PRESS RELEASE

FOR: IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 30, 1998

CONTACT:DOLORES ALFOND -- (425) 881-1499

With the identification of remains of the Vietnam Unknown as 1Lt. Michael J. Blassie, the National Alliance of Families calls for an immediate investigation into the practices used at the Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii to "Declare Identified" or "Unidentified" servicemen missing from the War in Southeast Asia. We demand a halt to all burials until the investigation is completed.

In 1984, the political climate demanded a Vietnam Unknown and CIL-HI complied. In spite of overwhelming circumstantial evidence pointing to the probable identification of remains as those of Michael Blassie, the Commander of CIL-HI, Johnie Webb on March 21, 1984 declared the remains "unidentifiable." This cleared the way for the entombment of Michael Blassie as the Vietnam Unknown.

Today, the political climate demands the identification of as many servicemEn as possible with or without evidence, and with or without remains.

Did you know... ten men, Rowley; Hensley; Ireland; Harris; Lint; Brooks; Davis; Fisher; Towle; and Adachi, were buried on the unidentifiable remains of one man?

Did you know... four men, Cressman, Matejov, Brandenburg, and Melton, were buried on the half tooth of one man?

Did you know... eight men, Matthes; Balamonti; Brown; Dewispelaere; Fellenz; Ganley; Grewell; and Wright were buried on unidentifiable bone fragments and the two teeth of one man.

Did you know... another eight men, Cole, Mercer; Nyhof; Wilson; Hunt; Newman; Gilbert; Lehrke; Harrison; Klinke; Ayres; and Danielson are buried on the two teeth of one man.

Did you know... the coffins buried under the headstones of Hatley and Nelson, in the early 1990's, are empty.

Using CIL-HI's methods and assuming the loss of a tooth is fatal, 32 men are considered "remains identified" based on forensic evidence equaling 4 men.

We can no longer tolerate the practice of naming remains rather than identifying them. The goal of CIL-HI and the U.S. Government is not to resolve POW/MIA cases but make them disappear. Instead of burying remains, they are burying cases. This current process is a mockery to missing servicemen and their families. It must stop. We can not longer allow the forensic sciences to be manipulated, in order to achieve an accounting of the missing.

We call for an immediate investigation into CIL-HI's current methods of identification, a stop to all "identifications by association" and a halt to all identifications until that investigation is completed.