"They didn't look any harder for me, than they did for my brother."

We're Beyond Angry - Just when you think they can't be any more disrespectful of the POW/MIA issue or our POW/MIA family members, they sink to a new low. The "they" we refer to is the Alphabet Soup Gang of DPMO, JTF-FA, CIL-HI, and the Casualty Offices, specifically the Marine Casualty Office.

For starters let's clear something up. If anyone believes that the policy makers and those charged with the truthful accounting of our Prisoners and Missing really care about our missing and their families its time for a reality check.

No change of Administrations, no new heads of offices and no new front men, glad handing with veterans and members of private organizations, are going to change a thing. To those who feel softening their POW/MIA position, will get them a seat at the table and put them in a better bargaining position, look what that seat is buying . . .

No one inside the beltway is interested in LIVE POWs. From Dumas to Speicher and all in between, with the exception of a small band of family members and volunteers the Alphabet Soup gang disparagingly refers to as "activists," those guys are on their own. God help anyone captured in the next Gulf War.

As for those identified by the creative accounting process of Johnnie Webb, the practice of burying men without remains and the voodoo science of Tadeo Furue.... only God knows if those men are really dead or not.

Why Are We So Angry - It because of "Those Bastards" as Patricia Plumadore, sister of L/CPL Kenneth L. Plumadore called them and we agree. This all started on Saturday afternoon, November 30^th, when Lynn O'Shea of the National Alliance of Families found herself in the difficult position of informing a dear friend that the U.S. Government had identified her brothers remains, over one month ago and NEVER bothered to tell the family.

Lynn last spoke with Pat Plumadore several weeks ago. Her first call was prompted by a statement contained in the League of Families weekly update for November 10, 2002. The statement read: "The name of the most recent American accounted for has not yet been released, but the Marine was listed as KIA/BNR in South Vietnam in September 1967. His remains were jointly recovered in June 1996." We now know why that name was never release. The family was never told!

Lynn thought this Marine might be Kenny Plumadore. Very few Marines are listed as unaccounted for in September 1967 and the recovery date of June 1996 coincides with the June 20, 1996, exhumation of a Yreaka, California grave. Obviously, the Yreaka exhumation was not a joint recovery operation. Lynn called Pat to ask if she had accepted the small piece of jawbone found in the Yreaka grave. Her answer was NO! She had not and would not, as there was no way that jawbone could be Kenny.

Pat never knew, nor did we, that on October 23, 2002, Kenny Plumadore was added to the list of U.S. servicemen whose remains had been recovered and identified. She found that out today, in a phone call from Lynn O'Shea.

Earlier today, Lynn received an email from Kevin Kister, of New York, stating Kenny Plumadore's name had been added to the official list of servicemen accounted for. A quick check of the DPMO web site revealed the recovery date of the remains to be June 20^th, 1996, the day of the Yreaka exhumation. Lynn immediately called Pat Plumadore. Had Pat chosen to accept the remains? Perhaps she had chosen to accept them but not to discuss the acceptance?

After exchanging pleasantries Lynn asked Pat if there was anything new, and had she heard anything from the government? Pat responded no to both questions. With a sinking feeling, and a physical dread, Lynn realized that Pat Plumadore had no idea that remains for her brother were now considered identified, by the U.S. government. After breaking the news, Pat's first response was "those bastards."

Pat was never contacted by Marine Corp. Casualty, or Mortuary Affairs. No identification package was ever submitted for review. The family was not given the choice of accepting or rejecting the remains said to be Kenneth Plumadore. By violating all rules for procedure the government stripped Pat Plumadore of her rights to appeal the identification.

Since Pat was never notified of the identification, or given the opportunity to review evidence on which the identification was based, we can only assume that a small piece of jawbone with wisdom teeth, found in the Yreaka grave, is the remains named Kenneth Plumadore.

This is probably the most complicated case we have ever seen. For those wishing to catch up or refresh you memories visit the following link on our web site: http://www.nationalalliance.org/plumadore/summary.htm

Our longtime readers are well acquainted with the Plumadore/Judge/Berry/McGarvey/??????????? case.

Our readers know of the mis-identification of remains recovered in October 1967, as those of Major James McGarvey.

Our readers know how AFDIL misrepresented an mt-DNA match between Mary Judge Jellison and remains of a servicemen held captive by the North Vietnamese as unique, when in fact the samples matched 64 others in the mt-DNA database.

Our readers know of graves exhumed in both Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Yreaka, California. They know that an almost complete set of remains was exhumed from the Yreaka grave and that those remains did not belong to Mark Judge, William Berry, or Kenneth Plumadore.

Our readers know that the only un-associated remains found in the Yreaka grave was a small piece of jawbone, containing wisdom teeth.

Our readers also know that according to Pat Plumadore, her brother had all his wisdom teeth removed before he entered the service.

Unlike those at CIL-HI, our readers know wisdom teeth do not grow back.

How was the identification of Kenneth Plumadore made? How does CIL-HI explain the re-growth of wisdom teeth? Why wasn't Pat Plumadore notified of the intent to identify remains and afforded the same rights given to other POW/MIA family members, to accept, reject and appeal an identification?

The lies regarding the loss and recovery of the men of "Operation Kingfisher" go clear back to the date of battle, September 21, 1967. From that day forward the Marine Corps Casualty, CIL-HI, AFDIL and everyone associated with this case have lied and misrepresented findings.

From day one, all the men of "Operation Kingfisher"were reported dead. This in spite of the FACT that it was known that at least one man was captured from the battlefield. They've lied about Mark Judge. They've lied about William Berry. They refuse to say what happened to the "McGarvey" remains. If the remains from the Yreaka grave have been identified, we haven't heard about it.

By commission and omission they have once again lied to Pat Plumadore, by failing to follow procedures to notify her of a formal identification. They have demonstrated their total disregard for POW/MIA family members by denying her the right of appeal. Pat has no idea why she was not contacted by Marine Casualty or Mortuary Affairs, to review the identification package.

In her words: "I'm not hard to find. I received the mailing about the family meeting in New York. I am listed in the phone book. They could have always called the Alliance, you have my number"

"They didn't look any harder for me, than they did for my brother."

The simple fact is, everyone in the Alphabet Soup gang wants the identification of Kenny Plumadore to be a done deal. They knew Pat could shoot holes in any story presented. Unlike those at CIL-HI, she knows, just as our readers do, wisdom teeth don't grow back.

Pat wants it made clear, as Primary Next of Kin, she HAS NOT accepted what we are assuming to be the small piece of jawbone as the remains of her brother Kenneth Plumadore. She has no idea where the jawbone is or if it has been buried.

She did say, the Marines better not have buried that bone under a headstone bearing her brother's name.

We hope you are as angry as we are. We also hope you realize that the clock it ticking on the POW/MIA issue. Remember 2004 begins with the Federal fiscal year, in October 2003. If we don't start protesting, those who so ineptly handle the POW/MIA issue, we are going to find this issue dead and buried.

For starters - we are asking everyone to call or fax a letter to both White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The people responsible to the handling of the Plumadore/Judge/Berry/McGarvey/????? case don't deserve to have their jobs. Just as the Marine Casualty officer caught removing a document from the file of Major Francis Visconti, in an attempt to hide that document from the Visconti family, should not have her job.

And, no one ever again, should ask us why we keep asking,

Why does Johnnie Webb still have his freaking job?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you are as appalled by the handling of the Plumadore case, as we are, contact:

1) Ask them why remains of Kenneth Plumadore were identified on October 23, 2002, and his family was never notified of the identification?

2) Ask why this family was not presented with the identification package, and given an opportunity to accept or reject the remains?

3) Ask why every procedure in the identification process was violated in this case?

It's time to get angry and stay angry..... no more excuses and

in the word of a group of ladies we very much admire.... No More Lies..... No More Lies....

"In War The First Casualty Is Truth"

Would expand that to say:

In Accounting for our Prisoners of War and Missing In Action The First Casualty Is Also Truth.