Congratulations Once Again To The Folks At Rolling Thunder and Run For The Wall - the 16^th Ride for Freedom was a huge success. Despite the poor weather, the turnout was unbelievable. It's hard to believe but each year the ride gets bigger and bigger. We thank all who worked so hard to make this years Ride for Freedom a success. We know how much work an effort like this entails. To Artie Muller and his staff, we tip our hats. You all did a great job.

WANTED: ALIVE

Speicher Reward the following is excerpted from an article published May 30th, in The Kansas City Star, by David Goldstein. "In their thus-far fruitless search in Iraq for Navy pilot Capt. Scott Speicher, U.S. investigators plan to use two old-fashioned tools: reward money and wanted posters."

"Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida backed a "sense of the Senate" resolution urging Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to use his authority to offer rewards for information about missing military personnel."

"We've pretty well hit a dead-end street," Roberts said of the need to try new methods to recover the pilot shot down over Iraq in 1991. "It's a little hard not to be discouraged. We had hoped by this time that we would have had more specific word. That doesn't mean we aren't persevering, that we aren't making every effort." The Senate provision, included in the defense authorization bill passed last week, calls for publicizing a $1 million reward for information "resolving the fate" of Speicher."

"Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin said members of the former Iraqi regime, terrorists or others who might have been involved in Speicher's captivity would not be eligible for the money. The reward also applies to the search for members of the armed forces from the Korean and Vietnam wars still considered to be missing, held prisoner or killed in action, but who remain unaccounted for."

"It might flush somebody out who knew about Scott," said Roberts, a leader in the efforts to recover Speicher. "There were probably three, four or five people who even knew about him. He was more or less a pet prisoner of Saddam...."

"Roberts, who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee, acknowledged that in a recent closed-door briefing with Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz he had pushed the idea of circulating posters with Speicher's photograph because he wanted "every Iraqi citizen to know exactly what Captain Speicher looks like." The posters and the prospect of a reward should produce a flood of information, Roberts said, although much of it is likely to be useless."

"But he said the searchers were starting to run out of options. Roberts said a new team of investigators would be on the ground soon in Iraq to aid the search, although he said its primary task would be to look for evidence of weapons of mass destruction. The new team is called the Iraq Survey Group and is made up mainly of scientists. The existing team searching for Speicher is a joint operation of about a dozen persons from the

Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and other intelligence operations...."

"Once the latest war ended and military and intelligence teams began roaming Iraq, optimism was high that Speicher -- or at least evidence of his fate -- would be found. "Obviously as years go by, the possibility of bringing him home alive realistically seems to diminish," said Larry Greer, a spokesman for the Pentagon's POW/MIA office. "But we've got to be vigilant and exercise all the resources we've got."

"Expectations rose several weeks ago when investigators found Speicher's initials carved into a wall at the Hakmiyah Prison, a site where an informant reportedly said an American pilot had been held in the mid-1990s."

"Amy Waters Yarsinske, a former naval intelligence officer who wrote a book last year about the Speicher case, said she understood that investigators had also found other symbols inside the prison that might have been left by Speicher. "The symbols he was using are something he was taught in survival training," she said. "The Iraqis would have no idea what they were, even if they noticed. They are the same symbols Scott has left everywhere."

"But Lt. Cmdr. Jim Brooks, a spokesman for the Defense Intelligence Agency, cast doubt on whether such symbols had been found, or if they were, that Speicher was responsible. He said the Army was conducting forensic tests. "In all the prisons they've been through, everyone carves on the wall," he said. "I haven't seen anything definitive. The search continues...."

????????????? - Until now, we've refrained from commenting on the efforts to locate Capt. Speicher. However, there are serious questions that must be asked and answered. The U.S. had intelligence assets on the ground prior to the war, their goal - locating Saddam. Were intelligence assets charged with locating Speicher before the war? If not, why not?

Senator Roberts and Nelson are on the right track with a reward and wanted posters. Our question is why didn't DOD flood Iraq with flyers bearing Speicher photo and publicizing the Persian Gulf Accountability Act granting asylum to any Iraqi who returns American POW? Every soldier, sailor, marine and airman should have been made aware of Speicher and carried flyers with his photo. Were the men and women on the ground briefed about Speicher? If not, why not?

If Speicher is Saddam's "pet prisoner" it is possible that wherever Saddam is, Speicher will be nearby.

Anyone with even a limited knowledge of the POW/MIA issue knows that the U.S. government did not change Speicher's status from Killed in Action to Missing in Action and again from MIA to Missing/Captured solely based on the indication he survived his ejection. If surviving ejection were the sole criteria for a status change a whole lot of Vietnam and Korean War POW/MIAs now classified KIA, are due for status changes.

As the article above states: "Expectations rose several weeks ago when investigators found Speicher's initials carved into a wall at the Hakmiyah Prison, a site where an informant reportedly said an American pilot had been held in the mid-1990s."

It's far too early to write Speicher off. We can't let Speicher be killed on paper for a third time!

Reward Applies To Korean and Vietnam War POW/MIAs - According to the above Kansas City Star article the reward applies to "the search for members of the armed forces from the Korean and Vietnam wars still considered to be missing, held prisoner or killed in action, but who remain unaccounted for."

It's about freaking time! We have long supported a reward program. The POW Publicity Fund actively publicized a $2.5 million reward for the return of a live POW, from Southeast Asia. Unfortunately individuals inquiring about a reward were told by our government that no such reward existed.

We hope that both Senators Roberts and Nelson will insure that the reward for a live POW/MIA from Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf will be properly advertised in the former Soviet Union, North Korea, China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Iraq, Iran and Syria.

More on Speicher - May 30, 2003 from a CBS News Report by David Martin: "New evidence has surfaced in the case of Scott Speicher, the U.S. Navy pilot shot down on the first night of the first Gulf War in 1991. Speicher was initially reported killed, but later listed as missing, his fate unknown...."

"... the new information comes from documents turned over to an American intelligence officer, who cannot be identified, by a former general in the Iraqi Air Force. After the two men examined them for three hours, the American told the Iraqi, "This brings to a close one of the great sticking points" in the 12-year saga of what happened to Speicher."

"Specifically, the documents appear to solve the grisly mystery of a pound and a half of human flesh that has been at the heart of the Speicher case. The Iraqis turned those remains over to the U.S. in 1991, identifying them only as "Michael," which is Speicher's proper first name."

"When the DNA did not match Speicher's, the Americans suspected the Iraqis of trying to trick them into thinking the Navy pilot was dead while they continued to hold him captive. The U.S. was never able to identify the remains, but the documents, some of them top-secret Iraqi memos, identify them as belonging to an Air Force pilot shot down a month after Speicher. The Pentagon will now retest those remains against the DNA of the dead Air Force pilot to finally make a positive identification."

"As for Speicher, the Iraqi general insists they don't know what happened to him. Investigators have now searched more than 50 prisons, graveyards and other sites in Iraq. The most tantalizing clue turned up in a now-abandoned prison that held captured American pilots during the first Gulf war. Etched on the wall of cell 46 are the initials "MSS." Could that stand for Michael Scott Speicher? Investigators believe those initials were scratched there in the last two to three years. They are still trying to figure out what the other letters on the wall might mean."

"The search team went over every square inch of the cell looking for some other piece of evidence Speicher was here. They even went into the toilet area and scrapped the drains for his DNA. It will take months of testing to see if any of the samples match Speicher's DNA. In the meantime, the search goes on. Investigators have already dug up six graves where he might have been buried, but none of the bodies had caps on their front teeth like Speicher had. The investigators are coming back to this cemetery on Saturday to dig up another body."

Who Is The Air Force Pilot, Shot Down After Speicher - we may have missed it, but we found only two Air Force crews lost and recovered/unrecovered after Speicher. One loss was over the Indian Ocean. Would Iraq have any chance recovering remains from that crew?

It is far more likely that the remains may be of a crewman aboard an AC130H lost January 31^st 1991. The crew commanded by Major Paul Weaver consisted of Arthur Galvan; John P. Blessinger; Dixon L. Walters, Jr.; Paul G. Buege; Barry M. Clark; Thomas C. Bland Jr.; William D. Grimm; Timothy R. Harrison; Robert K. Hodges; Damon V. Kanuha; James B. May II; John L. Oelschlager; and Mark J. Schmauss.

Only 5 of the crewmen were identifiable. The families of the other 9 crewmen, according to two family members, we've spoken with, were forced to accept "apportioned remains." In other words this was another one of CIL-HI's creative identifications. Prove 1 man or 5 on an aircraft dead and consider all 14 dead and identified, with or without remains.

We haven't been able to find any other Air Force crews that were shot down after Speicher, with no recovery or suspect recovery. If you can find one, please let us know.

The only servicemen considered unaccounted for by the government, from Gulf War I, are Navy officers Speicher, Lt. Robert Dwyer and Barry Cooke.

We're Amazed But We Shouldn't Be - with three servicemen lost on or after Jan. 16, 1991 classified as body not recovered, and nine buried without remains, why weren't the remains returned by Iraq in 1991, tested against all personnel declared dead without remains?

All Together Now - Why does Johnie Webb still have a job????????????

The Window Is Open - With the successful return of all POWs, and MIAs from Operation Iraqi Freedom, politicians, the media and the general public have never been more aware. We need to use the feeling of pride generated by Operation Iraqi Freedom and focus it on the fact that many questions remain unanswered regarding our World War II, Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam and Gulf War I POWs and MIAs.

In order to get our questions answered, a complete, balanced and impartial investigation needs to be conducted. The Senate Select Committee on POW/MIAs concluded a small number of POWs were left behind at the end of the War. What happened to that small number of men? The Senate Committee never answered that question.

At its conclusion the Committee recommended an number of leads requiring follow-up. No follow-up was ever done. Korean and Cold War losses were not given the proper attention during the Senate investigation.

With the precedent set by the case of Navy Capt. Scott Speicher, it is time to give the entire POW/MIA issue a second look.

In every session of Congress, since the end of the Senate POW/MIA Committee, Representative Peter King (R-NY) has introduced a resolution calling for the establishment of a new committee. Unfortunately, for many reasons the legislation went no where.

This year Representative King has introduced H.RES 103 to establish in the "House of Representatives a Select Committee to be known as the Select Committee POW and MIA Affair."

According to the legislation: "The select committee shall conduct a full investigation of all unresolved matters relating to any United States personnel unaccounted for from the Vietnam era, the Korean conflict, World War II, Cold War Missions, or Gulf War, including MIA's and POW's."

As we've always said, timing is everything. We believe the timing is right for a new investigation. However, to get this committee established, we need your help.

We need to put out the same type of effort used to pass the Speicher Bill. We need everyone calling their Congressional Representatives asking that they co-sponsor H.RES.103. There are 435 Congressional Representatives, we need 218 cosponsors to pass this legislation. Currently, in addition the Representative King, Rep. Vito Fossella, Vito [NY-13], and Rep Ron Paul [TX-14] of Texas have signed on as co-sponsors. That leaves 214 to go. WE CAN DO THIS!

We expect opposition to this investigation. There are those within Dept of Defense agencies dealing with the POW/MIA issue who will no doubt mount a campaign against H.RES 103, just as they opposed the formation of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. We won then and we believe we can win now. Why would anyone be afraid of another investigation?

To be successful we all need to join forces. We have posted a list of all 435 Congressional Representatives, along with phone and fax numbers. You can find the list at http://www.nationalalliance.org/leg/list.htm Just find your state and look for your Congressional Representative. If you represent a statewide organization, contact all your Representatives.

The Window of Opportunity Is Open -- Let's get it done!

A Korean War Unknown Identified - the following is excerpted from a Dept. of Defense Press Release "The remains of a Korean War U.S. Marine buried as an "unknown" have been identified and returned to his family. He is Pfc. Ronald D. Lilledahl of Minneapolis, Minn. This marks the first unknown serviceman from the Korean War to be identified."

"On Nov. 28, 1950, Lilledahl's unit, Company C of the 7th Marines, was surrounded by Chinese forces on the west side of the Chosin Reservoir and cut off from supporting units. During a seesaw battle throughout the day, Lilledahl reportedly was struck and killed by enemy fire and buried in a shallow grave. In the ensuing withdrawal, C Company was unable to retrieve all of its dead, including Lilledahl."

"Following the armistice, the North Korean government returned remains believed to be those of U.S. servicemen, but forensic technology at the time was unable to make positive identifications on more than 800 of those. They were interred in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as The Punchbowl, as "unknowns."

"In 1999, the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI) exhumed two of the Korean War unknowns for the purpose of possible identification. Between 1999 and 2002, CILHI scientists submitted 10 bone or dental samples to the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory but no usable mitochondrial DNA data could be extracted from the remains."

"Broadening their search effort, CILHI researchers uncovered a postage-stamp sized chest x-ray in Lilledahl's medical records at the National Personnel Records Center. The scientific staff enlarged it many times and was able to show very strong consistency with the remains. The final piece of evidence confirming his identity came from a new computer program recently developed by CILHI, which allows scientists to compare dental remains to a vast database of almost 40,000 dental patterns seen in the U.S. Lilledahl's were unique among the entire database, lending tremendous weight to the significance of the match." [End DOD Press Release]

We are not going to focus here on the fact that there was no dental match, simply a dental pattern and we are not going to focus on a "consistency" between the chest x-ray and the remains. We're not even going to focus on the fact that mt-DNA could not be used to indicate a possible family match or as an exclusionary tool. We will take a look at the new dental program OdontoSearch, that allows comparison to dental patterns and let you know more about this new system used in the identification process.

The reason we are going to ignore these factors is quite simple. According to articles published at the time, the government had name associations for both Korean Unknowns exhumed from the Punchbowl, in 1999. One of the names associated to the two remains was Robert E. Mitchell.

Although these remains were not Mitchell's, a 1999 article by Robert Burns of the Associated Press shows that there were name association for the two Korean "unknowns." Burns reported: " Mitchell's name has been tentatively linked to a set of remains in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, although it is not yet clear whether they can be positively identified."

"On Wednesday, two sets of Korean War servicemen's remains will be disinterred from the cemetery in Honolulu, and the Army's Central Identification Laboratory there will take mitochondrial DNA from the bones and attempt to match it with DNA samples offered by family members. It is possible, though not certain, that one of those sets of remains may be Mitchell's, Pentagon officials said Monday. The officials would not disclose the names associated with the two sets of remains."

"Pentagon spokesman Larry Greer said members of 10 families thought to have a link to sets of remains at the Hawaii cemetery have provided the Central Identification Laboratory with DNA samples..."

Shortly after the exhumation of the Vietnam "Known" both Bob Dumas, brother of Korean War POW Roger Dumas and the late Laurence Jolidon, author of "Last Seen Alive," spoke out about the fact that many of the Korean Unknowns buried at the Punchbowl did, in fact, have name associations.

The identification of Korean Unknown Pfc. Ronald D. Lilledahl, proves that mt-DNA testing may not be necessary to identify some of the remaining Unknowns buried at the Punchbowl.

We, at the National Alliance of Families, believe that an active program of exhumation and identification be instituted in an attempt to confirm the identification of Korean War Unknowns with name associations. The current time schedule for exhumation will simply take to long. One place to start might be with Louis P. Mutta. His name is associated to unknown remains designated X-656.

If Your Taking Casualties It's Still A War -- While our march through Iraq was swift, we should all remember that U.S. forces are still taking casualties. According to one report the average is one casualty per day. So let's not forget our men and women in harm's way.

Operation Remember - Vietnam Veterans of America Baltimore Chapter 451, has organized "Operation Remember." Their goal is to obtain photos of each of Maryland's 1,046 servicemen lost in Vietnam. If you can provide them with a photo of a Maryland Vietnam casualty or know where they can get one, contact them at

http://www.vva451.org

Closing The Message Book - When the first POWs were captured during Iraqi Freedom, we opened a message book, for individuals to post their messages of support to the families of our POWs and MIAs. The response was overwhelming and we are still receiving posts.

We will close the book on June 7^th. It is our intention to burn the file to a CD and send copies of the CD to the returned POWs and the families of as many of the MIAs as we can find.

Editors Note: - I am always amazed by the twists and turns life takes. On this date, 36 years ago, a group of friends and I gathered to celebrate the birthday of another friend. We celebrated with a movie at New York's Radio City Music Hall. A show at Radio City was a big deal, 36 years ago.

On this day, 36 years ago, a Long Range Recon Patrol (LRRP) was reported missing in the Mo Duc area of Quang Ngai Province. Five men aged 18 - 20, not much older than my friends and I, simply disappeared.

On that day, I had never heard of John Jakovac, Brian McGar, Joseph Fitzgerald, Charles Rogerson, and David Flower, and was only marginally aware of a POW/MIA issue. That changed in 1970, with the purchase of a POW/MIA bracelet bearing the name Sgt. John A. Jakovac. I had the bracelet until 1978, when it was stolen. It was stolen the same year Jakovac was PFOD'd.

After a visit to the Wall in 1986, I decided to replace the bracelet and to find out what happened to Jakovac. Early in that search, I learned of McGar, Fitzgerald, Rogerson and Flower. I learned that remains for Rogerson and Flower were recovered on June 1st of 1967. I didn't learn much more. In all my research, I never found anything of substance on Jakovac, McGar or Fitzgerald.

In 1994, a site was excavated, very near the original loss location. Remains equaling three men were recovered. The identification was processed and finalized in early 1997. Each family received individually identifiable remains.

On April 9 1997, one day short of John Jakovac's 50th birthday, we gathered at Arlington to bury the co-mingled remains. I always remember May 31st, and the LRRP team that didn't make it back. This year, I ask you

to remember them also.

The National Alliance Of Families Fourteenth Annual Forum is scheduled for June 26th - 28^th, 2003. Our forum is conducted to coincide with the Governments annual Vietnam POW/MIA Family Briefings. We urge all family members to attend this years government briefings. A separate briefing for Korean/Cold War families will be held in July. The government will provide free airfare to two family members to attend the government briefings. There is no charge or registration fee to attend the government briefings and you do not have to belong to an organization to attend these briefings.

This year the Alliance meeting will be held at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel located at 1800 Jefferson Davis Highway, in Arlington Va. Rate for single or double occupancy is $99.00 per night plus tax. Parking fee for Wednesday and Thursday is $7.00 per night. There is no charge for parking on Friday and Saturday

The hotel is located across the street from both the Crystal City Underground Food Court and the Metro Stop. The Sheraton is within walking distance of the hotel hosting the government briefings. The Alliance is working on transportation between hotels for those who prefer to ride. To make your reservations, call 703-486-1111 and remember to say you want the special National Alliance of Families rate.

The Alliance is an all volunteer organization. Our meetings are open to all, without charge. At this time of year, we actively seek contributions to finance our forum. If you wish to contribute, donations may be mailed to:

National Alliance Of Families

P.O. Box 40327

Bellevue, Wa. 98015.

Remember all contributions are tax deductible.