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August 8, 1982
Honorable John 0. Marsh
Secretary of the Army
Pentagon, 3E718
Washington, D.C. 20310
Dear Mr. Secretary:
I am extremely concerned about the manner in which the USA is handling the "unknown" situation, a concern which multiplied after meeting with BG Jim Thompson last Friday. It is his intention, apparently at your request, to brief members of Congress on what he terms the "Catch 22" which surrounds this issue. He also plans to contact national veterans groups.
It was my understanding from our discussions that you preferred to avoid controversy on this matter to ensure that if interment took place, this nation would be unified in honoring Vietnam veterans. Your misleading and inaccurate memo to the Secretary of Defense, dated June 16th, has been distributed to selected individuals and organizations. Such an attempt to obtain public support is hardly in keeping with your stated objective.
I was dismayed to learn that Central Identification Laboratory (CIL) personnel had been instructed to shred existing research documents on all four remains now in U.S. possession, sign a document to that effect and hand carry the sole copy of +he records to the Army Adjutant General. Such instructions. to the CIL to destroy working records are reprehensible. It strongly suggests a conscious effort to obscure or eliminate identification data to meet political objectives.
According to General Thompson, two of the four remains have now been certified as unidentifiable by CIL and are therefore candidates for the "unknown" from the Vietnam era. Partial remains of one "candidate" includes full upper dental structure, making identification cation highly probable if additional dental records are obtained via the services. On both candidate sets of remains sufficient information is already available to narrow the identification process to a small number of individuals.
According to General Thompson, two of the four remains have now been certified as unidentifiable by CIL and are therefore candidates for the "unknown" from the Vietnam era. Partial remains of one "candidate" includes full upper dental structure, making identification cation highly probable if additional dental records are obtained via the services. On both candidate sets of remains sufficient information is already available to narrow the identification process to a small number of individuals.
Records on the two sets of remains which have been ruled out of consideration should immediately be returned to CIL technicians. Further, there should be no effort spared to obtain records necessary for correlation on both these cases as well as the one
Honorable John 0. Marsh
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"candidate" set of remains. To do otherwise will seriously undermine the integrity of the USA, CIL and the stated commitment of the Reagan Administration that accounting for missing Americans "is in fact a matter of the highest national priority."
The rationale for such increased emphasis on interment of an unknown from the Vietnam era can only be labeled political. The sole logic for proceeding at this time lies in finding a means to satisfy those Vietnam veterans who feel slighted. There is no organization which is more directly affected by this problem than the League these are our relatives which you are attempting to inter.
The Army's handling of this issue has left me no alternative but' to inform the families at the earliest opportunity, knowing that by so doing, years of faith in CIL will be badly shaken and confidence in the Reagan Administration will be seriously called into question. I deeply regret the necessity to take this action and hold the U.S. Army responsible for failure to recognize this' basic importance and sensitivity of this issue.
Sincerely,
Ann Mills Griffiths
Executive Director |
cc: Secretary of Defense
PW/MIA Interagency Group