April 1998
Summary of news for the entire month.
For recent and daily news, please go to: InterNetwork
00 APR 98: The 'official' unaccounted for figures are as follows - 2,093 Americans are still missing and unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War: Vietnam - 1,564 (North, 569; South, 993); Laos - 448; Cambodia - 75; the Peoples Republic of China territorial waters - 8. 490 Americans have been accounted-for from the Vietnam War. 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.
01 APR 98: DPMO announces the identification of U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Donald V. Davis, of Salisbury, N.C., and Capt. Carey A. Cunningham, USAF, of Collinsville, AL. The name of a U.S. civilian lost in Laos will not be released at the request of his family.
Polish government officials have pledged to support U.S. efforts to pursue potential POW/MIA leads in Poland. To date efforts have yielded no information about American POWs in Korea or Southeast Asia.
02 APR 98: DPMO archivists recently transferred USAF aircraft loss records from the Korean War to a special collection at the National Archives and Records Administration. DPMO will now hold oversight and training on the Code of Conduct under new DoD Directive 1300.7, to insure our soldiers are well prepared for the possibility of detention by a hostile force.
AP reports that Iran and Iraqi will exchange nearly 6,000 prisoners of war from the 1980-88 war. The POW issue remains the thorniest dispute between the two former war foes.
03 APR 98: The House bill (sec. 1714) and the conference substitute (sec.1805) requires the Sec. of State to report on the extent to which the Government of Vietnam is 1) cooperating with the U.S. on the fullest possible accounting of POW/MIAs; 2) has made progress on the release of political and religious prisoners; 3) is cooperating on requests by the U.S. to obtain full and free access to persons for interviews under the Orderly Departure and Resettlement Opportunities for Vietnamese Refugees programs; 4) has taken action to end corrupt practices in connection with exit visas; and 5) is making efforts to interview and resettle former reeducation camp victims and other persons.
06 APR 98: The Defense Supply Service-Washington as contract for the American Embassy-Moscow, Mr. Robert Bishop, PSC 77 POW/MIA, APO AE 09721, is seeking a qualified individual to identify and exploit information obtained through interviewing former Soviet personnel and analyzing Russian-language source materials dealing with POW/MIAs from WW II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War.
07 APR 98: The Pentagon announced that it will begin a new operation in N. Korea on April 21. There will be five joint recovery operations ending in October. A DPMO spokesman noted that "this (remains recovery operations) has been the single issue on which the U.S. has made progress with N. Korea in the last few years." The military branch casualty offices are seeking to collect the names, addresses and relationships of family members who lost loved ones in Korea. You are asked to contact: USAF - 800-531-5501; USA - 800-892-2490; USN and CG - 800-443-9298; and USMC - 800-847-1597.
08 APR 98: DPMO announces that a Remains Study is currently underway in Hanoi. Senior analysts are conducting a final bilateral exchange and discussion on the Vietnam Remains Study. The Vietnamese have undertaken unilateral investigations to address analytic concerns. Drafting of the Remains Study will begin after DPMO representatives return from Hanoi.
09 APR 98: The United States today saluted its former prisoners of war with the opening of the National Prisoner of War Museum at the site of an infamous Andersonville Civil War prison camp in Americus, Georgia. The 10,000-square-foot museum combines interactive exhibits, videotaped interviews, narrated letters, photos and memorabilia preserved from the estimated 800,000 Americans who have been held prisoner in wars beginning with the American Revolution. The exhibits emphasize the links between prisoners and trace the different aspects of captivity, including torture.
President Clinton proclaims April 9th, 1998, as National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day. Clinton said "I call upon all Americans to join me inremembering former American prisoners of war who suffered the hardships of enemy captivity."
11 APR 98: On April 28th at the 44th Fighter Squadron Commander's Change of Command Ceremony, the Fighter's Squadron Flagship will debut with the POW/MIA logo painted on its side. This is in honor of Captain John Brucher.
AP announces that the longest-held POW from the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war has been released. Hossein Lashgari was captured Sept. 18, 1980 and held for more than 17 years.
13 APR 98: Vietnam Veterans of America issues a press release to hold the former Soviet Bloc Nations of Poland, Hungry and the Czech Republic accountable for pledges made on POW/MIAs. The Eastern Bloc countries activelysupported and were allies of the communist government of North Vietnam during the Korean and Vietnam Wars. VVA calls upon the former Soviet Bloc countries to allow research in the military, intelligence, security, and communist party archives for relevant information on the disposition of American POWs from the Vietnam War.
15 APR 98: A former Imperial Japanese Army soldier, Kenji Maruko, 76, who spent eight years in Sakhalin as POW after WW II and now lives in Russia will return to Japan for a reunion with his relatives.
18 APR 98: Universal Pictures will make a film about Lou Zamperini, a southern California athlete who ended up in a Japanese POW camp. Zamperini recently carried the torch for the U.S. in the Nagano Olympics.
19 APR 98: Iran and Iraq agreed to meet in an effort to free all remaining prisoners of war from the 1980-88 war and to determine the fate of missing soldiers. Nearly 60,000 soldiers have been released in recent years, some being held as long as 17 years.
DPMO announces that the Vietnamese have turned over eight documents that contained new and useful information on U.S. casualties and the condition of their remains and grave. Some of these cover losses in provinces from which information had not previously been reported.
Russian President Yeltsin will turn over to Japanese officials documents of KGB interrogations of captured Japanese generals after WW II.
21 APR 98: British survivors of Japanese prisoner of war camps revealed their plans to protest the visit of Japanese Emperor Akihito. Disgruntled survivors, who are demanding compensation and an unambiguous apology from Japan, said a decision to decorate Akihito during his visit with the Order of the Garter, Britain's highest award for chivalry, has made them even more bitter.
U.S. veterans and business executives attended a ceremony to mark the repatriation of five sets of remains at Noi Bai airport and witness the loading of the flag-draped coffins on to a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster.The remains were to be flown to CILHI for identification.
22 APR 98: DPMO reports that the first joint recovery operation scheduled for 1998 begins today in Kujiang County, N. Korea. Following this operation, archival research will be conducted at the Military Museum and the Peoples Grand Study Hall.
DPMO will also be visiting the 12 Presidential Libraries to research any information germane to POWs and missing personnel from all the wars in which the U.S. has been involved.
27 APR 98: Pentagon officials recommended that the remains of a Vietnam veteran be exhumed from the Tomb of the Unknowns for possible identification. Circumstantial physical evidence found with the remains indicates they could be those of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie. In fact, the remains could, in theory, belong to eight other Air Force or Army fighter and helicopter pilots who went down in the area during the same time period, but whose remains were never found. The Pentagon recommendation will go to Sec. of Def. William Cohen for a final decision.
28 APR 98: Sri Lanka now joins the growing list of nations who are seeking answers to the fates of her citizens who have become "missing in action."
29 APR 98: A quarter of a century ago, Pres. Nixon welcomed a group of U.S. POWs from the Vietnam War back to the White House to honor them for their dedication and duty in the face of our country's most unpopular war. In commemoration of their repatriation and remembering those comrades who perished, 174 men - the largest reunion of Vietnam POWs - gathered at the Nixon Library. Henry Kissinger and Bob Hope attended the reunion.
REMINDER - May 2 - League Region VI - Little Rock, AR
REMINDER - May 30 - DPMO - Portland, OR
POW-MIA Issue Update May 1998