit Vietnam in mid-June, just prior to the League's 34th Annual Meeting.

MERGER OF CILHI/JTF-FA: CILHI and JTF-FA, both critical to the accounting effort, are slated to merge operations on October 1st into an organization entitled Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, or JPAC. As with all such reorganizations, the process has been fraught with problems, but final approval by DoD and PACOM Commander ADM Thomas Fargo will help ensure the plan's viability, including independence and integrity of the CILHI. Set to assume command of JPAC, replacing BG Steve Redmann, USAF, is BG W. Montague Winfield, USA, recently nominated for his second star.

POW/MIAs – IRAQ: The League is thankful for the rescue of American POWs and the full accounting for MIAs who fought in Operation Iraqi Freedom, but are very concerned over the fate of CAPT Scott Speicher, though confident that President Bush's team will ensure he is accounted for and returned to his family.

34TH ANNUAL MEETING: The League's 34th Annual Meeting is June 26-28th at the Hilton Crystal City Hotel, Arlington, VA. Registration and hotel reservations are now closed.

POW/MIA decals for car windows are $20 per 100, and POW/MIA lapel pins are $3 each or 2/$5, by sending a check to the League office. For added information on any subject, please log onto the League's web site, www.pow-miafamilies.org, or call the national office at 703-465-7432.

The National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia
1005 North Glebe Road
Suite 170
Arlington, Virginia 22201
(TEL) 703-465-7432
Federal Tax ID #23-7071242"