September 1998

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

01 SEP 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.

02 SEP 98: Forty years to the day that their C-130 Hercules was shot-down, the 17 member crew, shot down by MIGs, will be buried at Arlington today. Because it was the Cold War years and accusations and secrecy were the rule, it took the former Soviet Union a full year to return only six sets of remains from the crash, only three of which were identifiable in 1959, and another three identified in 1997. It was in 1993 that a US excavation team made its way to Soviet Armenia to cull through the remaining wreckage and recover nearly 2,000 human fragments, personal effects, artifacts and pieces of wreckage. As expected, a Pentagon review review concluded that there were no survivors. As a result of the commingled fragments it was determined by the DOD that a group burial at Arlington was necessary. The funeral will be a full honors, Air Force ceremony with 11 families in attendance.

03 SEP 98: The Report of Official U. S. Delegation Visit to SEA Countries has been made available.The report was "transmitted by the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office to military units and embassies who support the mission of the fullest possible accounting of Americans missing in action."

The opening reads - SUBJ/SUMMARY OF DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (POW/MISSING PERSONNEL AFFAIRS) TRIP TO LAOS, VIETNAM, CAMBODIA, AND THAILAND/JUL 98//. The report may be found at -

http://www.aiipowmia.com/inter/in090498.html

04 SEP 98: North Korea has returned three sets of skeletal remains believed to be those of U.S. soldiers missing from the Korean War. The remains were unearthed by a joint U.S.-North Korea team. The remains have been flown to the U.S. Army's Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii for forensic tests and identification. About 220 sets of remains have been repatriated by North Korea, but less than a dozen have been positively identified. The recovery of remains of American war dead is a key U.S. demand for improving relations with North Korea.

06 SEP 98: REMINDER: The Department of Veterans Affairs National POW/MIARecognition Day poster is available by request from the Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20420, Att.: Mr. Larry Demeo, Code 403, or call 202-565-4200.

07 SEP 98: Hanoi reports that communist Vietnam is still receiving good press on its 'humanitarian' gesture of finally releasing long-term prisoners. Recent reports state that although they are releasing 5,219 prisoners during the special period, upwards of 8,000 prisoners will be released during 1998. So what is DPMO... JTF-FA... Stoney Beach... et al, doing about interviewing any one of these 8,000 people about American POWs who remained in captivity after Operation Homecoming in 1973? Or will this be another dismal period such as that experienced after the war. That period when the exodus of boat people were not interviewed until George and Gladys Brooks drove across half the country to listen to a live sighting report and also hear that the USG had never even inquired about prisoner or missing Americans.

Makes you wonder.

08 SEP 98: The Military Personnel Subcommittee Hearing has been postponed from its original date of September 22, 1998, and rescheduled to the new date of October 2, 1998. The Hearing is scheduled for 9 A.M. in the Rayburn House Office Building in either room 2118 or 2212. Congressman Steve Buyer is the chair of this committee.

09 SEP 98: Phil G. Goulding, a one-time journalist who served as Pentagon spokesman during the Vietnam War era, died from cancer Tuesday at his home in Potomac, Md. He was 77. Goulding was selected by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara to become deputy assistant secretary for public affairs in 1965. He moved to the post of chief spokesman two years later, also serving under Secretary Clark Clifford. In a book he wrote years later, Goulding acknowledged some of the misinformation that he had been given -- and had relayed -- as Defense Department spokesman during the war. ``I misled and misinformed the American people a good many times in a good many ways, through my own lack of foresight, through carelessness, through relaying incomplete information which the originators considered complete, through transmitting reports which had been falsified, deliberately, at lower levels,'' he wrote.

10 SEP 98: The remains of 17 U.S. Air Force airmen shot down during the Cold War have been identified as a group and were buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The airmen were crewmembers aboard a C-130 Hercules aircraft on Sept. 2, 1958 when it was shot down by MiGs over Soviet Armenia. The C-130 was flying a reconnaissance mission near the Armenian border when it strayed into Soviet territory. The aircraft crashed and burned with 17 crewmen on board. In 1958 the Soviet Union returned the partial remains of 6 of the 17 crewmen. Later that year the U.S. Air Force and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology identified three of the six remains and the remaining 14 crewmen were listed as unaccounted-for. Identifications were made in 1996 and 1997 for the three remains unidentified from those repatriated in 1958. A subsequent review of the case by the Air Force concluded that no crewmen had been able to escape from the aircraft. A recovery team from the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii excavated the crash site in 1993. The team recovered more than 2,000 bone and tooth fragments, life support equipment, personal effects and aircraft wreckage. Given the incomplete nature of the remains recovered from the crash site and those of the six men previously identified, a group remains identification was made for the entire crew. A group remains identification is possible because the remains recovered represent all of the manifested crew. The remains will be interred as a group at Arlington.

11 SEP 98: BACKGROUND: National POW/MIA Recognition Day Until July 18, 1979, no commemoration was held to honor America's POW/MIAs, those returned and those still missing and unaccounted for from our nation's wars. That first year, resolutions were passed in the Congress and the national ceremony was held at the National Cathedral, Washington, D.C. The Missing Man formation was flown by the 1st Tactical Squadron, Langley AFB, Virginia. The Veterans Administration published a poster including only the letters "POW/MIA" and that format was continued until 1982 when a black and white drawing of a POW in harsh captivity was used to convey the urgency of the situation and the prioity that President Reagan assigned to achieving the fullest possible accounting for Americans still missing from the Vietnam War.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day legislation was introduced yearly, until 1995 when it was by Congress that legislation for special days would no longer be proclaimed by Congress. However, the President continues to sign a proclamation each year. In the early years, the date was routinely set in close proximity to the League's annual meetings. In the mid-1980's, the American Ex-POWs decided that they wished to see the date established as April 9th, the date during World War II when the largest number of Americans were captured. As a result, legislation was passed in 1984 which included a 1984 July date and established April 9th as the commemoration date for 1985.

The 1984 National POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremony was held at the White House. At that most impressive ceremony, the Reagan Administration balanced the focus to honor all returned POW's and renew national commitment to accounting as fully as possible for those still missing. Perhaps the most impressive Missing Man formation ever flown was that year, up the Ellipse and over the White House. Unfortunately, the 1985 ceremony was canceled due to inclement weather, a concern which had been expressed when the April 9th date was proposed.

Subsequently, in an effort to accommodate all returned POW's and all Americans still missing and unaccounted for from all wars, the National League of Families proposed a date in September, not associated with any particular war and not in conjunction with any organization's national convention. Nearly all National POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremonies have been held at the Pentagon, however, on September 19, 1986, the national ceremony was held on the steps on the U.S. Capitol facing the Mall, again concluding with a flight in Missing Man formation.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremonies are now held throughout the nation and around the world on military installations, ships at sea, schools, churches and fire stations. The focus is to insure that America remembers its responsibility to stand behind those who serve our nation and do everything possible to account for those who do not return.

Background provided by the League of Families.

12 SEP 98: In a presswire release we are given a description of the recently declassed and released NIE report that left a lot to be desired with it's heavy redacting. After reading the presswire's announcement, one must wonder if this i the same NIE that we have been provided or simply more spin.

U.S. DOD: POW/MIA document declassified and released
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 U.S. 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.

14 SEP 98: A U.S.-Laotian task force searching for the remains of Americans missing in action since the Vietnam War has reportedly found dozens of bones, human teeth and two dog tags. The discoveries were made at eight plane crash sites over the last six months, Laotian government radio said. The team was trying to account for 34 MIAs. The team announced its findings to map a new search plan for the next six months, particularly in provinces that were heavily bombed during the war.

16 SEP 98: More Human Beings Needed... Less Politics Please - The world could use a few more like this lady.

Do Thi Kim Hong, a 50 year old nurse, borrows money from friends and personally scours Vietnam and digs to find the fathers, brothers and sons of the nearly 300,000 Vietnamese who remain unaccounted-for. She has found 1,000 so far. North and South, it doesn't matter, someone was waiting for them to be brought home. Disabled from the war when a US bomb killed all 18 of her co-workers and left her paralyzed, she regained some health, relapsed in 1977, remained hospitalized until 1986 when she snuck out of the hospital and began her search. And for as many men as she has found, she still hasn't found her father who disappeared in Cambodia during the war. It's too far and she hasn't the resources to make the journey. In stark contrast to official US government efforts that have the money, materiel and manpower yet fail to produce significant results, this singular woman says, "It's hard for me to explain why I have pursued this so long. My conscience kept pushing me even when I didn't have money."

17 SEP 98: Nauseating News; The US requested permission of the Vietnamese to fly the 'controversial' POW-MIA flag over the AMERICAN Embassy in commemoration of National POW-MIA Recognition Day. According to foreign news reports (heaven forbid US mainstream media should mention POWS or MIAs), Ambassador Peterson instructed the flag to be raised after "consent from Vietnamese officials," was obtained.

Let's put this into perspective please:
1. It is the US Embassy, therefore American property
2. It is American POWs and MIAs who are being commemorated
3. If Vietnam would simply comply, stop warehousing remains and withholding documents and the US would give families straight answers and if all those Congress Critters and Badministrations did their job when they were supposed to do it instead of turning the issue into a political football, maybe there wouldn't BE a POW-MIA Recognition Day and the US wouldn't have to ask permission to fly a flag for one day that should be flying 365 days a year.

18 SEP 98: PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS, Throughout this Nation's history, American men and women, military and civilian have been placed in harm's way in order to secure the sanctity of our shores, the substance of our Constitution, our basic human rights and values and those of our allies and friends.

WHEREAS, Throughout this Nation's history, American Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and Others have not only paid the ultimate sacrifice, but 100,000 have joined the legion of the lost when they became Prisoners of War or Missing In Action.

WHEREAS, Throughout this Nation's history, the families of these honored POWs and MIAs have also paid the ultimate sacrifice in the loss of their loved ones, and the continued inability and unwillingness of our United States Government and its former adversaries and allies to provide them with answers, the truth and resolution.

WHEREAS, we, the families, veterans, activists and caring citizens stand in awe and honor these Prisoners and Missing for their continued valor and sacrifice.

NOW THEREFORE, we, the families, veterans, activists and caring citizens, by virtue of our authority as American citizens, taxpayers and voters, do hereby proclaim not only today, September 18th, 1998, as NATIONAL POW-MIA RECOGNIZATION DAY, but hereby reaffirm our commitment to this issue and proclaim every day POW-MIA RECOGNITION DAY until all the POWs and MIAs come home, their remains are returned to American soil or the truth of their fate is known.

May God Bless our Prisoners of War and Missing in Action.

May God Grant Peace, Comfort and Strength to the Families.

May God Grant Perserverance to Those Who Wait.

This site has been blacked out in honor of the solemnity of this day.
Advocacy & Intelligence Index
for POWs-MIAs

In addition to the AII POW-MIA Proclamation, The National POW-MIA Recognition Day Presidential Proclamation may be viewed at - http://www.aiipowmia.com/inter/inpres091798.html

19 SEP 98: On what was National POW-MIA Recognition Day, ex-POW of and Ambassador to Vietnam, Pete Peterson said "there is virtually no chance of any surviving U.S. prisoners of war (POWs) still living in Vietnam. "I never say never, but I would say it is very, very, very unlikely that you would expect to see any live Americans discovered in Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos," Peterson said.

His use of the words 'surviving U.S. prisoners' causes one to pause... does he know something we don't or aren't being told?

Perhaps someone should send Mr. Peterson a copy of the Oral Intelligence Briefing before the SSC that Ms. Comrade Zwenig tried so hard to destroy... the very same briefing thats stated American POWs were alive in Vietnam and Laos..."

Perhaps he should receive an explanation of the NIE comment regarding Live Sightings..."Vietnamese resent live-sighting investigations and question their utility."

Better yet, someone ask him precisely what he means by 'surviving'.

On another note, Mr. Peterson planned a helicopter tour of 'MIA' excavation sites to "coincide with National POW/MIA day."

POW is glaringly absent.

20 SEP 98: More Nauseating News; Of those 1554 'missing' in Vietnam, only 47 cases are under investigation. According to reports, "the rest are now believed without doubt to have been killed."This of course fits perfectly with the statement made by US officials that "there is no chance Vietnam is holding captive living American POWs." Excavation and recovery operations continue in Quang Nam and Quang Binh provinces for 17 of those 1,554 'missing' personnel.

Don't be surprised if next year it's National MIA Recognition Day.

20 SEP 98: Former Congressman Bob Dornan is running to regain his House seat. In a conversation with him today, Mr. Dornan said, if reelected, he will again seek to be appointed to the chairmanship of the Military Personnel Subcommittee and pick up where he left off. The POW/MIA issue is of the highest priority to Dornan.

21 SEP 98: Family and friends of three British servicemen killed in World War Two saw them buried with full military honors in the Netherlands on Friday, more than 50 years after hearing of their deaths. Sergeants Lawrence Herbert Howes and David Thompson and Corporal George Froud were buried at Oosterbeek Military Cemetery near Arnhem, taking their place alongside hundreds of compatriots slain in what historians have dubbed one of the war's bravest defeats.

22 SEP 98: Controversial former Green Beret, Bo Gritz, was found shot late Sunday. He was discovered near a highway around Orofino, Idaho after a phone call to police. Gritz, 59, is hospitalized in stable condition. Sheriff's department officials immediately classified it as an 'apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.' Hunting season had just begun. No other information has been made public. Gritz was a central, sometimes controversial figure during the early 1980's with his cross-border forays into Laos and Vietnam in order to gain information on American POWs and MIAs in SEA. He testified before the Senate Select Committee, and is prominently mentioned in several books, most notably - The Heroes Who Fell From Grace by Patterson & Tippin, and BOHICA by the equally controversial Scott Barnes.

Gritz's 'Operation Lazarus Report' may be found at: http://www.aiipowmia.com/lazarus.html

SSC Testimony may be found at: http://www.aiipowmia.com/gritz.html

22 SEP 98: After three years of struggle and controversy, the Vietnam War museum in New Jersey finally opened. Because of questions about the impact of the media, the anti-war movement and converseli differing views by academics, historians and veterans, every panel had to be rewritten before the dedication and opening. "We found ourselves between the two extremes, between those who believe that the war was profoundly immoral ... and those who believe that the failure to pursue the war to military victory was evidence of moral failure, that the peace movement sold the nation down the drain," said committee member Michael Shafer, a Rutgers University professor. Notably, the material on POWs and MIAs was singled out for revisionism. According to AP, "..text on prisoners of war was rewritten to eliminate language that Shafer said suggested a government conspiracy to hide evidence of MIAs and POWs."

23 SEP 98: No. 159-M MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS U. S. Air Force fighter pilots from the Korean War will meet with Russian officials Thursday to share information on American shootdowns of MiG aircraft.

The unprecedented meeting was arranged through the U. S. - Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs, that is staffed by the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO). Russian members of the commission requested assistance in resolving cases of Russian airmen missing in action from the Korean War.

A detailed analysis of the Russian cases, including the date, time and location of the shootdowns, indicated that any of these five Air Force pilots could have knowledge of the Russian cases.

The Russian side of the commission has assisted U. S. investigators for several years in interviews with Russians who have shared information about U. S. MIAs. A small U. S. team is stationed full time in Moscow, from where it conducts archival research, site visits and interviews with Russian citizens who may have knowledge of American MIAs.

The commission was established in 1992 by Presidents Bush and Yeltsin to examine information relating to Americans who may have been held by, or transferred into the former Soviet Union during the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Cold War or World War II.

The six Russian officials arrived in the United States on Sunday, and have visited the National Archives, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the DPMO and the offices of Sen. Bob Smith and Rep. Sam Johnson, both U. S. commissioners. The Russians and Americans exchanged documents during these visits which may be of assistance to both sides in their analyses of unaccounted-for Americans.

A media opportunity will be held at noon tomorrow in the Mt. Vernon Room at the Crystal Gateway Marriott, 1700 Jefferson Davis Highway (enter from Eads St.) in Crystal City, Va.

Johnson, a Korean War fighter pilot and POW, will host the pilots and Russian officials at a luncheon tomorrow.

The U.S. Air Force fighter pilots are:
Retired Lt. Gen. William E. Brown Jr.
Alexandria, Va.

Retired Brig. Gen. Paul A. Kauttu
Spinnaway, Wash.

Retired Col. Dale W. Smiley
Ft. Wayne, Ind.

Retired Lt. Col. Brooks J. Liles
Goldsboro, N.C.

Retired Lt. Col. Gene F. Rogge
Fountain Hills, Ariz.

Point of contact for more information is Larry Greer at (703) 602-1245.

24 SEP 98: For more than 50 years, Dominic Iannotti tried to suppress the painful memories of the beatings, starvation and frostbite he endured as a prisoner of war in World War II. When other members of his company received recognition for their bravery, Iannotti didn't push for similar acknowledgment. He said he just wanted to forget. The memories came rushing back Monday when Iannotti was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star -- almost 54 years after he was captured at the Battle of the Bulge. Iannotti remembered being forced to walk miles in snow and ice, with no boots or socks. He remembered being fed only once a week, usually potato peels or other scraps. And he remembered being beaten by German soldiers, who used rifle butts to keep their American prisoners in line. "I thought I was going to die and never see this," Iannotti said after receiving his medals. "I didn't think I'd live this long after what I've been through."

29 SEP 98: South Korean Staff Sergeant Chang Moo-hwan, 72, remained a POW of the North Koreans for 45 years before making his way to freedom. After laboring in a coal mine as slave labor, he escaped and made his way to China, then on to South Korea. He was carried by officials as Killed in Action and a headstone bears his name in Seoul National Cemetery. The former POW states over 59 South Korean POWs were still alive in a concentration camp in North Korea by th time he left. South Korea states that 40,000 POWs were not repatriated at the end of the war. In the ensuing years, only 3 POWs have managed to escape from North Korea.

30 SEP 98: REMINDER - DOD/DPMO Family Update - 24 OCT 98 - Philadelphia, PA

NLF Family Update - 17 OCT 98 - League Region IV - Columbus, OH

POW-MIA Issue Update October 1998