Families of missing soldiers gather
Lynh Bui
The Arizona Republic
Ross Gunn was 9 years old when uniformed men came to the door and told his family that his brother was listed as missing while serving in the Vietnam War on Feb. 12, 1968.
A decade later, the government declared 19-year-old Alan Gunn dead after finding that the helicopter he was flying had smashed into a mountaintop during a nighttime mission. Alan's remains haven't been found, and the Gunn family still struggles with his disappearance.
"You fantasize that he'll come home or that you might run into him on a corner," Gunn said.
Those fantasies fade over the years, Gunn said, but the need for closure still wrenches his mind and the heart of his 79-year-old mother.
It was the search for answers that brought Gunn and nearly 200 other Arizona residents to a Family Updates briefing hosted by the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office held in Phoenix on Saturday. It was the first such Valley meeting since 2003. Specialists from all branches of the military came to update families on what officials are doing worldwide to find their loved ones.
There are 71 MIA Arizona soldiers from the Cold War, Korean War and Vietnam War combined.
"Some people are still grieving 60 years later," said Larry Greer, director of public affairs for the office. "Some people can't rest until they get answers."
Besides receiving an update on missions and projects the DPMO is conducting to track the remains of MIA soldiers, those at the Family Update were encouraged to give DNA samples that could be cross-referenced with recovered remains for identification. The DNA samples are taken by swabbing skin cells from the inside of the cheek. About 80 percent of the recovered remains that have been identified have relied on such samples.
Families also had the chance to meet one-on-one with investigators and specialists to ask specific questions.
With a picture of her half brother clipped to her collar, Mary Jo Crowell wanted to know about a letter her mother had sent to Crowell's brother, James W. Osborn. The letter was returned to her mother from Korea but the back had a note that said, "removed to an unknown hospital."
Crowell doesn't know if her brother got hurt, where he went or really anything else that happened to him.
"We never knew that he was wounded," Crowell said. "We wondered if he was a prisoner, if he was being tortured. I'm 78 years old, and I'd like to have some closure on this before I go.
"You always wonder what happened."