CONFIRMED! Yesterday, the Joint Commission Support Directorate (JCSD) issued the 5^th revision of their Gulag Study. According to the report; “Americans, including American servicemen, were imprisoned in the former Soviet Union...."

Not maybe.... not thought to be.... not believed to be..... WERE IMPRISONED!

During a CNN interview, when asked about the number of American’s held, JCSD executive secretary Norman Kass responded; “I personally would be comfortable saying that the number is in the hundreds."

Our Sincere Thanks – Before we continue, we would like to express our sincere thanks to Norm Kass and the members of the Joint Commission Support Directorate for their continued excellent work, open minded attitude and their sincere desire for the truth. Their “Gulag Study,” of which this report is a 5^th revision, is a detailed summary of reports on Americans, from World War II, Korea and the Cold War, taken into the former Soviet Union.

That the JCSD has been able to accomplish their goals, while under the oppressive thumb of the Defense POW/MIA Office (DPMO) is a tribute to JCSD leadership and the dedication of its members. We take heart in knowing that within the governments POW/MIA bureaucracy there is a small corner where the “mindset to debunk” is not tolerated. It is no wonder that DPMO has tried to dismantle the JCSD, not once but twice.

As we were preparing this edition of Bits, we received an e-mail from our good friend, author and researcher Mark Sauter. We decided to share his thought on the subject of POWs in the Gulags, with you, as he has summed up this journey far better then we could.

From Mark Sauter: “In April 1990, a 30-year-old Mark Sauter, trim and with a full head of hair, arrived at the regularly scheduled State Department press briefing with a camera crew. Then a local investigative reporter in Seattle, I was in DC to ask questions about evidence I had uncovered indicating US POWs had been held in the Soviet Union after WWII, Korea, and the Cold War. The evidence included long-buried US intelligence reports revealed by the Freedom of Information Act; diplomatic files from the US National Archives and Presidential libraries; and information from interviews with veterans of the wars, an independent researcher named Jim Sanders, and the relatives of missing Americans such as Dolores Alfond, Bill Sowles and his mother, and Rita Van Wees, who had been protesting and investigating since her Silver Star-winning son Dutch disappeared in Korean and never returned home in 1953.

The evidence left little doubt that American officials had strong reason to believe US servicemen had been imprisoned by the Russians, but that because of Cold War politics, security concerns, bureaucratic intertia and other factors, had failed to obtain the truth and win the repatriation of our missing men. By 1990, in light of the recent arrival of Glasnost between the Soviet Union and US, the evidence seemed enough at least to prompt the US government to open its files and ask the Russians for answers.

As a patriot, military veteran, and optimist, I was certain that spring day that once the buried information was out, the US government would act decisively.

I was wrong.

The State Department spokesman then (and now) was Richard Boucher. Although my evidence included previously classified US government files, Boucher said he was unaware of them and told me on camera that the US government did not believe the POWs existed and would not ask Moscow to account for them. "We do not believe that there are any US POWs in the Soviet Union, (so) we have not raised it," he told me and the permanent State press corps. When asked to account for attempts by the US government to force the Soviet Union to account for missing Americans in the 1950s, Boucher replied: "(It) just sort of become a non-issue I'm afraid."

Soon after, the Pentagon issued an official statement specifically referring to me and my reporting, saying there was "no such evidence" that Americans had been held in the Soviet Union.

Comments made about me by government officials on background were less charitable.

However, revelations continued to escape some in the news reports I produced and books I co-authored relating to this subject with Jim Sanders and Cort Kirkwood, made possibly only by the assistance of Dolores, current and former US officials troubled by our nation's policies, veterans, researchers such as Lynn O'Shea, and many others.

These reports and books were snapshots in time, filled with flaws, and far from a comprehensive and accurate history of this issue. Still, they contained powerful new information that helped a couple of Senators and their determined staff members in the early 1990s POW/MIA Senate committee which was focused on Southeast Asia to include a limited review of Soviet, Chinese and North Korean history in the probe. The US government began to investigate. Several true leaders in Congress and a handful of highly dedicated Pentagon employees kept pushing, investing substantial time and political capital.

Still, the US government response was half-hearted at best. The official position was that there was no evidence US prisoners had been held in the Soviet Union and never returned, a stone wall that eroded slightly in the 1990s but never collapsed. My efforts (and those of others) to find conclusive evidence among witnesses, official files, and trips to Russia and North Korea failed. None of the countries involved not even our own -- was willing to open all its files and history to reveal the full truth. Over the ensuing years my sources in the US government informed me the search was a low priority for succeeding Administrations of both parties and that the bureaucracy had little interest in revealing the truth.

That changed yesterday to a limited but important extent when a new Pentagon report (reported by CNN below) and its authors, public servants of incredible dedication and integrity, estimated that hundreds of Americans lived out their lives no doubt brutal and lonely ones -- in the Soviet Gulag.

Sadly, the prospect of learning their fates and finally giving their families the information they so rightly deserve plus resolving the fate of Americans I believe remained in China and North Korea, where some might still be alive (and those almost certainly held or shipped to Russia by the Vietnamese) is limited. Higher level US officials will probably downplay this newest report; Moscow, Beijing, Hanoi and Pyongyang can be counted on to maintain their obfuscation.

However, the struggle will go on as long as we remember the names and sacrifice of men such as Dutch Van Wees, Bob Reynolds, Stanley Warner, Wirt Thompson, Kassel Keene, Lewis Sowles and so many more. Perhaps one day we will know which of them did not fall on the battlefield as claimed at the time by their own government, but instead went on to imprisonment in the Gulag. Then our nation can tell the whole story of their heroism and their families can replace an aching void with the truth.

My wait for the truth about this tragic chapter of US history has been a short one compared to the families of the missing, the veterans, the dedicated US investigators who have been combing Siberia and the rest of Russia, and many others. The sacrifices of my family in putting up with my obsession have been the major cost to me. As many of you know, this issue has haunted me over the years.

I thought you might be interested in this latest chapter. If you have a chance, please join me in remembering these missing heroes and their families in your prayers tonight.

Best,

Mark

The CNN Story - “Official says hundreds of U.S. citizens likely died in gulags” – “U.S. military service members may have been imprisoned and died in Soviet forced-labor camps during the 20th century, according to a Pentagon report to be released Friday.

Researchers for the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs have been investigating unconfirmed reports of Americans who were held prisoner in the so-called gulags.

"I personally would be comfortable saying that the number [of Americans held in the gulags during the Cold War and Korean War] is in the hundreds," said Norman Kass, executive secretary of the commission's U.S. section. The Soviet gulag system remained strong until the death of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in 1953. But some camps remained in existence for years afterward.

Soviet authorities imprisoned millions who were considered "enemies of the state" and forced them to perform hard labor in the network of camps in remote areas of the country. The publication of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago" in the early '70s focused the West's attention on the camps.

For more than a decade, Kass and his team have investigated dozens of reports about Americans spotted in the gulags. "We have multiple lists of American servicemen missing and, of course, they are arranged by conflict," he said. "We have lists from World War II, from the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the various casualties during the Cold War." Friday's 90-page Pentagon report is the fifth in a series of updates about the missing troops.

A separate internal Pentagon document has concluded "there is a high probability" that American citizens and U.S. and British prisoners of war died in the camps.

"We recognize that we may not be able to close a single page on the hundreds -- if I'm correct -- of people unaccounted for, but the importance of this program is the fact that we allow the process to go forward, and we draw attention to the importance of it, both for the nation and those in uniform who serve the nation," Kass said. In one case, the daughter of a man imprisoned in a Siberian gulag told investigators in 2002 that her father had met an American named Stanley Warner. In 1957, another former prisoner reported having seen three U.S. soldiers there -- one of whom called himself Stanley Warner.

One roadblock to the U.S. efforts has been the Russian government's refusal to open its intelligence and security archives, Kass said in the report.

"To date, the results of these efforts have been less than encouraging," he said.

U.S. Defense Department officials are pressing the Russians open up these archives, hoping that documents could provide more information. [End CNN Story]

An Associated Press Report by Bob Burns stated: “The Pentagon is turning up the heat on the Russian government for ignoring pleas to cooperate in verifying an expanding body of anecdotal evidence that American servicemen from World War II and the Korean War were secretly held in prison camps in Siberia.”

Russian inaction has made the effort to confirm information about the presence of Americans in the gulag - the network of penal camps that stretched across the former Soviet Union - "a distinctly unilateral U.S. pursuit," Norman Kass, a leader of the Pentagon project, wrote in the introduction to a new compendium of reported sightings of Americans in the camps.”

Vindicated! Ida Mae Stichnoth, mother of Tech. Sgt. Lawrence Reitz - a World War II POW, referred to in the book “Soldiers of Misfortune” as the first POW activist. Researching her son’s case, she accumulated information leading her to the conclusion her son was taken to the former Soviet Union. Her pleas for help, like the pleas of so many family members who came after her, fell on deaf ears.

Vindicated! Rita Van Wees, mother of Korean War POW PFC Ronald Van Wees, and founding member of the National Alliance of Families. As a founding member of the 1950's group "Fighting Home Folks of Fighting Men," she worked tirelessly for World War II and Korean War POW/MIA's. Ignored by her government, Mrs. Van Wees developed her own underground pipeline for information. She spoke of American Prisoners of War in Siberia, when few knew where Siberia was. She spoke and the U.S. government denied. Officials dismissed her and her information in the same way they dismiss the families that came before her and after her.

Vindicated! Robert Dumas, brother of Korean War POW Roger Dumas. Bob has fought the good fight for over 50 years, never waivering in his belief that Korean War POWs were transferred to both China and the former Soviet Union. Pointing to the reams of documentation available supporting his conclusion, Bob would say “It’s all there in black and white.”

Vindicated! Mr. Peter G. Tsouras, formerly of Task Force Russia and the JCSD, Major Werner Saemler Hindrichs, USAF, Master Sergeant Danz Blasser, USAF, Second Lieutenant Timothy R. Lewis, USAF, Mr. Paul H. Vivian, Staff Sergeant Linda R. H. Pierce, USA and Sergeant Gregory N. Vukin, USA authors of “The Transfer of U.S. Korean War POWs To the Soviet Union.” This study, published in 1993, was originally leaked to the Media.

When POW/MIA family members heard about the report they requested copies from the Defense POW/MIA Office (DPMO.) In an effort to withhold the report DPMO reclassified it as "Working Papers." Under the law "Working Papers" do not have to be supplied upon request. As the report was already in the hands of the media, family members were able to obtain copies, in spite of the best efforts of DPMO.

According to the study; “Living U.S. witnesses have testified that captured U.S. pilots were, upon occasion, taken directly to Soviet-staffed interrogation centers. A former Chinese officer stated he turned U.S. pilot POWs directly over to the Soviets as a matter of policy.”

Among the studies conclusions: “The Soviets transferred several hundred U.S. Korean War POWs to the USSR and did not repatriate them. This transfer was mainly politically motivated with the intent of holding them as political hostages, subjects for intelligence exploitation, and skilled labor within the camp system.

            •          There were at least two rail transshipment points for POWs:

            •          Through the Manchurian rail transshipment point of Man-chu-li into the Soviet Union.

            •          Through North Korea to the rail center at Pos'yet across the border in the Primorksiy Krai.

            •          Large numbers of UNC POWs were transported by sea to a number of Soviet ports on the Sea of Japan and Sea of Okhotsk for rail transportation into the interior of the Soviet Union.

            •          Large numbers of South Korean POWs were also taken as part of this program and made up the bulk of the transfer population.

            •          An intense period of activity for the rail transportation of POWs was November 1951 through April 1952. Transportation by ship took place, for at least some of the prisoners, during the ice free months.

            •          From Khabarovsk POWs were sent by rail to another collection point in Chita and then to a number of camps in the Komi-Perm National District.

Vindicated! Soldiers of Misfortune authors Mark Sauter, James Sanders and Cort Kirkwood. Their 1992 book detailed “Washington’s secret betrayal of American POWs in the Soviet Union.” Citing document after document, they painted a picture of government failure to protect and recover the men they send into battle.

At the conclusion of their book, the authors wrote: “It is doubtful that the U.S., Russian, Chinese, North Korean, Vietnamese and Laotian governments will ever tell the full truth about the “soldiers of misfortune.” The heroism of many of those men will be fully known only to God. But now, at least, some of the truth has escaped even if most of the men never will.”

Vindicated! Russian General G.I. Korotkov (Ret) who stated “U.S. POW's from the Korean War were transferred to the Soviet Union, where they were imprisoned and interrogated..... He personally interrogated two U.S. POW's, although he could not recall their names...... He recalled the name "1TC Black" from among the POW's..... Khabarovsk was a transit and interrogation point for the POW's...... The POW's were under the control of the N~JD, although GRU interrogators had professional access to them at Khabarovsk..... He believed the number of POW's processed through Khabarovsk was in the hundreds....” General Korotkov mysteriously recanted his statements after a late night call from a member of the KGB.

Vindicated! Boris Yeltsin, former Russian President. In June 1992, Boris Yeltsin visited the United States. On the flight over Mr. Yeltsin was interviewed by NBC's Dateline. During his interview, Mr. Yeltsin spoke of American POWs taken into the Soviet Union. Not only did Mr. Yeltsin, speak of Americans taken to the former Soviet Union, he offered the possibility that some may still be alive.

The debunkers went into overdrive. First, the government claimed that the translator misunderstood Mr. Yeltsin remarks. So, Dateline had a second translation done. That translation confirmed Mr. Yeltsin's remarks. Then, privately the comments were written off to the possibility that Mr. Yeltsin had to much Vodka on the trip over.

Still he persevered, because he believed the U.S. government seriously wanted answers on the POW/MIA issue. So, he stood before Congress and spoke of POWs taken to the former Soviet Union and the possibility that some might still be alive.

Vindicated! The membership of the National Alliance of Families, who took up the cause of World War II, Korea and Cold War POWs in a time when they had no public voice. Many of you will remember the Alliance sponsorship of a 1990 research trip to the former Soviet Union, seeking documentation and information on World War II and Korean/ Cold War POWs. That trip would not have occurred without the generous support of our membership.

Vindicated! The list goes on and on. To all who believed..... Remember February 11^th 2005... Vindication Day!

It’s been 60 years since VE day.... Victory in Europe and 52 years since the signing of the armistice ending fighting on the Korean peninsula and now finally thanks to the JCSD we have official confirmation of what so many of us knew all along...... “Americans, including American servicemen, were imprisoned in the former Soviet Union....."

So now the question is.... when is DPMO going to get off their collective butts, rid themselves of the closed minded policy makers and investigators whose only goal is to maintain the status quo?

We’d like to remind you of something Warren Gray, former DPMO Intelligence Research Officer shared with us back in Sept of 2004; [Begin Warren Gray Quote] “In November 1993 DPMO received a report that American POWs had been held in SEA after Homecoming, possibly as late as 1976, and that the number was 185. An immediate effort was made to go back to the original source to obtain further information, without success. The report was deemed to be so important and possibly credible that the collection representative was directed to follow the situation and to conduct frequent follow-ups which did not happen.

In January 1998, members of the Joint Commission Support Directorate (JCSD) within DPMO decided to investigate the report and asked the collection representative for access. The collection representative stated that she had no idea which report they were talking about, therefore could not furnish it.

Only after JCSD personnel threatened to demand an Inspector General investigation into the loss was the report “found.” Later in 1998 JCSD did what it could with limited resources to investigate the report; that was the last action to check out the possible credible information. Details of the report have never been taken to any country within SEA to demand an explanation, perhaps because the implications of the report were that the country in question could never have been deemed to be cooperating in the POW issue if the report was true.

The same collection representative that received the report in 1993, that lost the report in 1998 and who would have been responsible for any follow-up since its receipt, remains in place, and the report remains unresolved.

During the mid-l 990's, a Russian geologist was interviewed and reported that he was told in 1976 by Vietnamese counterparts that the Vietnamese Government at that time was holding live American POWs. Does this report substantiate the earlier reporting? No one knows since neither report has been investigated further or in-depth.” [End quote from Warren Gray]

It is time POW/MIA investigations regarding Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and the Gulf Wars are turned over to the caliber of leadership and dedicated, objective investigators found at the JCSD.

Until someone cleans house at DPMO, we can expect no in depth research, on Vietnam and Gulf War POW/MIAs, equaling the JCSD’s “Gulag Study.” At DPMO the “mindset to debunk” lives.....

POW vs MIA/C – Keep the pressure on! A status of Missing/Captured is unacceptable for any serviceman held by an enemy. Write and call your congressional representatives asking them to challenge the Dept of Defense on the ambigious status of MIA-C

Our web site contains a list of Senate phone and fax numbers, along with sample letters and a flyer you can add your name or your organizations to, for distribution or mailing. We’ve updated the sample letters. For the new version , visit http://www.nationalalliance.org/powstatus/index.htm for more information.

Who wants to be the one to tell Matt Maupin and Scott Speicher they’re not POWs?

Why does Johnie Webb still have a job?

National Alliance of Families 16^th Annual Forum is scheduled for June 16th - 18th, 2005. 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. 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.

Other than the dates of the meeting, no other plans have been finalized. We will keep you posted as to our location and hotel rates.

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.