April 1999

Summary of news for the entire month.
For recent and daily news, please go to: InterNetwork

01 APR 99: 2,063 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War: Vietnam - 1,537 (North, 556; South, 981); Laos - 444; Cambodia - 74; and the Peoples Republic of China territorial waters - 8. 152 Americans have been accounted-for during the present administration: Vietnam - 82; Laos - 64 and Cambodia - 6. 520 U.S. servicemembers have been accounted-for through unilateral and joint efforts. Persian Gulf War - unsatisfactory accounting. Korean War - 8,139 remain unaccounted-for, 42 possible remains returned, 4 identifications. World War II - Over 78,000 remain unaccounted-for.

The Army has identified the three soldiers stationed in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia who were abducted while on patrol. They are: Staff Sgt. Andrew A. Ramirez, 24, is a cavalry scout who lists his home of record as Los Angeles, Calif. He entered the Army in July 1992. Staff Sgt. Christopher J. Stone, 25, is a cavalry scout who lists his home of record as Smiths Creek, Mich. He entered the Army in Aug. 1991. He is married and has one child. Spec. Steven M. Gonzales, 24, is a cavalry scout who lists his home of record as Huntsville, Texas. He entered the Army in Sept. 1996. All three soldiers are assigned to B Troop, 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry of the 1st Infantry Division, stationed in Schweinfurt, Germany. Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon says the United States considers the three U.S. servicemen being held by Yugoslav forces as prisoners of war.

02 APR 99: President Clinton pledged today that the United States will do everything in its power to gain the return of three Army soldiers captured near the Yugoslav-Macedonia border, and he warned Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic that "the United States takes care of its own." "President Milosevic should make no mistake: We will hold him and his government responsible for their safety and their well-being,"

Vietnamese government officials told Rep. Loretta Sanchez in Hanoi this week that they will release information next month on hundreds of missing war-era soldiers, fulfilling a commitment made to U.S. officials last year. Sanchez, in an interview Wednesday from Ho Chi Minh City, said she was told there would be some "surprises" and "good information" about the list of 549 of the missing. The information, she said, is to be turned over to the United States on May 4 at a ceremony in which remains of what are believed to be U.S. soldiers would be returned.

03 APR 99: Extracts from the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War of Aug. 12, 1949: Article 4 A: Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy: (1) Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces. Article 13: Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated ... Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity. Article 25: Prisoners of war shall be quartered under conditions as favorable as those for the forces of the Detaining Power who are billeted in the same area.

The said conditions shall make allowance for the habits and customs of the prisoners and shall in no case be prejudicial to their health. Article 82: A prisoner of war shall be subject to the laws, regulations and orders in force in the armed forces of the Detaining Power; the Detaining Power shall be justified in taking judicial or disciplinary measures in respect of any offense committed by a prisoner of war against such laws, regulations or orders. Article 84: In no circumstances whatever shall a prisoner of war be tried by a court of any kind which does not offer the essential guarantees of independence and impartiality as generally recognized. Article 97: Prisoners of war shall not in any case be transferred to penitentiary establishments (prisons, penitentiaries, convict prisons, etc.) to undergo disciplinary punishments therein. Article 105: The prisoner of war shall be entitled to assistance by one of his prisoner comrades, to defense by a qualified advocate or counsel of his own choice, to the calling of witnesses and, if he deems necessary, to the services of a competent interpreter.

04 APR 99: More than 200 family members, friends and military veterans paid final tribute to Harold E. Reid, a Marine from Salt Lake City whose partial remains were identified and returned home more than 31 years after he was missing in action in Vietnam. Taylorsville Cemetery was lined with hundreds of American flags as Reid's remains were interred following a graveside ceremony complete with a Marine honor guard and 21-gun salute. Family members bundled against a biting cold as they spoke of the emotional closure now possible. "Forever, I was hoping for at least just one bone. And then when they told me that there would be 44 bones, I thought, ÔHow blessed I am,'" said Reid's mother, Anna Matern. Reid was 20 years old when he disappeared Sept. 13, 1967. Military investigators last November discovered his partial remains and positively identified them with a DNA match. He was apparently killed in a firefight with guerrillas.

06 APR 99: Film footage never seen before from Hanoi's secret archives of the wars in Vietnam against the United States and France will be commercially available next week for the first time, a German film executive said on Tuesday. "There are some very impressive films about the bombing in Hanoi, really very touching pictures," van Dulmen said. Highlights included tens of thousands of people carrying war supplies on foot down the Ho Chi Minh trail, footage of U.S. prisoners of war, and everything on how small bands of poorly equipped Viet Cong guerrillas plotted and executed attacks against U.S. troops.

07 APR 97: Phnom Penh, Cambodia -- Remains believed to be those of two U.S. servicemen missing since a failed attempt to rescue the American merchant ship Mayaguez in 1975 were flown out of Cambodia yesterday. The remains were found in Sihanoukville, 115 miles south of Phnom Penh, by searchers from the United States and Cambodia. All 40 crew members of the Mayaguez were eventually released by Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime. But 18 members of the rescue mission disappeared on the island of Koh Tang on May 14, 1975.

Five people, including a South Korean prisoner of war, have arrived in Seoul after escaping famine-stricken North Korea, officials said Wednesday. One of the escapees, Sohn Jae-sool, 67, then an army private, was captured by Chinese troops during the 1950-53 Korean War, according to a news release from the National Intelligence Service. Sohn was later sent to a coal mine in northern North Korea where he was forced to work until he managed to escape. Seoul says more than 40,000 South Korean prisoners of war were not returned at the end of the war, but the North claims that all southern POWs went home in 1953. So far, six South Korean POWs have escaped the North and arrived in South Korea.

08 APR 99: The Clinton administration has asked China to help account for several Americans missing from the Korean War, including two pilots apparently killed when their plane was shot down on a CIA covert mission in Manchuria in November 1952, according to internal Pentagon records. The administration also has requested information on three missing corporals -- Roger Dumas, William Glasser and Richard Desautels -- who were held in a Chinese-run POW camp in North Korea. Several repatriated American prisoners reported seeing the three alive and well at the close of the war in 1953. Pentagon officials have been pressing the Chinese communist government for more than a year to open its wartime records, but with little result. The People's Liberation Army has insisted that war losses are a closed issue, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has declared wartime records to be classified.

09 APR 99: NATIONAL FORMER PRISONER OF WAR RECOGNITION DAY, 1999 - BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - A PROCLAMATION: "We are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our country. . ." With these simple words, Navy Commander Jeremiah Denton, released in 1973 from North Vietnam with his companions after the longest wartime captivity of any group of Americans in our history, summed up the courage, selflessness, and indomitable spirit of generations of American prisoners of war. For more than two centuries, Americans have risked and lost their own freedom to defend democracy, preserve America's liberty and values, and protect our national interests around the world. In Andersonville or along the Yalu River, confined in Nazi stalags or enduring torture in the Hanoi Hilton, our prisoners of war have set an extraordinary example of valor, patriotism, and devotion to duty in the face of enormous hardship and adversity. The somber black and white POW/MIA flag serves as a reminder of their sacrifice and symbolizes our Nation's deep concern for and steadfast commitment to these brave Americans and their families. But, however dark and trying the ordeal for our prisoners of war, their sacrifices did indeed serve a grand purpose. Inspired by their bravery in captivity, our Nation has been resolute in its defense of liberty. And, because of their sacrifice, the United States today is strong, free, and prosperous, looking forward to a future of limitless possibility. Today we pay special tribute to our Nation's former prisoners of war and their families and express our heartfelt gratitude for their many sacrifices. They have embodied the ideals of a strong people and a free Nation. They have represented America at its best, and they have served a grateful Nation with honor, dignity, and distinction. As we honor them, let us also keep foremost in our thoughts and prayers Staff Sergeant Andrew Ramirez, Staff Sergeant Christopher Stone, and Specialist Steven Gonzales of the United States Army as they endure unjust captivity in Yugoslavia and as we work for their safety and swift release. NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 9, 1999, as National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day. I call upon all Americans to join me in remembering former American prisoners of war who suffered the hardships of enemy captivity. I also call upon Federal, State, and local government officials and private organizations to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-third. - WILLIAM J. CLINTON.

The Defense Prisoner Of War/Missing Personnel Office has posted their 1998 Annual Report at: http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/special/annualreport98.htm

12 APR 99: The Department of Defense and the four military services are mounting an intense public outreach effort to locate family members of servicemen who remain unaccounted for from the Korean War. Family members of any unaccounted for Korea-era servicemen are asked to provide their name, address and relationship of their loved one as soon as possible to the appropriate service casualty office. Air Force families can call toll-free (800)531-5501 or write by electronic mail via the Internet pow-mia@hq.afpc.af.mil. The Army's toll free number is (800)892-2490. The Navy number is (800)443-9298. The Marine Corps's number is (800)847-1597.

14 APR 99: The 59th anniversary of the Katyn crime, involving some 22,000 Polish prisoners of war, mostly officers of the Polish Army, secretly murdered by the NKWD, was marked by a demonstration at the monument to the victims of fighting and murders in the East at Warsaw's Muranow district. The ceremony was attended by representatives of the state authorities, the Church hierarchy and the Polish Army. A mass was celebrated on the occasion at the field cathedral of the Polish Army. The Soviet crime, committed to the order of Stalin, was announced by Germans in 1943 but the Soviet authorities kept denying it for many years. It was officially admitted by USSR president Gorbachev as late as 1990. In the 1990s the documentation on the crime could be collected and the three main crime sites were established. Some 4,400 inmates of the Kozelsk POW camp were murdered and buried in Katyn; the 4,000 prisoners of the Starobelsk camp were murdered at the NKWD headquarters in Kharkov and then buried in the nearby forest of Piatikhatki. An estimated 7,000 prisoners of the Ostashkov camp were murdered at the NKWD premises in Tver and buried in collective graves in Mednoye. The fate of another several thousand victims of this crime is still unknown.

16 APR 99: The remains of six American servicemen previously unaccounted-for from the war in Southeast Asia have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial in the United States. They are identified as Air Force Capt. Dean A. Wadsworth, Clarendon, Texas; Marine SSgt. Harold E. Reid, Salt Lake City, Utah; Navy Lt. David L. Hodges, Chevy Chase, Md.; Air Force Lt. Col. Lewis M. Robinson, Saginaw, Mich.; Air Force Capt. Douglas K. Martin, Tyler, Texas; and Air Force Capt. Samuel L. James, Chattanooga, Tenn.

Kosovo Liberation Army forces captured a Yugoslav Army officer during a night operation 13-14 April 1999 near Junik, Kosovo. The soldier is being treated as a prisoner of war (POW), and has been afforded rights as a POW under the provisions of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949. He has been examined by a qualified medical doctor to ascertain any combat related or other injuries, and was found to be in good condition. In addition to the food, shelter and medical care being provided, religious counseling is being coordinated for him, and arrangements have been made for a visit by a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross. During his captivity, the Yugoslav officer will enjoy all the protections and rights accorded by the Geneva Conventions, including the right to send and receive mail, to communicate any complaints, receive medical care, and to have his habits, customs, and religious practices respected. Prisoners of war are entitled to release and repatriation, without delay, upon agreement or after the cessation of active hostilities.

19 APR 99: Iraq and Iran exchanged the remains of 385 soldiers on Saturday, the Iranian News Agency reported. The exchange at Shalamcheh border region of southwestern Iran included remains of 221 Iraqi soldiers and 164 Iranians, IRNA said in a report monitored in the United Arab Emirates. Relations between the neighboring nations remain troubled. Eleven years after the war, Iraq is trying to account for more than 13,000 prisoners of war. Iran, too, says Iraq still holds Iranian prisoners, a claim Iraq denies. Each country also plays host to members of the other's opposition groups.

More than 200 South Vietnamese commandos who were captured and tortured while on secret intelligence missions for the United States have been denied veterans benefits by the Pentagon. Acting Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters determined that the commandos ``shall not be considered active duty for purposes of all laws administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs,'' wrote James D. Johnston, executive secretary of the Civilian Military Service Review Board, to the commandos' lawyer this week. During the Vietnam War, the commandos infiltrated North Vietnam as part of covert intelligence missions. They were captured by the North Vietnamese, who had been tipped off to their mission, and declared dead by the U.S. government. In 1996, Congress earmarked $20 million for the commandos, enough to pay each man or his survivors $40,000. That was $2,000 for every year of captivity, on average. Those imprisoned for more than 20 years could receive up to $50,000. The commandos' case had been championed by several lawmakers, including Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a decorated Vietnam veteran.

21 APR 99: The International Committee of the Red Cross said today that Yugoslav authorities had kept it from visiting three U.S. soldiers captured March 31, in spite of an obligation under the Geneva Conventions. "The International Committee of the Red Cross regrets that despite repeated oral and written representations to the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, it has still not been granted access to three United States servicemen captured more than three weeks ago," said an ICRC statement.

23 APR 99: Colonel Ted W. Guy, United States Air Force, and America's senior POW in the Vietnam War, died today after a long battle with leukemia. Colonel Guy will be buried at a future date at Arlington National Cemetery.

AII POW-MIA TRIBUTE TO TED GUY "From the flight lines of Korea and Vietnam, to a cell in the Hanoi Hilton, to the hallowed halls of Congress... Ted Guy never failed to speak his mind, do his job and command respect, awe and admiration from all who crossed his path.

And now he has passed on to a final freedom and peace.

After duty in Korea and stateside, he was transferred to Vietnam where he bailed out over Laos after one of his bombs prematurely exploded and was captured by the North Vietnamese. From the jungles of Laos, Ted was marched to Hanoi, repeatedly exposed along the way to Agent Orange. Upon reaching the Hanoi Hilton, he spent 3 years in solitary confinement and upon release to the general population, assumed his role as Senior POW Officer (SRO).

He was badly beaten, tortured and as a result of extreme mistreatment during captivity, he was retired shortly after his release during Operation Homecoming.

Ted rallied family members, activists and Ex-POWs the same way he rallied his men... With compassion, strength and passion. He openly spoke of his confinement, the politics of POWs and was a resounding voice of reason in an unreasonable issue and world.

The continued saturation of Agent Orange took its final toll... Ted was diagnosed with Leukemia as a result of AO exposure and within a scant 6 months, passed from this world.

There are no words to express how much he is respected and how much he will be missed. His voice may have been silenced, but his message will endure.

In closing he always signed his letters and emails to us with the POW tap code, GBU and CUL, and we were and we did... and we will, one day.

May your flight be swift and the winds carry you high Ted GBU - CUL"

26 APR 99: The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross met today with three U.S. soldiers held captive by Yugoslavia, but voiced pessimism for chances of their release any time soon. Cornelio Sommaruga, the ICRC president, said a doctor and a Red Cross delegate would visit the soldiers on Tuesday. He gave no information about their physical condition.

A defaced plaque commemorating American POWs who died while building the so-called "Death Railway" during World War II was replaced Sunday during a ceremony for the war dead. The new plaque, which is located next to the bridge over the River Kwai, replaces one that was unveiled in September 1997 and subsequently vandalized by souvenir-seekers who pried pieces off it. U.S. Ambassador Richard Hecklinger unveiled the new plaque during a ceremony that followed a memorial service hosted by the New Zealand Embassy at Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, where the remains of almost 7,000 Allied POWs are buried. Most of the Americans who died while building the 250-mile railway came from a U.S. warship, the USS Houston, which was sunk by the Japanese navy off the coast of Indonesia. Of the 688 American servicemen who labored on the railway, 356 died.

Iran has asked Iraq for information about the fates of 2,806 prisoners from the 1980-88 war between the two countries, an Iranian official said Sunday. Iran has given documents to Iraq and the International Committee of the Red Cross about the prisoners in question, the Iranian news agency quoted Brig. Gen. Abdollah Najafi as saying at a news conference Tehran, the Iranian capital. Najafi, who leads an Iranian commission in charge of POWs, also said that Iraq was seeking information from Iran about 2,000 Iraqi POWs, according to the news agency report monitored in Dubai. Animosity, however, has persisted over the POW issue.

28 APR 99: After four weeks in Yugoslav captivity, Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Stone has been able to contact his family and reassure them. In messages relayed by Red Cross members who visited him Tuesday, Stone asked his family and the public to "continue to pray for him and the other two boys." In a letter to his wife, Tricia Stone, he said he was "coping." International Committee of the Red Cross chief Cornelio Sommaruga said a team from his organization, including a doctor, met privately in Belgrade with the U.S. soldiers. Sommaruga saw the three captured soldiers briefly on Monday. The visit Tuesday was the first "official" contact as provided for under the Geneva conventions for prisoners of war. Sommaruga refused to discuss the prisoners' conditions. They had been shown on Serb TV with cuts and bruises on their faces after their capture.

30 APR 99: Vietnam Veterans of America is sends a delegation under its Veterans Initiative Task Force to Vietnam. The Program is a veteran-to-veteran effort to account for U.S. unaccounted-for and Vietnamese war casualties.

30 MAY 99: REMINDER - DOD/DPMO Family Update - 15 MAY 1999 - Omaha, NE

POW-MIA Issue Update May 1999