July 1999

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

01 JUL 99: 2,060 Americans remain "officially" unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War: Vietnam - 1,534 (North, 554; South, 980); Laos - 444; Cambodia - 74; and the Peoples Republic of China territorial waters - 8. 155Americans have been accounted-for during the present administration: Vietnam - 83; Laos - 64 and Cambodia - 6. 523 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 remains of two soldiers missing in action from the Korean War have been identified and returned to their families for burial in the United States. They are identified as U.S. Army Cpl. Charles W. Tillman, Columbia, SC., and U.S. Army Pfc. Herbert Ardis, Detroit, MI. The remains of Tillman and Ardis were recovered about three miles apart in an area approximately 60 miles north of Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. The remains of both soldiers were recovered during investigations and excavations directed by the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office following negotiations with North Korea in 1996, 1997 and 1998. The U.S. teams conducted ten excavations from 1996-99 inside North Korea and have recovered 39 remains of American servicemen lost during the war. Three have been identified, including Tillman and Ardis, with approximately 8,200 still missing in action. The recovery of the remains of both these soldiers, as well as the forensic identification work, was carried out by the U.S. Army's Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii.

02 JUL 99: Joint field operations in Vietnam have now concluded. Approximately 100 US specialists conducted investigations and excavations, including an underwater excavation of an aircraft on the coast of Vietnam that reportedly was successful in recovering remains.

New regulations give more support to returned South Korean POWs. The Defense Ministry has mapped out regulations aimed at giving more financial support to prisoners of the 1950-53 Korean War who have returned or will return from communist North Korea, officials said yesterday. The regulations are based on a bill that recently passed through the National Assembly, ministry officials said. Under the new regulations, each of six South Korean enlisted men who have in recent years escaped from the North and returned to the South will be given about 130 million won ($116,500) of overdue salaries, 690,000 won ($618) to 810,000 won ($726) as a monthly pension and a 20-pyong apartment (1 pyong equals about 3.3 sq. meters). Soldiers who return from North Korea in the future will also receive the same support. After the end of the Korean War, North Korea refused to return thousands of South Korean prisoners of war, in an apparent bid to exploit their labor for reconstruction.

03 JUL 99: Forty-nine years ago, Pvt. Frederick M. Ryan and 41 other American prisoners of war were gunned down on a Korean hillside, their hands tied behind their backs, and left for dead. A priest with the American unit that found the men kissed the wounded Ryan's forehead, administered last rites and draped a cross and a Purple Heart around his neck. But even though Ryan's side had been shattered by five bullets, he was one of five soldiers who survived the Aug. 17, 1950, massacre, their bodies shielded by those of their dead buddies. This past week, Ryan returned to Hill 303 -- a strategic vantage point that changed hands at least seven times -- to find the massacre site and to say goodbye to the ghosts of the past. "I've got to say goodbye to my friends. Their bodies might not be there, but their spirits are," said Ryan.

04 JUL 99: For the first time, the POW/MIA Recognition Day poster is available on the Internet. The poster was produced by DPMO, with design work from the Department of Defense graphics division. Distribution of printed copies of the poster are being made to units of each of the military services, as well as to veterans' organizations and VA offices and medical centers. The poster, entitled "Keeping the Promise," depicts the despair of a POW, from a painting from the Air Force art collection by Maxine McCaffrey. Copies were given to family organizations earlier this month during their national conventions in Washington. Computer users may see the poster on the Defense POW/Missing Personnel web site. The address for that site is:

http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo

Viewers should "bookmark" that web site, or save it in a "favorites" file. Then click on the button at the bottom of the page labeled "1999 POW/MIA Recognition Day." The poster may be selected for viewing, then downloaded into a file.

05 JUL 99: The Missing Defense Personnel Relatives' Association has asked the government to ensure that all prisoners of war captured in the Kargil conflict are returned by Pakistan and a re-run of the Œ71 episode is prevented at all costs. Though there is ample evidence to suggest that about 54 officers captured by Pakistan during the 1971 war are languishing in Pakistani jails, Pakistan has steadfastly denied it, says the association. The general secretary of the association, Col (Ret) RP Pattu, said India should not repeat the Œ71 mistake. "We returned 93,000 Pakistani soldiers and 5,000 square miles, but failed to secure the release of 54 of our own officers, who, to this day are enduring inhuman conditions in their jails because of our Intelligence failure and the government's apathy." While parents of some officers have received letters -- smuggled out of prison or written by co-prisoners -- confirming that some officers are still alive, Pakistani media reports also bear it out. While exchanging prisoners, India would not accept them as they had no recollection of their place of origin, and were thus retained as prisoners. "The association feels the prisoners could have lost their mental balance because of torture." They will never accept that the officers are in their jails, but adds there is still time to save those captured in the Kargil conflict. "We have to bargain and ensure that some of their men are held back till all of ours are released." The soldiers must be confident that they will be brought back if taken alive by the enemy, he said.

06 JUL 99: Colonel Harry B. Axson, Jr., will assume command of Joint Task Force Full Accounting on July 29th. At this change of command, Col. Axson will relieve outgoing JTF-FA Commander BG Terry Tucker who will assume his position as Assistant Division Commander of the 25th Division in Hawaii. Col. Axson comes to this position from duty as Executive Officer to the Commander in Chief, United States Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida.

07 JUL 99: DNA Tests Spark Efforts to ID Korean War Remains. Advances in forensic medicine have enabled DoD to redouble efforts to identify some of the 846 sets of Korean War remains buried as "unknowns" in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, also known as "the Punch Bowl." Investigators will use the same mitochondrial DNA technology that proved the remains of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie were those interred in the Vietnam crypt of the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery, VA. A new DoD policy authorizes the Army's Honolulu-based Central Identification Laboratory to disinter remains of unknown service members that "we believe, with the help of DNA, we can identify," said Allen Liotta, deputy director, Office of POW/Missing Personnel Affairs in Arlington, VA. "When the remains were returned to U.S. custody in 1953 and forensically reviewed, there was insufficient information to identify them. Now, however, with DNA technology we believe we can identify some of them." "We're carefully reviewing the cases, looking to see which ones there was a lot of information on but just shy of being able to make an identification," Liotta said. He said the laboratory believes it has compelling evidence on about a dozen sets of remains. "We believe that by the end of this summer we will have begun to excavate the first of those dozen." There are no plans at this time to open all 846 graves in the Punch Bowl.

08 JUL 99: The remains of an American serviceman previously unaccounted-for from the war in Southeast Asia have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial in the United States. He is identified as Army Specialist 4th Class Roger L. Smith of South Point, Ohio.

12 JUL 99: Russia calls for quick release of war prisoners. A prominent Russian official said yesterday that President Boris Yeltsin "attaches special importance" to causes related to prisoners of war and missing including the Kuwait POWs in the Iraqi jails. Head of the POWs committee in the Russian presidential bureau Gen Vladimir Zolotarev said Yeltsin and his US counterpart Bill Clinton established a Russian-US joint committee for missing of war to determine the fate of thousands of people missing during World War II, the war in Vietnam and Korea and confrontations during the cold war. He pointed out that Russia shares with Kuwait a deep concern over the fate of more than 600 Kuwaiti prisoners in Iraqi jails since 1990. The Russian official also recalled the efforts of his government and parliament to urge Iraq to respond to calls for releasing the Kuwaiti prisoners. The Russian parliament called on the Iraqi parliament to exert efforts to release the Kuwaiti prisoners in Iraq.

13 JUL 99: Remains believed to be those of six unaccounted-for U.S. servicemen from the war in Southeast Asia are scheduled to arrive at Hickam Air Force Base. The remains were recovered by a team of 118 mostly Hawaii-based military and civilian specialists who were deployed to Vietnam in May and June. Forty-five cases involving potential aircraft and ground losses were investigated during the 30-day operation, and seven sites were excavated. The remains will be flown from Hanoi to Andersen AFB, Guam, where a repatriation ceremony will be held to signify their return to U.S. soil. Upon arriving at Hickam, the remains will go to the U.S. Army's Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii for forensic identification analysis.

15 JUL 99: North Korea angrily denied Seoul's charges the communist state is holding South Korean prisoners of war and abductees. South Korea earlier this year refused to send a group of recently-freed political prisoners back to North Korea unless Pyongyang handed over POWs and other South Koreans being held against their will in the North. The Korean Central News Agency quoted alleged South Korean defectors as dismissing claims people from the South remain in captivity. South Korea believes some 300 POWs are thought to be languishing in the North since the 1950-53 Korean War. The North demands that Seoul release all political prisoners being held here for allegedly harboring communist sympathies. President Kim Dae-Jung said earlier this month he would free "many" political detainees and workers in an amnesty next month to mark Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial rule.

16 JUL 99: Japanese Memorial To List Veterans. The Fine Arts Commission is considering whether statements by Presidents Truman, Ford and Reagan praising Japanese-Americans interned during World War II should be included in a patriotism memorial near the Capitol. The memorial, a 7-foot-3-inch granite wall, will list about 840 names, including Japanese-American war veterans, "of those who lost their lives, or are missing in action in service to their country." The wall would be the centerpiece of a quarter-acre park between Union Station and the Capitol.

17 JUL 99: The Ford Library announced the opening of the PRESNET, which serves as an index to the manuscript holdings of the Ford Library. Although it does not index individual documents, it does provide researchers with list of folders that contain information on POW/MIA and other topics. For additional information on PRESNET functions, searching, hardware, and software contact the

Gerald R. Ford Library, 1000 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.
Phone: (734) 741-2218, Fax: (734) 741-2341.
Archivists will be happy to conduct searches and mail search reports to you.
Contact: library@fordlib.nara.gov

21 JUL 99: The U.S. is nearing an agreement to establish normal trading relations with Vietnam, a move that would eliminate tariffs and other barriers imposed after the war ended almost a quarter-century ago, officials said. The accord, which would culminate three years of negotiations between the two former enemies, would give Vietnam essentially the same privileges enjoyed by every U.S. trading partner except Afghanistan, North Korea, Serbia, Laos and Cuba. For U.S. companies, an agreement would create a far wider opening to a market of 77 million consumers. It would encourage the U.S. to assume a greater presence in the country, joining Japan, Taiwan, France and others that have been more willing to invest there.

24 JUL 99: German WWII POW Finishing NY Mural. As a prisoner of war, Ernst Wille spent his days behind a paintbrush, filling a wall with an image of peace. By the time he was captured at Normandy on D-Day, the young German soldier had seen enough of war. He had watched the serene beach he'd painted 36 hours earlier turn red with blood and, after his capture, helped pile the lifeless bodies left behind. At age 82, Wille on Friday put the finishing touches on the mural he started 55 years ago. He is donating it and 11 other works to the state of New York, hoping they will be displayed for the public in the now unused Officers' Club. A private citizens' group is trying to turn the club into a museum.

26 JUL 99: The House approved a Bill, H. Res. 172, allowing public access to records on Americans taken prisoner during the Vietnam war. Families of the approximately 2,000 Americans unaccounted for in Southeast Asia after the war in the 1960s and 1970s will now be able to read previously classified information about their loved ones. Eleven boxes of files were affected, giving details of where many POWs were held, how they were captured, and when they were released or killed. Although the standard period of secrecy for classified records is 50 years, Congress deemed the information no longer sensitive four years ago.

Diaries, letters and other British wartime documents which have been lying in Russian archives in Moscow since the end of the Second World War were finally released. The war records which include pay books, were kept by the Germans, but subsequently taken by liberating Russian troops and stored in Moscow. Some of the documents belonged to British prisoners of war captured by the Germans.

27 JUL 99: Statement by President Clinton on the Bilateral Trade Agreement with Vietnam. I am pleased that the Office of the United States Trade Representative and the Vietnamese Trade Ministry reached an understanding in principle on the terms of a broad commercial agreement between the United States and Vietnam. This provisional arrangement is a major step forward for both countries, and I congratulate our American negotiators and those of Vietnam on their work. I will review the agreement carefully and consult further with the Congress and the government of Vietnam in the hope that we will be able to move on to finalization, formal signature, and the establishment of normal trade relations very soon. In addition to promoting American commercial interests, enhancing our economic relations with Vietnam will also help advance cooperation with Vietnam on other issues of importance to our nation. These include obtaining the fullest possible accounting of our missing from the war, encouraging continued progress in the freedom of emigration, and seeking improvements in the human rights situation in Vietnam. Since the United States normalized relations with Vietnam in 1995, we have made steady progress in each of those areas. A bilateral trade agreement with Vietnam constitutes one more positive step in that process.

28 JUL 99: A possible political skirmish in the American Bar Association was averted when actress Jane Fonda canceled plans to speak to the group, citing scheduling conflicts. The choice of Fonda as keynote speaker for the Silver Gavel Awards, scheduled for Aug.10 in Atlanta, stirred heated criticism from some ABA members and veterans who disagreed with her antiwar views during the Vietnam War. Many former POWs suffered additional punishment for refusing to meet with Fonda. A spokeswoman for Fonda said Monday that the Academy Award-winning actress's cancellation was due to a scheduling conflict, and that the complaints filed by some ABA members "have absolutely nothing to do with Ms. Fonda's decision."

29 JUL 99: The United States hasn't given up hope of finding alive the five Americans and two Colombians aboard a counternarcotics aircraft that apparently crashed July 23 in Colombia, DoD spokesman Navy Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said. Aircraft wreckage has been spotted about 7,500 feet up the side of a steep mountain surrounded by dense jungle, but officials haven't confirmed it's the aircraft being sought, Quigley told Pentagon reporters. Heavy haze and fog have severely hampered search and rescue efforts, he said. Quigley said there are no indications of survivors at the suspected crash site, but "we will keep our hopes up until facts prove otherwise." The admiral said searchers are hoping the weather improves soon so a ground operation can be launched. Meanwhile, U.S. and Colombian aircraft are combing the area for signs of life whenever it's safe to fly. Guerrillas linked to drug trafficking have vowed to stay clear of the crash site during search and rescue operations, Quigley noted. He also said DoD is keeping family members of the five missing Americans informed of the progress in the search effort.

30 JUL 99: LEGISLATION UPDATE:
S. 484 - Bring Them Home Alive Act Of 1999 - A bill to provide for the granting of refugee status in the United States to nationals of certain foreign countries in which American Vietnam War POW/MIAs or American Korean War POW/MIAs may be present, if those nationals assist in the return to the United States of those POW/MIAs alive.
Sponsor: Sen Campbell, Ben Nighthorse (introduced 02/25/99).
Cosponsors: 20 - Gregg, Helms, Brownback, Bunning, McConnell, Hutchinson, Grams, Schumer, Mack, Allard, Smith, Torricelli, Fitzgerald, Frist, Hutchison, Shelby, Lincoln, Ashcroft, Abraham, and Bingaman.

H.R. 1926 - Bring Them Home Alive Act Of 1999 - A bill to provide for the granting of refugee status in the United States to nationals of certain foreign countries in which American Vietnam War POW/MIAs or American Korean War POW/MIAs may be present, if those nationals assist in the return to the United States of those POW/MIAs alive.
Sponsor: Rep Hefley, Joel (introduced 05/25/99).

Cosponsors: 57 - Rohrabacher, McCarthy, Shows, Holden, Diaz-Balart, McHugh, Ortiz, Schaffer, Fossella, English, Green, Whitfield, Granger, Burton, Kelly, Gutierrez, Davis, Fletcher, Forbes, Cunningham, Shays, Filner, McCollum, Hilleary, Lucas, McGovern, King, Lewis, Hunter, Hostettler, Tancredo, Talent, Wynn, Saxton, Bilirakis, Peterson, Pallone, Cramer, Deal, Northup, DeFrazio, Schakowsky, Armey, Bishop, Jenkins, Thurman, Moore, Sweeney, Goode, McNulty, Souder, Maloney, Rahall, Brown, Bliley, Vento, and Dickey.

H. RES. 172 - A resolution to authorize and direct the Archivist of the United States to make available for public use the records of the House of Representatives Select Committee on Missing Persons in Southeast Asia.
Sponsor: Rep Gilman, Benjamin (introduced 05/13/99). - PASSED.

H. RES. 16 - A resolution to establish a Select Committee on POW and MIA Affairs.
Sponsor: Rep King, Peter (introduced 01/06/99).
Cosponsors: 16 Cramer, Oberstar, McCarthy, Frost, Bilirakis, Lazio, Kelly, Luther, Calvert, LaHood, Canady, Ramstad, Peterson, Metcalf, Gutknecht, and Duncan.

A U.S.-Colombian search team recovered remains of four Americans aboard a U.S. Army reconnaissance plane that slammed into a mountain July 23 while on a counterdrug mission, DoD spokesman Navy Rear Adm. Craig Quigley said. Quigley told reporters at a July 29 briefing the identities of those found were not known. The remains were flown to the Colombian capital of Bogota, where forensic experts will try to identify them. One American and two Colombians also aboard the aircraft were still missing at the time of the briefing.

31 JUL 99: REMINDER - DOD/DPMO Family Update - 21 AUG 1999 - Oklahoma City, OK

POW-MIA Issue Update August 1999