August 1998
Summary of news for the entire month.
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01 AUG 98: 2,081 Americans remain unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War: Vietnam - 1,554 (North, 566; South, 988); Laos, 444; Cambodia, 75; and the Peoples Republic of China territorial waters -8. 502 U.S. servicemen 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.
DoD released the names of 4 previously identified U.S. servicemen. They are: Maj. William Condit, Jr. and 1st Lt. Terry Reed, both USAF; Cmdr. Danforth White and Lt. Ramey Carpenter, both Navy. A fifth American, a civilian missionary, has been identified, but at the family's request, his name has not been released.
02 AUG 98: JTF-FA has begun its 39th joint field activity in Laos to conduct joint investigations and remains recovery operations in six Lao provinces. The U.S. team will consist of 43 specialists with experience in investigations and remains recovery operations. The operations are conducted by elements composed primarily of members of the U.S. Army CILHI.
Remains believed to be those of three American Korean War soldiers were repatriated in a United Nations military ceremony in the demilitarized zone at Panmunjom.
03 AUG 98: Following is part of the text of a message sent worldwide by Mr. Bob Jones, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs: Preserving the lives and well being of U.S. Servicemen placed in danger of isolation or capture while fulfilling America's commitments overseas is of paramount concern to the Department of Defense. The pledge of administrations past and present to obtain the fullest possible accounting for Americans who sacrifice their freedom and, in many cases, their lives while serving the United States is one of America's highest national priorities. As the newly appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Prisoners Of War/Missing Personnel Affairs (DPMO), I will continue to fulfill this sacred duty.
05 AUG 98: The Secretary of Defense signed the revision of the MOA between the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) concerning mutual support in personnel recovery policy, research and development, training, planning, and operations on May 18. The Director of Central Intelligence signed the MOA on July 17. The MOA ensures unity of purpose and coordinated mutual support by the DoD and the CIA on personnel recovery matters.
DPMO and CILHI officials traveled to China, South Korea, and North Korea July 18-August 2, 1998. In China, the group held discussions with U.S. officials to rejuvenate efforts to gain access to Chinese records from the Korean War. In South Korea, the delegation observed the repatriation of the remains of three American recovered during the second joint recovery operation (JRO) for 1998. The group also met with U.S. and Republic of Korea military leaders to discuss our accounting efforts. In North Korea, the delegation rescheduled a fifth JRO for 1998 and settled logistic and fiscal issues with the Korean People's Army and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
07 AUG 98: The House voted, 260-163 against a measure that would have rejected President Clinton's move to allow Vietnam to benefit from U.S. trade and investment support. The measure, among other things, would boost Vietnam's access to credit facilities from the U.S. Export-Import Bank and to financial facilities of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation to support investment in Vietnam. The Senate recently moved to reject a similar measure. The U.S. and Vietnam are currently working to complete a bilateral trade agreement that is expected to obtain normal trade relations.
11 AUG 98: More than 2,200 Latin Americans, most with Japanese ancestry and a majority from Peru, were forcibly brought to the United States during the war. The government has never provided an official explanation. A half-century later, the United States is attempting to atone with an apology and a monetary settlement to Japanese Latin Americans, who suffered the same indignities as thousands of Japanese-Americans. The federal Office of Redress Administration is ending its application program under a deadline imposed by the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.
A team of 10 U.S. remains recovery specialists entered the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to begin the third of five joint recovery operations scheduled for this year. This operation is scheduled to run through September 4, 1998, and will focus on the Chongchon River area in the vicinity of Kujang.
12 AUG 98: The U.S. campaign to account for Americans missing in action during the Vietnam War is helping the people of Laos preserve their history. In exchange for the access, the United States has provided new computers, film editing machines, air-conditioned storage rooms and other improvements for Laos' film archives. One reason for improving Laos' film archive facilities was to prepare a home for 1,181 reels of film from Vietnam, which arrived in July. Lao authorities believe 162 of these reels may contain relevant information on U.S. MIAs.
The August issue of Popular Science magazine has a very informative and instructive article on the DNA science. The article is entitled: "MISSING IN ACTION - How new DNA science is identifying the last casualties of the Vietnam War." It uses the history of the Mayaguez incident as its theme. Recommenced reading.
15 AUG 98: With demolition completed, the last remnants of the old U.S. embassy in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) have been removed. The United States finally gave up its long struggle in Vietnam on April 30, 1975, when a military helicopter evacuated Ambassador Graham Martin from the roof of the embassy, hours before Communist troops captured Saigon.
16 AUG 98: Scandal-plagued Green Cross Corp. (blood bank services) urged that activities of a secret germ warfare unit in China be concealed from Allied forces immediately after World War II. Ryoichi Naito, a former surgeon with the rank of lieutenant colonel in the defunct Imperial Japanese Army, made the suggestion later adopted by leaders of the notorious Unit 731 to hide its activities from Allied investigators documenting war crimes.
18 AUG 98: Former Japanese soldiers say many of their former comrades remain in denial or simply refuse to discuss the past, but four Japanese World War II veterans spoke out and gave chilling accounts of Japan's wartime actions in China during a video teleconference. They described attacks with biological weapons, mass executions and torture of civilian prisoners. ``We were able to kill them because we despised them,'' said former soldier Shiro Azuma. No Japanese scientists were prosecuted for war crimes after Japan's defeat because of a deal that allowed U.S. scientists access to the data they gathered in their human experiments.
The Air Force has nearly completed a review of the request for the medal from the family of Air Force Lt. Michael J. Blassie, whose remains were removed from the Tomb of the Unknowns after forensic science allowed an identification. Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said Tuesday that while Defense Secretary William Cohen will consider the results of the review, the military's position is that the medal was awarded symbolically to an entire class of unidentified soldiers. The medal has hung at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
19 AUG 98: The Defense Department signaled on Tuesday it was unlikely to award the Medal of Honor to a Vietnam War pilot whose remains were identified after being removed from the Tomb of the Unknowns. Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said he did not think a final decision had been relayed to the family of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Blassie. But Bacon told reporters in response to questions: ``I think we have made it pretty clear that our view is that the Medal of Honor was symbolic. It went to the tomb as a symbol for all those missing in action (in the Vietnam War).''
21 AUG 98: A team of 93 mostly Hawaii-based U.S. military specialists leaves for Vietnam tonight with hopes of recovering human remains that may lead to the identification of American servicemen listed as missing in action since the war in Southeast Asia. On August 25th, members from Joint Task Force-Full Accounting at Camp Smith and the U.S. Army's Central Identification Lab at Hickam Air Force Base will join technical representatives from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to begin joint investigations and remains recovery operations in 15 Vietnamese provinces. Forty-seven cases involving potential aircraft and ground losses will be investigated during the 30-day operation. As many as eight sites will be excavated. This will be the 37th Joint Field Activity conducted in Vietnam, and the 92nd overall JFA in the tri-country region of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia since Joint Task Force-Full Accounting was formed in January 1992 at Camp Smith. Leading the American team is U.S. Army Lt. Col. Matt Martin, commander of JTF-FA's Detachment Two in Hanoi.
23 AUG 98: The Medal of Honor that hung on the Tomb of the Unknowns for 14 years while Air Force Lt. Michael J. Blassie was buried there will not join him at his new burial place. Relatives of the Vietnam War casualty, whose remains were identified and moved this summer to a national cemetery near his home, were told by Undersecretary of Defense Rudy de Leon that their request for the medal had been denied. The family was disappointed but respects the Defense Department's decision, said Blassie's sister, Air Force Reserve Capt. Patricia Blassie.
25 AUG 98: The remains of what are believed to be seven Americans killed during the Vietnam War were repatriated to the United States today. U.S. Ambassador Pete Peterson, a former prisoner of war here, was on hand as an 11-person honor guard -- representatives from the Marines, Army, Air Force and Navy -- received small wooden boxes containing the remains. He called the occasion "bittersweet." "It harkens back to a time of warfare, but at the same time allows families to rest after 30 years,"' Peterson said. Lt. Col. Matt Martin said officials are fairly certain, after preliminary investigations, that the remains are those of American military personnel.
The Defense Prisoner of War (POW)/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) will host the Second Annual DoD Personnel Recovery Conference at the Headquarters Complex, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), Fort Belvoir, VA, 6-8 October, 1998. DPMO has invited the senior leadership of DoD and the interagency community to participate in the conference. The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs (DASD (POW/MPA)) is responsible for policy, control, and oversight within DoD of the entire spectrum for investigation and recovery related to missing personnel (including matters related to search, rescue, escape, and evasion).
27 AUG 98: A key document used by the Department of Defense in its POW/MIA accounting efforts has recently been declassified. The Key Judgments of National Intelligence Estimate 98-03, Vietnamese Intentions, Capabilities and Performance Concerning the POW/MIA Issue, discussed Vietnam's cooperation with the US government on the POW/MIA issue. It was published in classified form in April by the National Intelligence Council, a senior staff serving the director of central intelligence, policymakers and senior military officials. Mr. Robert L. Jones, deputy assistant secretary of defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs, requested that Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet declassify the NIE so it could be shared with family members, veterans and family organizations. The declassification of the Key Judgments NIE 98-03 will enhance the public's understanding of U.S.-Vietnamese cooperation on this important issue.
28 AUG 98: Vietnam said today it is releasing 5,219 prisoners, including an unspecified number of American expatriates, as part of a general amnesty. This is the fourth such amnesty this decade and by far the largest release. Officials gave no details about the Americans on the list. Vietnam has said it repatriated all POWs at the end of the war, so it appears the Americans were imprisoned on criminal charges.
31 AUG 98: Reminder - Friday, September 18, 1998 is POW/MIA Recognition Day.
The Department of Veterans Affairs National POW/MIA Recognition Day poster should be available by request from the Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20420, Attn.: Mr. Larry Demeo, Code 403, or call 202-565-4200. Further information can also be obtained by contacting the Defense POW/MIA Office, 2400 Defense Pentagon, Washington, D.C. 20301-2400, or calling LTC Ron Maynard, USAF, at 703-602-2202, Ext. 409.
POW-MIA Issue Update September 1998