By Matt Barnwell TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER
Forensic technology used to identify remains of missing soldiers is more advanced than ever, but the search for a resolution to their cases is in danger of being cast aside, said the sister of a flight surgeon who disappeared in the Vietnam War.
Speaking Friday at the Robins Air Force Base POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony, JoAnne Shirley, a Macon native and advocate for POW/MIA issues, said knowing the fates of loved ones can finally bring closure for family members.
"Why are you here? Are you willing to make a commitment to the fullest possible accounting?" she asked audience members. "Understand, this issue is far from over."
About 8,100 members of the military are missing from the Korean War - the fates of only 22 have been discovered, she said. From the Cold War, 126 are still missing.
"Only in the last 10 years did we ever acknowledge that we had Cold War cases missing," she said. Most of those were covert operatives from the CIA.
In Vietnam, there are 1,815 people missing, and another 768 cases have been resolved.
Though she works now helping other families find out what happened to their missing members, she said the initial governmental attempt to find her brother simply was not adequate. And local witnesses who might have information were never interviewed, and now cannot be found.
"My chances of getting a resolution to Bobby's case is not very good," she said.
Her brother, Maj. Bobby Marvin Jones, and his plane were lost on radar over South Vietnam in 1972. No crash site was ever found, and no formal investigation was conducted, Shirley said. Seven years ago, they thought they had discovered the crash site but found no personal belongings there.
"So our resolution is not a reality today," she said. But she said she realized that if her family didn't fight for his accounting, "how could we expect anyone else to care?"
After Shirley spoke, a noncommissioned Officer Academy class performed a retreat ceremony, lowering the American flag as the national anthem played in the background. The sound of "Taps" rang out while the flag was folded up.
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., also attended the ceremony, giving brief remarks at the end. Chambliss sits on the U.S.-Russia Joint Committee on POWs and MIAs.
He said afterward that not enough is being done to ensure that people do not forget about missing soldiers. Many people simply want to put past wars behind them, he said. But ceremonies like this one are "an opportunity to remember those individuals who didn't make it back," he said.
"These families deserve closure to the issue relative to their family member," he said.
Macon Telegraph (GA)