December 1998

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

And so yet another year passes and once again we find ourselves faced with the same issues and concerns that we started with. What is notable about the year 1998 is not what happened... but what did not happen... resolution, truth and answers did not happen. Family members passed from this life without answers... perhaps the answers await them in a better place. Wives and children and siblings asked for answers yet found silence. And the vigil continues.

1998 saw the POWs and MIAs from the Second Indochina War falling into the paper-pushing archival category that befell both Korea and World War II Prisoners and Missing... remains, artifacts and effects... a mindboggling scavenger hunt in dense jungles and rice paddies, but nothing of the men last known alive, nothing of the men like Hrdlicka and Holland who were sucked into the black hole called Laos, nothing of POWs, as unaccounted-for and war dead and simply missing replaced the inflammatory word, POW, Prisoner of War, the hot-button that grabs the attention of the public. Political pundits, congress critters, mainstream media and Badministration officials alike soft-peddled into safe territory with the benign phrase 'Missing' while the public, convinced by the soft-language evident everywhere that the government had the situation under control, went about their lives. And those men and women who were alive and were abandoned have been abandoned yet again by the actions and inaction's of those vested with resolution, who now simply call them missing and wait for their dog tags and a tooth to turn up so they can forever be crossed off the list.

Sadly the year was overshadowed by events that profoundly distracted the public and the press and relegated momentum to the back burner. A man without the moral conviction to honorably serve his nation when called to serve during Vietnam, proved once again he was incapable of honorably serving the nation 30 years later, even as President, as he brought disgrace upon himself and his office. From the start of the year Vietnam was deemed to be doing a 'superb' job and the President certified that Vietnam was 'fully cooperating in good faith' then offered his personal commitment to the families... not unlike the personal commitment he gave the families before he lifted the trade embargo and normalized relations with the Communist country.

What did happen in 1998 -

• A decade old question about the identity of the man interred as the Vietnam Unknown in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery was finally asked publicly. The firestorm began in January and continued half a year while DOD scrambled for cover and families pummeled congress for action and answers. As suspected and long reported, the remains were identified as USAF 1stLT Michael J. Blassie, who disappeared 26 years previous. Although identification accompanied the remains at the onset, the remains became 'separated' from the identification and in a rush to have a Vietnam Unknown, Blassie was placed in the Tomb with honors. The family wanting nothing more than answers persevered and with the support of other families who had a likely candidate for identification, the Tomb was opened, the remains removed to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and mtDNA testing proved that the Unknown was indeed Known. Had the DOD and USG not been in such a 'rush to judgment' to secure an Unknown for political favor, the trauma of disrupting the Tomb years later and the endless waiting, pain and questions that each family was forced to endure may have been averted. As we have seen from the forensic reports, the remains did not even meet the criteria for candidacy, let alone internment. We can only hope that with a more vigilant DOD and advanced forensic sciences available never again will any man or woman be Unknown.

• News reports in February stated that American POWs from Korea were moved through a clandestine network of Chinese camps, with Russian assistance, and the US knew about it and 'closely tracked' the men. Not only did the men disappear, but further mention of the story also disappeared shortly after hitting the airwaves and ether. Eleven months later, we have heard nothing more about the US Korean POWs. Forgotten War - Forgotten Men.

• The Supreme Court decided that a 'political' message on a T-shirt would forever be banned from sale on Parks Service property. Since politics injected itself into the issue, mention of POWs and MIAs has become a politically charged and frequently motivated issue, and apparently mention of POWs and MIAs on a T-shirt, in the view of the nation's highest court, is political in nature and therefore banned from the area adjacent to The Wall. Jan Scruggs, a previous winner of the Greed and Avarice Award, drove the T-shirts and the message off the mall and away from his Wall. One must wonder why it is that a privately copyrighted work, The Three Men Statue, itself on Parks Service property, remains standing where it does. It generates a small fortune in royalty revenues for a select few, yet it stands on 'public' property and is featured prominently on T-shirts, keychains and assorted doodads sold in officially sanctioned Parks Service kiosks. The Supreme Court, Parks Service and Mr. Scruggs worked hard to protect our Nation's Capitol... or should that be Capital.

• April saw the opening of the National POW Museum at the notorious Andersonville Prison site in Georgia and the 25th anniversary of the Nixon-White House Welcome Home Party where returned POWs were honored shortly after Operation Homecoming. Twenty-five years later countless families are still waiting for their homecoming.

• The solemnity of Memorial Day dawned with a total of 15 'identifications' from SEA and 6 from WW II for the year so far. President Clinton laid a wreath, veterans saluted their fallen bothers and comrades and families prayed for answers.

• Half a year down and we hear that Eastern European nations, long suspected to be a part of the former Soviet Bloc satellite diaspora of POWs, petitioned for and received entrance to NATO. Calls for accountability on their behalf went unheeded. The Jackson-Vanik debate heated-up in the House and Senate as a few folks questioned the certification of Vietnam that would lead to considerable largesse and ultimate MFN status. Smith and Rohrabacher led the offensive, but they were steam-rolled by successive votes in both bodies supporting the Presidential measure.

• The heat of July turned cold when we heard that Colonel Phil Corso passed from this world. With his passing, yet another voice is silenced... one that spoke of hundreds of American POWs who were not repatriated and eventually abandoned in a strange place so many years ago. But for all the years that had passed, reality kicked-in full-throttle when South Korean POWs began escaping after 45 years in captivity, telling their tales of horror, privation and how dozens and dozens of POWs survived and were still alive in North Korean labor camps.

• The long awaited National Intelligence Estimate was released in August and the scant information within its pages is stunning. Perhaps after the SNIE release of previous years and the devastating and legitimate criticism that it brought upon its authors, DOD decided in favor of brevity.
• National POW-MIA Recognition Day came and with it a renewed commitment to insure that as long as there is one family out there who is dissatisfied with the 'official' version or has unanswered questions, then the issue of abandoned Americans from all wars will remain the priority it has always been. A sad and sobering event, we look forward to the day when there will not have to be a POW-MIA day and those vested with the responsibility to account for our nation's Missing and repatriate our Prisoners will do the job they are entrusted to do and be honest and forthright with the families who wait... and wait.

• October brought us news of more South Korean escapees and more tales of terror, privation and living POWs in North Korean captivity. Their names were memorized by the escapees and South Korean intelligence confirmed the men as legitimate 'missing' personnel. How many more men have survived... and will they ever taste freedom? House Hearings were convened and all the familiar faces showed and gave statements... DOD, DPMO, Senate supporters... gone was the fire and passion of the Dornan Hearings, the questions, challenges and more questions and in the end we were told nothing more than Vietnam is doing a 'superb' job.

• November brought about a grim reminder that dirty secrets remain... and will remain as long as there are people alive to keep them secret. The memoirs of General Dmitri Volkogonov, a former member of the US-Russia Joint Commission, were found to have the following: "However, one document, probably sensational, is still in storage. I have a copy of it. Its content is as follows: at the end of the 1960's the KGB (external foreign intelligence) was given the task of "delivering informed Americans to the USSR for intelligence gathering purposes." Upon investigation the sobering facts showed that the US was aware of this document for a considerable period of time and Volkogonov's mention of it, but did not wish to rile the Russians and broach the subject. Not until the document was mentioned publicly by the press did the USG and State really do anything about it... only to hear from the Russian side that it would remain secret under National Security. We can only wonder what else Volkogonov, who passed a few years back, knew of American POWs in Soviet hands and what he shared and did not share and what else is being shrouded behind the veil of National Security.

• The year now ends with the news that more identifications have been made, and that the US-Russia Joint Commission will go on with a new American Chairman. North Korea will agree to allow joint excavations, but remains mum on the US POWs reported on eleven months earlier, and Russia remains steadfast in keeping their dirty secret a secret. Looking back on the year we remember Vietnam razed the wartime US Embassy, and the Tomb of the Unknowns was violated because of the inability or unwillingness of those empowered to tell the truth. Another family member passes, questions unanswered... friends have passed on and time itself, that ephemeral glimmer, passes as easily as breathing.

• And we realize in the dawn of yet another year that we are weary and tired of an issue that is a lifetime long. But there is much work to be done, and as tired as we all may be, we cannot rest nor can we pass the torch. We all must carry it high and let it shine brightly... so that all who seek will see... all who ask will hear... the answers, the truth.... they are out there, somewhere. And with this new year, bright and full of promise may we all recommit ourselves and our efforts and say that Never Again, will we allow any American to be abandoned, in any place, at any time, for any price.

We go on.

May God grant health, happiness, peace and comfort to those who wait.

Andi & Bob

POW-MIA Issue Update January 1999