Congratulations - As always when you single out one group or a group of individuals, you are bound to forget someone. We did.
To the ladies and gentlemen of Run For The Wall we extend our appreciation and sincere thanks. Approximately, 300 men and women rode cross country, some 3000 miles, to draw attention to the POW/MIA issue, and to join with the members of Rolling Thunder for the annual rally. This was Run For The Wall's 12th run and we Thank them for their continued efforts on behalf of our POW/MIAs
Action Needed - Everyone must contact their Congressional Representative asking support for the following legislation:
HR 1926 - "Bring Them Home Alive Act" needs cosponsors. As you know the Senate version of this legislation S-484 passed. We now need to get HR 1926, its' counterpart in the House, passed. Simply stated, the Bring Them Home Alive Act " would provide amnesty or refugee status to any national, and their family, from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, North Korea, China, and the former states of the former Soviet Union if they assist in bringing out a live American Prisoner of War. "
This is a great piece of legislation introduced by Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell. We can't allow this legislation to die in the House.
H.Con. Res 311 calling for the United States to "..continue to actively pursue efforts to achieve a full accounting of unaccounted for persons from past wars, including recovery and identification of remains..." This resolution, introduced by Congressman Jim Sexton, is designed to express Congressional displeasure at the DPMO Strategic Plan.
While in DC, we heard over and over that the Strategic Plan is dead. We say, "hope for the best and prepare for the worst."
Write your congressional representative now! Ask that he or she become co-sponsors of HR 1926 and H.Con Res. 311. Send your letters to your Congressional Representative at U.S. House of Representative, Washington D.C. 20515. To contact your representative by phone call the United States Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your Representative, by name. You may also get their local number from the phone book and call the local office, also.
Korean War POW Says Men Left Behind - Reports Information to Pentagon - Debrief Lost - On July 7th, 2000 CBS Evening New carried a report on Korean War POWs left behind at the end of the Korean War. The following is excerpted by the CBS New Program.
"(CBS) During the trade of captured soldiers at the end of the Korean War, several American POWs were singled out by their communist captors and have never been released in the half century since the end of the conflict, a U.S. veteran of the war told CBS News..."
"...according to Korean War veteran Mike Dowe, about 20 living soldiers were left behind and have been added to the list of hundreds of Americans that have been reported missing in action during the war, CBS News Correspondent David Martin reports."
"Dowe was among the last group of American troops to be handed over for release in the summer of 1953 when, he said, he was held back with others. "They pulled a few of us out and took us to this other area where we were tried and sentenced to different sentences," Dowe told CBS News. "
" The North Korean POW said he managed to slip away from his captors and join the line of prisoners crossing the border. "I was very fortunate none of those others have been heard from yet again that I know of," Dowe said. "
"Dowe said he immediately told the Pentagon about the American soldiers left behind, but the record of that debriefing has not been uncovered in declassified files. And what happened to the prisoners remains a mystery, one of many concerning U.S. servicemen missing in Korea...."
Also interviewed for the piece was Irene Mandra, sister of Korean War POW/MIA Philip Mandra. Ms. Mandra told CBS "They just said that he disappeared, and that was all the information they could give us," Mandra said."
"Convinced Phillip had been taken prisoner, she produced an artist's conception of what he would look like as he aged. Mandra said an old Russian colonel saw it and said he had seen that face at a prison in Siberia. "He said 'I remember his face,'" Mandra told CBS News."
"Although Pentagon investigators have never confirmed the Russian colonel's claim, the thought that her brother has been a prisoner all these years haunts Mandra. "This is a lot of years to worry and to think," she said, adding that she's still seeking answers to a large collection of questions. "Is he there? Is he eating? Is he being tortured? How much is he crying? How much does he miss home? Are they mistreating him? What's happening?..."
Prior to the airing of this piece Irene Mandra told us she was quite harsh in her comments regarding this administration and the governments' handling of the POW/MIA issue. She stated: "I bet they won't air that!" She was right.
Follow Up - During the May 3rd briefing on the DPMO Strategic Plan and the Mission Area Analysis, it was agreed that the family groups should be allowed input to the Anser study. In the Alliances' case, we have already had our meeting with Anser and we are sure that other groups have also met with Anser or will do so in the near future. One thing occurred in the May 3rd meeting, we feel should be clarified. The family groups requested that their input be kept confidential and that DPMO would not have access to their comments. The Alliance initially agreed to this stipulation.
After careful consideration, the Alliance released Anser from their agreement of confidentiality. There is nothing we have to say about the workings of DPMO that we would not want anyone, including DPMO to know about.
Senate Orders DOD To Do Their Job - From Associated Press, Jun 7, 2000 - "WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has ordered defense and intelligence officials to investigate the fate of a Navy pilot shot down in the opening hours of the 1991 Gulf War, Sen. Pat Roberts said. Lt. Cmdr. Michael Speicher of Jacksonville, Fla., went missing when his Navy F-18 Hornet was shot down on Jan. 16, 1991, in a dogfight with an Iraqi fighter jet. He was the first American lost in the war and the last still unaccounted for..."
"...When Speicher was officially declared killed in action in May 1991, the military had never searched for him. Roberts, R-Kan., announced Wednesday that the panel has formally ordered the Central Intelligence Agency and Department of Defense to conduct an analytical assessment of Speicher's fate. While the intelligence community has received several reports on the matter, it has not produced its own assessment, Roberts said."
"There is enough information both public and classified to question the Navy's Killed in Action status for this American serviceman," said Roberts, a member of the committee. "We have an obligation to this pilot and his family. What we do here is symbolic of our obligation to every service man and women."
"The panel also requested that the CIA and DOD inspectors general - the agency watchdogs - recommend how the government can keep from repeating the mistake. CIA spokeswoman Anya Guilsher said Wednesday that the intelligence community would cooperate fully with the committee's request. Larry Greer, spokesman for the Pentagon's POW/MIA office, said the Speicher case has been under Defense Department investigation since the night he was shot down. "The Department of Defense, the Navy and other government agencies, including the Intelligence Committee, have all been involved throughout the investigation, which continues to this day," Greer said. "We in the Department of Defense have kept the appropriate members of Congress and committees briefed at a classified level on the Speicher investigation and will certainly continue to do so."
"A Defense Department spokesman did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment...."
There's Government Dead and Then There is Really Dead - From the New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 4, 2000, by David Perlmutt The Charlotte Observer - "... In October 1965, official word came to his hometown of Davidson that the 24-year-old Navy flier had been shot down and killed. A week later, the town packed into Davidson College Presbyterian Church for an Episcopal memorial service. An education fund was set up for Halyburton's infant daughter. His mother commissioned a tombstone for the family cemetery plot."
"And that is how Porter Alexander Halyburton's short life ended, ceremoniously and dignified. His wife, Marty, began a new life as war widow and a single parent. In January 1967, the military called. Just checking up on how you're doing, she was told. Oddly, they asked if she had remarried."
"Days later, she answered a knock at the door. Six government men flashed their IDs. "Oh my God!" she gasped. "Porter's alive, isn't he?"
"Porter went off to war in April 1965, days after his daughter, Dabney, was born. Six months later, on his 76th mission, he was the navigator aboard an F-4B Phantom. Screaming over a valley like a human skeet, the jet was torn from the sky by a surface-to-air missile. The pilot was killed; Halyburton ejected."
"Other fliers saw no parachute and his radio failed. Peasants surrounded him and hours later he was blindfolded and riding in a jeep to Hanoi. It was Oct. 17, 1965, and Lt. j.g. Halyburton was now among the first 40 Americans taken prisoner in the Vietnam War...."
Reminder - Hope the Marine Corp. is checking their records for that Marine they listed as KIA/BNR who may, in fact, have been captured. As we've stated previously, we have enough information to ask the question.
Congress Holds Hearings on Extension of Jackson Vanick Waiver For Trade With Vietnam - from Associated Press, June 15, 2000, By Tom Raum - "...Engagement works," Pete Peterson, the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, told a House subcommittee considering President Bill Clinton's decision to renew trade privileges with the communist country for another year."
"The United States lifted its trade embargo in 1994 and reached a tentative market-opening accord with Vietnam in July, but the two nations still lack normal trade relations. Vietnam's status must be renewed annually."
"...Rep. Philip Crane, a Republican and chairman of , backed the extension. He said he hoped the trade agreement negotiated in 1999 could be put in final form "in the near future." Peterson said that even though trade between the United States and Vietnam has been fairly stagnant recently, progress has been made in other areas, including locating remains of Americans missing in action from the Vietnam War."
"The Vietnamese government also has been helpful on emigration matters, Peterson said. Some 500,000 Vietnamese have permanently resettled in the United States since the end of the war 25 years ago, he noted.
Clinton renewed Vietnam's trade status on June 3. The renewal automatically becomes effective unless disapproved by Congress within 60 days."
"Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican and sponsor of a resolution that would block the trade renewal, said "the repeated promises by Hanoi of economic reform have been no more credible than any past pledges." "The Vietnamese communists have manipulated American generosity to further impoverish and regress their people," Rohrabacher asserted. "
For The Record - The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade provided the Alliance an opportunity to submit a statement for the record, regarding our position on the waiver of the Jackson Vanick Amendment as it applies to Vietnam. In a one page statement, Dolores Apodaca Alfond, stated, in part, "...Sadly, our nation is now lead by a group of hypocrites. Men and women who decry human rights violations unless there is a profit to be made... In previous hearings, we provided indisputable evidence that Vietnam is salting recovery sites. We also provided extremely compelling evidence that one man, Army Captain John Mc Donnell, was alive in a POW camp in February 1973.... Where is Vietnamese "full cooperation?" The answer is simple. It doesn't exist. This administrations' claim of Vietnamese "full cooperation" is a myth created to justify trade with a nation that continues to withhold the truth regarding our POW/MIA's."
The statement continued; "Another myth created to justify trade with Vietnam is their progress in the area of human rights. Vietnam continues to be an oppressive communist dictatorship. Human rights violations are rampant. All recognized Human Rights organizations, worldwide, continue to condemn Vietnam for its' oppression of religious freedom and freedom of speech. Yet, the United States tuns a blind eye to these gross violations, and cites the very minimal changes occurring in Vietnam as progress that should be rewarded."
In closing, Mrs. Alfond stated; "Extending the Jackson-Vanick waiver, as it applies to Vietnam, is NOT about human rights of the Vietnamese people. It is NOT about seeking the truth about our POW/MIAs. It is NOT about morality. It's about profit and we should at least be honest about it. We should also be ashamed." (Full test of the statement is available on our website at www.nationalalliance.org/vietnam/testimony.htm)
ROK, US Agree to Recover Remains - From Korea Times, June 24, 2000, "South Korea and the United States yesterday signed an agreement calling for efforts to recover remains of U.S. military personnel killed during the 1950-53 Korean War."
"Under the agreement, Seoul will provide available assistance needed to conduct recovery operations in South Korea, while Washington will bear all expenses for the conduct of operations. The arms control office of Seoul's Defense Ministry and the prisoner of war/missing personnel affairs office of Washington's Department of Defense will be in charge of the conduct of recovery operations."
"South Korean officials said most of the remains of U.S. soldiers were recovered through the 1954 "Glory Operation" but speculation has it that there are still 200 remains inside the Demilitarized Zone bisecting the two Koreas."
Question - South Korea is an ally. Why wasn't this done years ago???????
Hanoi Jane Says - "'I will go to my grave regretting the photograph of me in an anti-aircraft carrier, which looks like I was trying to shoot at American planes..." We never heard her say she regretted her actions only that she regretted the photo.
Servicemen Accounted For - The Department of Defense announced identifications for the following three servicemen:
Vietnam - Captain Roger M. Netherland, USN. The remains of Captain Netherland, missing since May 10, 1967, were unilaterally repatriated by the Government of Vietnam on September 11, 1989.
LTC Robert Lopez, USA, of WA, and Major William H. Seward, USMC, of GA. The remains of LTC Lopez and Major Seward were jointly recovered in August of 1993 and October of 1994.
Specialist 4th Class John E. Crowley, from Williamson, NY, missing in Laos since August 10, 1970.
PFC Lynn Blessing USMC and PFC Walter Boyd USMC, - lost May 15, 1975 in the attempt to free the SS Mayaguez off the coast of Cambodia.
Also identified an Air Force officer, whose name was withheld at the request of the Family.
Korea - Army Sgt. Hallie A. Clark Jr., Hannibal, Mo., and Army Sgt. James T. Higgins, Benham, Ky. According to a DOD Press Release "On Nov. 27, 1950, near the town of Kujang in North Korea, Clark's 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion was overrun by Chinese troops, forcing the unit to withdraw to the south. When the unit regrouped the following day, more than 70 men, including Clark, were reported missing...."
"...On Nov. 1, 1950, Higgins' 8th Cavalry Regiment came under a massive enemy frontal assault by Chinese forces near the town of Unsan in North Korea, approximately 60 miles north of Pyongyang. When his unit regrouped the following day, he was found to be missing in action."
To The Families - we hold you in our hearts and prayers during this difficult time and hope you have the answers you have waited so long for.
Pentagon Says Fewer U.S. Troops Died in Korean War - From Reuters - "Washington (Reuters) - The Pentagon has revised downward the number of U.S. troops who died in the 1950-1953 Korean war, and said the "primary culprit" for the error was an unnamed clerk, Time magazine reported Sunday."
"The Pentagon cut the death toll from 54,246 to 36,940, Time said in its current edition. The higher toll was given after a bureaucrat mistakenly added all non-combat deaths worldwide to the toll of combat deaths in Korea, Time reported. That meant that the death toll was inflated by more than 17,000 for about a half century."
Spy Damage - From Associated Press, by David Brisco, - "Washington (AP) -- A Russian spy working in U.S. military security crippled American intelligence gathering in the critical period leading to the Korean War, a newly declassified report says. The National Security Agency report on cryptology says William Weisband, described as a linguist recruited by Soviet intelligence in the 1930s, caused "perhaps the most significant intelligence loss in U.S. history."
"Weisband, who lived in Fairfax, Va., and died in 1967, was never charged with spying, although he was removed from the Armed Forces Security Agency, the NSA's predecessor, and spent a year in prison for refusing to cooperate with a grand jury. The son of Russian immigrants is believed to have passed to the Soviets information about U.S. ability to decipher their messages, which restricted monitoring of the communist bloc after World War II, said the report by NSA researchers David A. Hatch and Robert Louis Benson."
"In rapid succession, every one of (the) cipher systems went dark," the report said. "This dreary situation continued up to the Korean War, denying American policymakers access to vital decrypts in this critical period."
"The report analyzes U.S. intelligence gathering leading up to the Korean War and says monitoring of Korea was not a high priority until the surprise invasion by North Korea in June 1950. U.S. officials were caught unprepared for the invasion or for China's entry into the war later that year. The report said some North Korean communications were intercepted between May 1949 and April 1950 because the Koreans were using Soviet communications procedures. But coverage was dropped once analysts confirmed the non-Soviet origin of the material."
"Approximately 200 messages had been intercepted by the time the war began, but none had been processed, it said. Prior to the outbreak of war, there were at least two hints of "more than usual interest in the Korean peninsula by communist bloc nations," the report said, but neither was sufficient to provide a specific warning of the June invasion. One was an increase in Soviet targeting of communications in South Korea and the other was large shipments of bandages and medicines from the Soviet Union to North Korea and Manchuria starting in February 1950. "These two actions made sense only in hindsight," the report said. Even later analysis of the unprocessed messages disclosed no message that would have given advance warning of the invasion, the report said." View full text of the report at http://www.nsa.gov/korea/korea_sigint.html
The Forum - One of Murphy's Laws states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. After ten years of relatively smooth sailing Murphy caught up with us. For the first time in our history a speaker canceled at the last minute and another was unavoidably delayed leaving our schedule more disorganized than usual.
Late Thursday afternoon, we were notified that John Warren, associate producer of "Seized at Sea" the story of the failed rescue of the crew of the SS Mayaguez, had to cancel. Mr. Warren was scheduled for Friday evening, to discuss the seizure and ill fated rescue attempt of the crew of the SS Mayaguez and the disappearance of three Marines left behind on Koh Tong Island.
We also learned that due to illness, Laurence Jolidon, scheduled for a Friday morning and afternoon presentation, would be delayed to Friday evening.
No problem. Move Larry's two presentations to Friday evening and extend the other Friday morning and afternoon presentations. We could handle that.
Thursday Evening - program opened with a prayer from our good friend Michael Mc Daniel, son of former POW Capt. Eugene "Red" Mc Daniel. Michael's inspiring words always seem to set the tone for the meeting. They remind us that while things, at times, may look and seem hopeless, they are not.
Roger Hall updated us on the progress of his lawsuit against the CIA. While the lawsuit is making its way through the courts, Roger is preparing for the next step, including depositions. As we've seen, the key to many answers regarding the fate of our POW/MIAs lies with the CIA. We commend Roger for his efforts and support them fully.
Our next speaker was Major General Roland Lajoie, USA (Ret) U.S. Chairman of the US/Russian Joint Commission. General Lajoie briefed us on efforts to access Soviet archives and investigate reports of Americans in the former Soviet Union. While discussing the Volkogonov Papers and the recently release "Russian Memoir" General Lajoie was less optimistic in his remarks than we had hoped.
At the conclusion of his presentation, General Lajoie graciously agreed to a question and answer session. The session turned out to be quite lengthy and we thank General Lajoie for his candor, patience and good humor.
Our final speaker for the evening was Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, and author Sydney Schanberg. His presentation dealt with the "Abdication of Media Responsibility in Reporting on the POW/MIA Issue." Mr. Schanberg recounted conversations with other reporters, who dismissed the POW/MIA issue, while doing no independent research. He chided today's reporters for accepting the governments word, without question.
Friday Morning - We ran late. Ok, so what else is new! Dovie Huffman, sister of POW/MIA Danny Widner, led us in opening prayer, reading Eleanor's POW Prayer. Our 9 and 10 AM presentations, were combined. A panel manned by journalists Mark Sauter and Sydney Schanberg discussed evidence of men left behind and how it has been ignored by those charged with investigating the POW/MIA issue.
During a 1996 trip to North Korea, along with Pennsylvania State Senator Stewart Greenleaf, former POW Red Mc Daniel and businessman Robert Egan, Mr. Sauter toured the North Korean War Museum. He located and photographed identification media belonging to American Servicemen lost during the Korean War. Those photos were turned over to DPMO. One year later, DPMO still had not notified the families of the men whose ID cards and other identification were on display in the museum.
What happened to these men? If North Korea had the identification media, they had to have had the men?
Promptly, (yes, we managed to do something on schedule) at 11 AM, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/MIA Affairs, Robert L. Jones, briefed the group. Discussing the strategic plan, Mr. Jones reiterated statements from the May 3rd meeting that the plan was dead. He also presented his definition of "Isolated Personnel," stating that this phrase did not replace the designation of POW or MIA. It is simply a classification for someone shot down, who is in the process of being tracked or rescued.
Mr. Jones was also questioned, by Bob Dumas brother of Korean War POW Roger Dumas, on the new DPMO position relating to Roger's case.
We are going to go back to the video tape for an exact transcript of this exchange and Mr. Jones' comments on the strategic plan and isolated personnel. We want to make sure we present the most accurate information on these important topics. Look for that in a future "Bits."
After lunch, we were briefed by staffers from Capitol Hill. Our first speaker for the afternoon was Tom Hawley of the Subcommittee on Military Personnel. Mr. Hawley discussed the committee's displeasure with the DPMO Strategic Plan and credited the National Alliance of Families with bringing DPMO's behind the scenes efforts to the attention of Congress. In response to the DPMO Strategic Plan, the committee introduced a resolution, added to the 2001 Defense Authorization Act. The resolution reads, in part; "...The committee has learned that DPMO is developing a strategic plan intended to serve as a roadmap for all elements of the Department in carrying out those important responsibilities. However, the committee is concerned that the strategic plan envisions a lessening of ongoing efforts to account for the thousands of service members still unaccounted for in previous wars. The committee directs the Secretary of Defense to consult the Senate Committee on Armed Services and the House Committee on Armed Services before implementing any plan that would reduce the current level of effort to account for missing personnel."
Next up was Russ Thomasson, the new man in Senator Bob Smith's office dealing with POW/MIA matters. Russ is former Air Force and spent several years in DPMO, with Norm Kass and the Joint Commission Support Directorate. That's as good a reference as we need.
Russ reinforced Senator Smith's commitment to the truthful resolution of POW/MIA issue and detailed his ongoing battle for declassification of the National Intelligence Estimate on POW/MIAs. Russ, on the job less than two month, is still getting his feet wet but did an excellent job. When he didn't have an answer, he said so and said he would get one. We look forward to working with Russ in the future.
Tear Up The Schedule - That's what we did at 3:00 P.M. when we learned that Larry Jolidon would be further delayed. Programs rescheduled for Friday evening were now moved to Saturday morning and Saturday mornings programs became Friday evenings.
How did we do this? Al Santoli, aide to Congressman Rohrabacher, was scheduled for 4:30 P.M. and he went on, on time. We assure Al that this mistake will not happen again :) (for those unfamiliar with computers the :) indicates a smile or grin.) Al briefed us on H.Con. Res 275, introduced by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, calling for increased efforts to locate LCDR Michael Speicher. Al also discussed a recent trip to Kuwait and efforts to uncover information on LCDR Speicher.
In an exchange between Al Santoli and Russ Thomasson, we were reminded how closely the two offices work on behalf of our POW/MIAs and how lucky we are to have Bob Smith and Dana Rohrabacher and their terrific aides.
We closed the afternoon with the presentation of the "Activist of the Year" award to former POW and member of the Alliance Board of Directors Michael Benge, in recognition of his devotation and hard work on behalf of our POW/MIAs.
New Schedule - Friday evening would be Syndey Schanberg discussing his reporting on the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. In his first dealings with the Alliance, as a speaker, Mr. Schanberg quickly learned, we can't tell time and that all schedules should be written in pencil. As with all our speakers over the years, Mr. Schanberg accepted our lateness and schedule changes with grace and good humor.
Mr. Schanberg discussed his reporting of the activities of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, admitting that he, like the rest of us, thought they would do a fair and unbiased job. However, he, like the rest of us, soon realized that whatever the goal of the Kerry led Committee was, it wasn't getting to the truth about the fate of our POW/MIAs.
Saturday Morning - Good things are worth waiting for - Our Korea panels "DPMO rewrites Korean War POWs History" and "Last Seen Alive, The Video," with Larry Jolidon and Bob Dumas, brother of POW Roger Dumas provided new insights into the issue of our Korean War POWs. Bob Dumas presented his brothers' case and detailed his 50 year struggle to free Roger. We say free Roger, because there is no question. Roger Dumas was captured and Roger Dumas was held back at the end of the war.
Larry Jolidon presented a rough cut of Part I of his new video "Last Seen Alive." Of this emotional and factual video, all we can say is wow. We can't wait for the final cut.
