Abandoned - and that is the way they will stay, thanks to the efforts of General James Wold and the management of DPMO. On Friday August 15th, 1997, in a final act of betrayal before his September retirement, General Wold "reorganized" the Joint Commission Support Directorate. The Joint Commission Support Directorate established in 1994 supported the efforts of the U.S./ Russian Joint Commission. Staffed by qualified experts, this office, in spite of roadblocks, made considerable progress on the POW/MIA issue as it relates to Russia, Korea and China.

When the U.S./RUSSIAN Joint Commission was first established it operated independently. The U.S. Army was given the responsibility to provide research and analytical support to the commission. This group was know as Task Force Russia. Task Force Russia remained in force until July 1993 when it was absorbed by the DPMO. At that point it became part of the "Trowbridge Empire." In spite of the move, the support group continued to make progress in locating information on our POW/MIAs.

The Chairmen of the Korea and Vietnam working groups, Congressman Sam Johnson and Senator Bob Smith are considering offering legislation in September that would remove the Joint Commission Support Directorate from DPMO and restore its independence. This would take place when congress returns from their summer vacation.

Since DPMO was aware of this, we can only conclude General Wolds' actions were an intentional end run, and a direct slap in the face to both Congressman Johnson and Senator Smith, as well as Ambassador Malcolm Toon the Commission Chairman. The reorganization announced yesterday goes into effect Monday August 18th. Senator Smith and Congressman Johnson were not consulted prior to the reorganization.

General Wolds' action clearly establishes the power base for his successor and those charged with obstructing any progress on the POW/MIA issue. He has successfully removed or neutralized those investigators within the Support Directorate committed to an honest evaluation of each case, based solely on the evidence. At the same time, General Wold has provided the cover for his successor who can say "it's not my doing." We know better. The decimation of the Joint Commission Support Directorate was carefully planned and executed while congress was in recess.

Those now in charge have no background or qualifications in dealing with the Russians. Their only claim to fame is their loyalty to people who are committed to blocking the work of the Joint Commission.

With the reorganization of the Joint Commissions' support group, DPMO has taken a giant leap backwards in efforts to account for servicemen missing from the Korean - cold War and vietnam, who we believe were taken to the former Soviet Union and China.

Outrage - The National Alliance of Families is outraged over the actions of General Wold. The DPMO message is loud and clear. They have no interest in bringing the live POWs home. They have no interest in an honest and truthful accounting of our POW/MIAs. There is an old saying that "actions speak louder then words." General Wold and DPMO are shouting and we get the message.

Well folks... It's time to shout back. All we have is our typewriters, phones, faxes, e-mails and postage stamps and the knowledge that our POWs are waiting and we are their best hope.

Voice your outrage at the undercutting of the U.S./Russian Joint Commission and the further abandonment of our Korean, Cold War and Vietnam POW/MIAs.

By this action the only effective and productive group within DPMO has been neutralized. We can not allow this to happen. Send letters to Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, Dept of Defense, The Pentagon, Washingotn D.C. 20301 - Call 703-695-5261 OR Fax 703-697-9080. Send copies of your letters to Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Walter Slocombe at The Pentagon, Washingotn D.C. 20301 or Call 703 697 7200.

Also send copies of your letter to your Congressmen and Senators. Zip code for Congress is 20515. The Senate zip code is 20510.

Ask that the reorganization of the Joint Commission Support Directorate be tabled until an objective evaluation of that reorganization can be made by the Chairmen of the U.S. / Russian Joint Commission Working Groups, incorporating input from the families of our POW/MIAS and Congress.

No decision involving the Joint Commission Support Directorate should be made without the express approval of the Chairmen of the Commissions Working Groups.

Perhaps the following information will provide some insight as to why those who do their jobs properly must be eliminated. According to a recently declassified report, the servicemen listed at the beginning of this Bits 'N' Pieces were thought to be alive in in enemy hands at the conclusion of the Korean War. The following is excerpted from an Associated Press Article, dated August 5th, 1997, by Robert Burns:

"WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Air Force had indications that dozens of missing American airmen were alive in Chinese or North Korean prisons two years after the Korean War, according to a newly declassified report. The report provides new details about how many men were left behind -- even after the exchange of prisoners -- and who these Americans were. It also describes a dramatic failed attempt to rescue five members of a B-29 bomber crew shot down six months before the war ended in July 1953...."

"The report, labeled "secret," said the five "were known to be alive in communist hands as of the close of the Korean conflict." The five never returned. Their names -- and most of the others mentioned in the newly released Air Force intelligence report -- are on a Defense Department list of 389 men from all services who are unaccounted for from the war and about whom the U.S. government believes China or North Korea had information. Both China and North Korea maintain they withheld no American POWs from the war...."

"China took control of the prisoner-of-war camps in North Korea in 1951, and in some cases transferred U.S. POWs to China for interrogations. Compelling but unsubstantiated reports have emerged in recent months suggesting a small number of U.S. servicemen from the war may still be in North Korea. For the first time since the end of the war, North Korea has begun addressing the issue...."

"The declassified Air Force report, dated Oct. 19, 1955, and prepared by the Escape and Evasion Section of the 6004th Air Intelligence Service Squadron, offers no proof that any of the 137 men it mentions were still alive then; most of the cases were based on sketchy information from repatriated POWs, enemy propaganda broadcasts and intelligence sources in North Korea...."

"The strongest statement in the report pertains to the case of the five B-29 crew members: 1st Lt. Gilbert L. Ashley Jr., Airman 2nd Class Hidemaro Ishida, 1st Lt. Arthur R. Olsen, 2nd Lt. John P. Shaddick and 1st Lt. Harold P. Turner. Their B-29 was shot down about 10 miles south of Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Jan. 29, 1953...."

"Although the site was behind enemy lines, a rescue attempt was made on May 24. It failed. The pilot of the rescue plane made radio contact with Ashley on the ground as they prepared to pinpoint the airmen's location and arrange a "snatch" pickup in which a harness and cord dropped to the men would be hooked by a cable extended from the rescue aircraft, allowing the men to be reeled in to safety. "The pilot reported that the voice was definitely that of the American who had previously been identified as Lieutenant Ashley," the report said. It said the rescue plane was damaged by machine gun fire, forcing them to abort the mission."

"Ashley and four crew members (Turner, Olsen, Shaddick and Ishida) were known to be alive in communist hands as of the close of the Korean conflict, July '53," the report said. It does not say how the Air Force knew this.

In his book "Soldiers of Misfortune," journalist Mark Sauter wrote that U.S. intelligence officials received a message, apparently from Ashley's North Korean captors, that was interpreted as confirmation the five were alive as of Aug. 4, 1953....

"The Air Force report also describes the case of Capt. Harold M. Beardall, who went down in North Korea aboard a B-26 bomber on May 21, 1951. It mentions several sightings of Beardall by other American POWs months after the shootdown. Beardall was said to have been "held separately from other Air Force" POWs in North Korea. His name was on Chinese hospital records of officers who were interrogated, it said. "Names of this type we feel are alive," the report says.

An unidentified source is quoted in the report as saying Beardall was tried as a war criminal, apparently by the Chinese. Such "trials" were held for many U.S. officers, and their "convictions" used as grounds for refusing to repatriate them.

Maj. Kassel M. Keene, for example, who went missing on Nov. 19, 1951, was said to have been sentenced in July 1953 for assaulting a fellow prisoner." According to the sentence, he was not to be effected (sic) by repatriation," the report said. Some men listed in the Air Force intelligence report were described as having been seen by other American POWs at Kaesong, North Korea, where U.N. prisoners were taken in preparation to be repatriated shortly after the end of the war.

The report cited in the AP article is almost 42 years old. Yet, it was just declassified in June. How much longer do the families of our Prisoners and missing have to wait for the truth? Men were abandoned at the end of World War II. men were abandoned at the end of the Korean - Cold War. Men were abandoned at the end of the war in Southeast Asia. It's long past time for the truth.

Editors note: in the future we will limit our use of the phrase "left behind." that phrase implies accidentally left or overlooked. As more and more intelligence surfaces, the clear fact is our servicemen were abandoned. That abandonment was a conscious decision made for reasons incomprehensible to us. The abandonment continues today as demonstrated by the actions of DPMO.

In the October 1995 edition of Bits 'N' Pieces you read about "Project X." For those unfamiliar with "Project X," (DPMO PAY ATTENTION) it was a study initiated in 1975 to evaluate the possibility of American POWs alive in Southeast Asia. The study ended in 1976. Its conclusion -- their was a possibility that 57 American servicemen could be alive in Southeast Asia in 1976.

Recently, two family members contacted their casualty officers requesting additional information on "Project X" and its relation to their loved ones. One family member was informed, verbally, that the only reference to any "Project X" was a desert training exercise conducted in the mid '70's. The other familys inquiry was referred to DPMO for response.

The response, from the Freedom of Information and Security Review office, stated "DPMO advises, regarding your request for Project X files, that it has no records of any such project in connection with Gregory John Harris, USMC. DPMO further advises that the files of Gregory John Harris, USMC, have been declassified and placed in the public domain in the Library of Congress (LOC)."

ATTENTION DPMO "Analysts" and casualty officers - "Project X does exist and L/Cpl Gregory Harris USMC is one of the "Project X" cases. You will find "Project X" on on reels 349, 343 and PDS reel 35, of the "LOC" POW/MIA data base. You will also find "Project X" on the web site of the National Alliance of Families. It is available for downloading.

You will not find "Project X" or any references to it in the casualty file of Gregory Harris or any of the named individuals casualty files, available at the Library of Congress.

The DPMO response to the Harris family is either an outright lie or gross incompetence. Neither can be tolerated. It is inconceivable to the National Alliance of Families that those charged with investigating and closing cases are unaware of documentation as important as "Project X."

Is there other intelligence they are unaware of???? Are there other studies they have no knowledge of???? Or are they deliberately lying????

Let's take a look at one of the more unusual "Project X" cases. American Charles Dean and Australian Neil Sharman were civilian tourists in Laos when they disappeared in 1974. The "Project X" Rationale for Selection reads: "Source reports indicate that at Mr. Dean was in fact detained by the Pathet Lao. There have been no correlated reports of his death subsequent to the many reports of Mr. Dean's detention."

"Many reports of Mr. Dean's detention" you bet! In preparation of a visit by Laos Peoples Democratic Republic (LPDR) Officials, to JCRC and CIL the Pentagon Operations Directorate initiated message traffic dated 25 October 1988. Directed to the Commander JCRC the message stated "... In early September 1974, Charles Dean and Neil Sharman departed Vientiane, Laos and boarded a boat bound for Thakhek. Reports indicate that while enroute to Thakhek, they were captured by the Pathet Lao at the Ban Pak Hin (unreadable) checkpoint, vicinity coordinates VE580400. After capture, they were brought upriver by boat to Ran Thong Lom where they were held for a short period."

"Generally, all the informants who reported sighting Dean and Sharman after this time agree that the two were subsequently taken to Ban Phontan Kham Keut area for detention, and they probably arrived there about mid-september 1974."

"Two informants stated Dean and Sharman had given them their photographs. One informant did have a confirmed photo of each of the two detainees in his possession at the time he provided his information. On the back of one photograph was writing in english which read: "Charles Dean, 1035 Park Ave., New York; USA." On the back of the other photo "Nio Sa Man, Australia" was written by the informant.... According to these informants, Dean and Sharman were still alive at Ban Phontan on 16 November 1974...."

"...Five informants allege to have seen Dean and Sharman at Ban Photan... According to each of the sources, Dean and Sharman were still at Ban Phontan on 25 November 1974."

" In February 1975, another informant reported that he had observed the interrogation sessions held with Dean and Sharman.... He stated that he had not personally observed Dean and Sharman at Ban Phontan since early November 1974 and he had been told that the two detainees had been taken to Sam Neua in mid December 1974...."

"Four informants stated that they saw Dean and Sharman in a truck that briefly stopped at Ban Naliang, ... on December 1974....

One of these informants was also in possession of photographs of Dean and Sharman that he said were given to him by the detainees...."

"...Other informants indicates that Dean and Sharman were seen at Ban Phontan during January and February 1975.... One of these informants claimed he observed two caucasians at Ban Phontan on 23 February 1975. His report provided the most current reliable information concerning the status of Dean and Sharman."

A heavily censored Central Intelligence Agency report expands on the 23 February 1975 sighting stating " A source whose evidence was substantiated [word or words censored] stated he had seen Dean and Sharman in Ban Phon Tan on 23 February 1975."

Note: all towns and locations are spelled as they appear in the quoted report.

REMINDER - Senate Co sponsors for S-755 stands at 12. Have you written your Senators. Yesterdays' events within DPMO underscores the urgent need for S-755. Think about Gilbert L. Ashley Jr., John P. Shaddick, Arthur R. Olsen, Harold P. Turner, Harold M. Beardall, Kassel M. Keene, and Hidemaro Ishida, all abandoned. Think about Gregory Harris, Charles Dean and Neil Sharman and the other men of "Project X," all abandoned.

Write YOUR SENATORS NOW!

Address your letter to:

Senator

United States Senate

Washington, D.C. 20515

For phone, fax and e-mail - see the August 2nd edition of Bits 'N' Pieces.

Here is a new 800 number to try - 800-522-6721