DEPARTMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA
MARINE CORPS LEAGUE
POW MIA Information Central
Marine Corps League of PA
7 March 2010
Subject: Lt Al Graf and Capt Jerry Zimmer - Good news!
I received the message listed below from the US
Marine Corps Headquarters
Last night. After 40 years, perhaps the time
has come for our boys to come home.
Nothing is assured, other than Case 1486 (Graf/Zimmer)should
be excavated
this year. We know nothing other than this site
will be excavated for
the purpose of repatriation of our heroes. My
understanding, which is
not confirmed, is that perhaps one only one
Marine was buried in a crater
at this site. Remains
might be recoverable, despite thoughts that everything
had been destroyed in the crash
or claimed by time.
POW/MIA’s “You are not
forgotten” “Freedom isn’t free”
Please join me in prayer for
both families for comfort and final closure.
21 February 2010
POW-MIA Info
Four Vietnam MIAs Identified: The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office recently posted the names of four servicemen previously listed as missing-in-action from the Vietnam War. They are:
- Air Force Col. Elton L. Perrine, from New York, listed as missing in North Vietnam on May 22, 1967. His remains were recovered in 2007 and identified in December 2009.
- Air Force Maj. Russell C. Goodman, Utah, missing in North Vietnam on Feb. 20, 1967. His remains were recovered in 1993 and identified in September 2009.
- And Army Sgt. First Class Douglas J. Glover, New York, and Staff Sgt. Melvin C. Dye, Michigan, both of whom were declared MIA in Laos on Feb. 19, 1968. Their remains were recovered in 2007 and identified in February 2009.
Since the end of the war in Vietnam in 1975, 863 Americans have been recovered, identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honors; 1,720 remain missing.
Patrick
11 February 2010
POW - Bowe Bergdahl
|
From: Lynn
O'Shea |
||
|
Patrick J. Hughes USMC ChuLai 67-68
31 January 2010
U.S. rebuffs N.Korean overture on U.S. MIA remains
From: Lynn O'Shea
To: lynn@nationalalliance.org
Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2010 7:01 PM
Subject: U.S. rebuffs N.Korean overture on U.S. MIA remains | Reuters Edition:U.S.
U.S. rebuffs N.Korean overture on U.S. MIA remains | Reuters Edition:U.S.
Thu Jan 28, 2010 5:23pm EST
Fri, Jan 22 2010 WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday rebuffed a North Korean offer to reopen talks on finding U.S.
soldiers missing since the Korean War, saying Pyongyang must first resume discussions on ending its nuclear ambitions.
Earlier, a spokesman for the U.S. Forces Korea said North Korea had met the U.N.
Command on Wednesday in the Panmunjom truce village inside the Demilitarized Zone to discuss searching for remains of U.S. soldiers in North Korea.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the United States believed the North must first return to six-party talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States on its nuclear program.
Patrick
30 January 2010
Soldier Missing in Action from Vietnam War Identified
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to his family for burial. Army Specialist Lawrence L. Aldrich will be buried in his home town of Fort Worth, Texas tomorrow.
On May 6, 1968, Aldrich was a member of a search-and-clear mission in Binh Dinh Province in what was then South Vietnam. He was last seen with two other Americans engaged in a battle with enemy forces while manning a M-60 machine gun position. An air strike was called in, but one of the bombs inadvertently landed on Aldrich's position, killing the three soldiers. Members of his unit later recovered the remains of the two other men, but Aldrich could not be found. In July 1992, a joint U.S.-Socialist Republic of Vietnam team traveled to the province to investigate the loss. They interviewed a local citizen who remember a large ground battle in the area in May or June 1968. He took the team to a location where he indicated the remains were buried, but an excavation in 1994 found no evidence of a grave or remains.
Vietnamese officials unilaterally investigated the case in 2006 and interviewed two villagers who recalled finding a body of an American after the battle and burying it where it lay. A second joint investigation in 2007, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, recommended another excavation based on the information provided by the Vietnamese. The excavation in March 2009 unearthed human remains and other non-biological evidence. The identification of the remains was confirmed by matching the remains with Aldrich's dental records. For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call 703-699-1169.
9 January 2010
Images from the Dedication Ceremony, Dover AFB
http://patrickjhughes.org/Gallery%20Index/2_fallen_heroes/34_CFTF/
Patrick J. Hughes USMC ChuLai 67-68
Rolling Thunder Inc.® National Photographer
17 December 2009
Terror Monitor: Tape of Captured US Soldier Due
Terrorism tracking group: Taliban to release new video of US soldier captured in Afghanistan
By DEB RIECHMANN Associated Press Writer
KABUL December 16, 2009 (AP)
The Taliban have announced they will release a new video of a U.S. soldier captured in Afghanistan, a U.S.-based terrorism monitoring group said Wednesday.
SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based terrorist tracking organization, said the media arm of the Afghan Taliban made the announcement Wednesday on their Web site.
The video is said to be titled, "One of Their People Testified." The Taliban did not name the American.
The only U.S. soldier known to be in captivity is Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, who disappeared more than five months ago in Afghanistan.
Bergdahl, 23, was captured June 30 in the eastern province of Paktika province near the Pakistan border. His Taliban captors released a propaganda video of him about two weeks later. In the July 19 video, Bergdahl appeared downcast and frightened. No subsequent videos have been released.
U.S. military officials have searched for Bergdahl, but it is not publicly known whether he is even being held in Afghanistan or neighboring Pakistan.
A spokesman for the Idaho National Guard, Lt. Col. Tim Marsano, confirmed he notified the parents about the video this morning after learning about it through news reports.
"They're standing by waiting to see what happens just like everybody else," Marsano said.
He said nothing has changed in the parents' approach with media, preferring to maintain their privacy rather than talk about their son's capture.
"It's been a difficult time for them and their family," he said.
Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling said he talked to the trooper's mother, Jani Bergdahl, this morning: "I talked to Jani. They're kind of anxiously wanting to get some kind of information at this point."
Pakistan is off-limits to the thousands of U.S. forces based in Afghanistan. When militants captured a reporter for The New York Times in a dangerous region of Afghanistan last year, he was transported to Pakistan and held for months there. The reporter, David Rohde, eventually escaped.
Lynn
Lynn O'Shea
Director of Research
National Alliance of Families
for the Return of America's Missing Servicemen
World War II - Korea - Cold War - Vietnam - Gulf Wars - Afghanistan
Link to POW-MIA story
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/16/taliban-to-reportedly-rel_n_394286.html
30 November 2009
Remains of U.S. Paratrooper Found in Afghanistan
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON
, Nov. 30, 2009 - The remains of a U.S. paratrooper reported missing since early this month in western Afghanistan was recovered yesterday, military officials said.
The body of
Army Sgt. Brandon Islip was recovered from the Bala Murgahab River in Badghis
province after a local Afghan resident provided information on his whereabouts,
officials said.
Islip, a paratrooper with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, went missing with
another paratrooper Nov. 4 after being swept away by a fast-moving current while
on an airdrop re-supply mission in western Afghanistan.
The recovery comes weeks after British divers found the body of Islip's fellow
soldier, Spc. Benjamin Sherman, who was posthumously promoted to the rank of
sergeant.
"The recovery of Sergeant Islip and Sergeant Sherman would not have been
possible without the untiring support and efforts of our fellow international
forces, the Afghan national security forces and the local people of Bala Murghab,"
said Col. Brian M. Drinkwine, commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, to which
the two soldiers were assigned.
A memorial service for the two paratroopers will be held in Afghanistan in the
coming days, officials said.
11 November 2009
A Veterans Day gift to my brothers and sisters. Happy Veterans Day
http://patrickjhughes.org/Gallery%20Index/9_thewall/33_TW/
Patrick J. Hughes USMC ChuLai 67-68
Rolling Thunder Inc.® National Photographer
42 James Hayward Road
Glen Mills, PA 19342-1237
610-529-6440
www.patrickjhughes.org
God Bless America
29 October 2009
Thanks in large part to your efforts; nearly 3,000 letters were forwarded to President Obama and the Senators and Congressmen of 48 states. Citizens of 14 Allied countries joined in. And today it paid off
All these citizens and allies asked for one thing- that we honor our obligation to the Missing of all wars to seek the fullest possible accounting of them all, regardless of war. Specifically they asked that the 2010 National Defense Authorization, with its enhanced MIA recovery language, be passed.
Your efforts, and those of others that share your belief that our commitment to these missing is a debt that does not expire, have paid off. This morning at 2:30 Eastern time President Obama signed the bill. A copy of the relevant section can be viewed by clicking on the following link:
POW-MIA Bill HR 2647 as Passed 10-28-2009
The National Defense Authorization Act includes two big victories for MIA families and all that share a sense of obligation to the missing.
1.
The act instructs the Secretary of Defense to “implement a comprehensive, coordinated, integrated, and fully resourced program to account for persons” Missing from World War II, Korea, The Cold War, the Indochina war (Vietnam), The Persian Gulf War and other conflicts the Secretary designates. In plain English, it instructs the Secretary of Defense to develop and fund a program to deal with the missing of all wars, with no prioritization among them.2. The act instructs the Secretary of Defense, to “provide such funds, personnel, and resources as the Secretary considers appropriate to increase significantly the capability and capacity of the Department of Defense, the Armed Forces, and commanders of the combatant commands to account for missing persons so that, beginning with fiscal year 2015, the POW/MIA accounting community has sufficient resources to ensure that at least 200 missing persons are accounted for under the program annually.” That is triple the recent rate of activity. A House proposal to further increase that goal to 350 in 2020 did not make it to the final bill, but the “Conference Notes”, explaining the thinking of the Senators and Congressmen involved, make clear the goal is no to limit ourselves to a 200 “ceiling”.
There is still much to do, and we need to keep engaged
The devil is always in the details. There are thousands of cases reported to the Military in the past that have not been recovered, and there is only a modest effort today at seeking the missing from the older wars. We’ll need to work hard to make sure that these rules, encouraging as they are, are interpreted in a way that leads both to active efforts to find all missing from all wars and expeditious recovery of remains when found. And we’ll need to make sure the effort is funded consistent with that plan.
How can you help?
As the Military begins implementing these guidelines, and as the funding process begins, I’ll ask you to re-contact your Congressmen and Senators to share your desire to have these rules implemented in a way that calls for systematic research and prompt recovery of all accessible missing. We’ll need the Armed Services Committees to advocate the interpretations we discussed and we’ll need the Defense Appropriations Committees, in conjunction with the Defense Department, to fund the effort. I’ll send you emails as that effort progresses. In the interim I ask that you visit www.projecthomecoming.org/petition and consider adding you voice to our new email campaign, which acknowledges the passage of the National Defense Authorization and calls for the quick implementation of a research and recovery effort for all those still missing. Please do so even if you already signed the earlier petition. And, finally, please ask others to do the same.. To keep our momentum growing we need to show increased numbers of interested voters
Thank you for your efforts these past few months. You can take pride in having done your bit to honor our debt to these men and women. I hope you choose to keep up your efforts until we have accounted for and recovered all the missing of all the wars.
Sincerely
Keith E Phillips
Project Homecoming
Forwarded by Patrick
610-494-4401
www.memorymatephoto.com
God Bless America
18 October 2009
''We Will Never Forget''
Joint Prisoners Of War, Missing In Action Accounting Command
22 September 2009
|
New Details Expected in Speicher Death Investigation
Tiffany Griffith
The 18-year search in Iraq for Captain Scott
Speicher is over and his body is back home in Jacksonville. But there's
still controversy surrounding how and when he died.
Family Spokesperson Cindy Laquidara says the Pentagon will answer at least
one of those questions in the coming weeks - the date of Speicher's death. "The
Pentagon is working on setting the final date-of-death, which is an
administrative matter," says Laquidara. A
death certificate has the believed date of Speicher's death, which
many understand to be January 17, 1991. But Buddy Harris, Speicher's close
friend, believes any date that's released out of Washington at this point
would be made purely on "horrendous assumptions" until they know how
Speicher died during the first Iraq War. "I
had some of the leading forensics scientists in this nation, not just
military, but in the nation, sitting with me in a room, and none of them
could come up conclusively with a date-of-death. An actual, firm,
absolutely, 'this is when he died,'" says Harris.
He believes knowing how Speicher was killed is paramount to the case. "There
is a lot of information and a lot of possibilities for his demise." But
according to Laquidara, there's currently no investigation into Speicher's
cause of death.
Harris says there's still a strong effort to close the book on this case. He
believes that's because some officials don't want to shine a light on
mistakes that were made during the search for Speicher, fearing reputations
could be at risk.
Harris believes the real lessons to be learned are from the Bedouins - the
nomadic group that travelled the Iraqi desert, and reportedly buried
Speicher's body in 1991 after his aircraft crashed. He thinks it's important
to understand their culture, so the military doesn't have another case like
Speicher's to investigate. In
the meantime, Harris says he's working with Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and
Senator Bill Nelson to keep the case open and get more of his questions
answered. Navy officials did not wish to respond for comment at this time. Captain Scott Speicher was a United States Navy Pilot. His family moved to Jacksonville when he was a teenager. He was a graduate of Forrest High School and Florida State University. He was married to his wife, Joanne, and they had two young children at the time of his depolyment from Naval Air Station Cecil Field. His death or capture had been debated for years, but his death was not confirmed until August 2, 2009. Speicher was 33-years-old at the time of his disappearance in 1991. |
20 August 2009
Where is Afghanistan POW Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl?
Why is there no news coverage of prisoner of war (POW) Bowie Berghdal?
Click on the link below for more on him. Is he in Afghanistan or another country? Is his picture shown to our troops in Afghanistan in case they see him with some Afghanis? Does anyone care that we have live POW who is abandoned by the news media? I do hope there is an effort to free him. He may already have been found to be expendable since he is just a soldier. I do hope that someone does care about him and will make an effort see him free. What would happen if he was a child of the president? I want the same effort made to free POW Bergdahl. He is as important as the president's child or the child of any political figure. He needs to come home.
http://www.greasyonline.com/article198.html
19 July 2009
On Saturday evening I had the honor and privilege to attend and photograph the
Dignified Transfers of Three Fallen Soldiers.
Please follow the below link:
http://www.memorymatephoto.com/My%20Galleries/Dignified%20Transfer/dignifiedtransfer.html
Any comments, concerns, please let me know.
Patrick J. Hughes USMC ChuLai 67-68
Rolling Thunder
Inc.® National Photographer935 Market Street
P.O. Box
328Marcus Hook, PA 19061-0328
610-494-4401
www.memorymatephoto.com
God Bless America
DoD Announces Soldier Status as Missing-Captured
For more information on the soldier, media may contact Lt. Col. Timothy Marsano at (208) 422-5268 or the Fort Richardson public affairs office at (907) 240-3126 or (907) 384-2072
17 July 2009
Three U.S. POWs added to roster of Hiroshima deaths
By
Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
The names of three American
World War II POWs will be added to the official list of persons who died after
Hiroshima was leveled by an atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945.
The three are Ensign John J. Hantschel, 23, of Wisconsin, a fighter pilot
assigned to the USS Randolph; Army Sgt. Ralph J. Neal, 23, of Kentucky, a gunner
aboard a B-24 Liberator named Lonesome Lady; and Army Sgt. Buford J. Ellison,
22, of Texas, an engineer on the Lonesome Lady.
Their names officially complete the list of the 12 Americans who died in the
blast.
Shot down during bombing runs over Hiroshima , they were being held in Chugoku
Military Police Headquarters, about 1,300 feet from the epicenter of the blast
from the bomb dropped by the Enola Gay.
Their inclusion on the list of the 140,000 people believed to have died is the
work of Shigeaki Mori, 72, a Hiroshima historian and atomic bomb survivor who
spent three decades locating the families of the fallen Americans so they could
officially request the names be added to the list.
Their photographs have been added to those on display in the Hall of Remembrance
at the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims.
"These Americans experienced unimaginable suffering, just like the Japanese
people," Mori said.
"Remembering each and every victim is important not only for them and their
families but for all human beings."
Photos courtesy of Shigeaki Mori
Ensign John J. Hantschel
Army Sgt. Ralph J. Neal
Army Sgt. Buford J. Ellison
15 July 2009
Subject: H.
Res. 111 - 185 cosponsor - see if your congressman has signed on
Only one
new cosponsor so far this week. Let get with it. The efforts you make on
behalf of unreturned POWs and MIAs will result in bringing them home
because of government action that will result from this Select Committee
we seek. There are surviving American POWs that have been reported,
and the inability to have them returned is a flaw in our system of
government. This committee can and will bring about the return of the
remains of some additional POWs that are not now being sought, and the
return of some survivors.
If your
congressman is not yet a cosponsor, call him. Call Congress Toll Free at
1-866/727-4894, ask for your congressman, when you get connected to
his/her office ask for the staff person that handles military and
POW/MIA matters, write his name down, tell him that you want him to
cosponsor H. Res. 111 and why you want this done - you are a constituent
voter. the return of previously unreturned POW/MIAs must be
investigated. Additional reasons can be found at
http://www.nationalalliance.org/. Do it, make yourself a better
person. Take the time to do it. If the staffer is not there call back
the number is toll free.
If you
haven't done this. Do it. If you have and your congressman hasn't yet
cosponsored - call again and ask for the staffer whose name you wrote
down, or for the chief of staff and write his name down and tell him why
it should be done....
H. Res. 111 185 co-sponsors D = 96
= 51.8%; R = 88 = 47.5%
|
|
Cosponsors
|
111th
Congress - 2009 |
D |
R |
100% |
|
Alas |
1/1 |
Young |
|
1 |
100% |
|
|
7/2 |
Aderholt, Griffith |
1 |
1 |
|
|
AR |
4/2 |
Boozman,
Ross,
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
AZ |
8/1 |
Mitchell,
|
1 |
|
|
|
CA |
53/16 |
Rohrabacher, Schiff, Harman, Lungren, Issa,
Bono,
Capps, Tauscher, Cardoza, Calvert, Gallegly, McClintock,
Bilbray, Filner, McNerney, Campbell |
8 |
8 |
|
|
CO |
7/1 |
Perlmutter,
|
1 |
|
|
|
CT |
5/2 |
Murphy,
Larson |
2 |
|
|
|
|
1/ |
|
|
|
|
|
FL |
25/12 |
Buchanan, Mack, Brown-Waite, Klein, Diaz-Balart, Posey, Putnam,
Meek, Sterns, Rooney, Kosmas, Miller |
3 |
9 |
|
|
GA |
13/2 |
Price,
Linder,
|
|
2 |
|
|
HI |
2/ |
|
|
|
|
|
ID |
2/1 |
Simpson,
|
|
1 |
|
|
IL |
19/8 |
Manzullo, Costello, Foster, Shimkus, Johnson, Guttierez, Rush,
Halvorson |
5 |
3 |
|
|
IN |
9/3 |
Souder,
|
1 |
2 |
|
|
IO |
5/2 |
Boswell, Loebsack,
|
2 |
|
|
|
KY |
6/6 |
Rogers,
Davis, Yarmuth, |
2 |
4 |
100% |
|
KS |
4/3 |
|
1 |
2 |
|
|
LA |
7/2 |
Flemming, Boustany, Cao,
|
|
3 |
|
|
MA |
10/1 |
Olver,
|
1 |
|
|
|
MD |
8/4 |
Sarbanes, Bartlett, Edwards, Cummings, |
3 |
1 |
|
|
|
2/2 |
Michaud, Pingree,
|
2 |
|
100% |
|
|
15/4 |
Kildee,
McCotter, Hoekstra, Camp, |
2 |
2 |
|
|
Miss |
4/ |
|
|
|
|
|
MN |
8/8 |
Bachman, Paulsen, Ellisen, Oberstar, Peterson, Walz, Kline,
McCollum, |
5 |
3 |
100% |
|
MO |
9/2 |
Emmerson, Akin,
|
|
2 |
|
|
|
1/1 |
Rehberg,
|
|
1 |
100% |
|
|
3/1 |
Terry, |
|
1 |
|
|
|
3/1 |
Heller,
|
|
1 |
|
|
NC |
13/7 |
Myrik,
Foxx, Butterfield, Cobel, McHenry, Kissell, Miller, |
3 |
4 |
|
|
ND |
1/ |
|
|
|
|
|
NH |
2/2 |
Shea-Porter, Hodes
|
2 |
|
100% |
|
NJ |
13/13 |
Rothman, Smith, LoBiondo, Frelinghuysen, Garrett, Lance, Holt,
Pallone, Andrews, Payne, Sires, Pascrell, Adler |
8 |
5 |
100% |
|
NM |
3/1 |
Teague,
|
1 |
|
|
|
NY |
29/11 |
Ackerman, |
11 |
|
|
|
OH |
18/8 |
Kaptur,
|
8 |
4 |
|
|
OK |
5/2 |
Boren,
Lucus,
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
OR |
5/2 |
Wu,
DeFazio,
|
2 |
|
|
|
PA |
19/12 |
Holden,
Bradey, Murtha, Altmire, T.Murphy, Fattah, Platts, Dahlkemper,
Schwartz, Carney, P.Murphy, Gerlack, |
10 |
2 |
|
|
RI |
2/1 |
Langevine,
|
1 |
|
|
|
SC |
6/3 |
Brown,
Inglis, Wilson,
|
|
3 |
|
|
SD |
1/1 |
Sandlin,
|
1 |
|
100% |
|
TN |
9/7 |
|
4 |
3 |
|
|
TX |
32/11 |
Paul,
Poe, Gohmert, Burgess, McCaul, Sessions, Olson, Neugebauer,
Marchant, Johnson, Hall, Granger |
1 |
11 |
|
|
UT |
3/ |
|
|
|
|
|
VA |
11/6 |
Moran,
Wolf, Wittman, Scott, Forbes, Connolly, |
3 |
3 |
|
|
VT |
1/ |
|
|
|
|
|
WA |
9/1 |
Larsen,
|
1 |
|
|
|
WI |
8/3 |
Sensenbrenner, Baldwin, Kagen, |
2 |
1 |
|
|
WV |
3/1 |
Capito,
|
|
1 |
|
|
WY |
1/1 |
Lummis,
|
|
1 |
100 |
|
GU,VI,
M DC,PR,SA |
5/2 |
Christensen, Bordallo,
|
2 |
|
|
|
Totals |
185/435 |
= 42.5 % |
96 |
89 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Memory
Mate Photo
Marcus
610-494-4401
www.memorymatephoto.com
10 July 2009
JOINT POW/MIA ACCOUNTING COMMAND
Public Affairs
(808) 448-1934
Contact: U.S. Army Maj. Ramon Osorio
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Elizabeth Feeney
RELEASE NO. #09-06
July 10, 2009
JPAC ARRIVAL CEREMONY JULY 17
Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii -- The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command will conduct an Arrival Ceremony at 9 a.m., Friday, July 17, in Hangar 35, Hickam Air Force Base, to honor fallen U.S. personnel whose identities remain unknown.
Following the ceremony, the remains of these fallen Americans will be transported to the JPAC Central Identification Laboratory where the forensic identification process begins. Once identifications are established, the names will be announced following the notification of next-of-kin.
A public tour will be offered from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. for the first 25 requests received. Guests must R.S.V.P with Staff Sgt. Feeney no later than 12:00 p.m., July 16, to reserve a spot. Walk-in requests the day of the ceremony will not be accepted.
Media wishing to attend the ceremony must contact JPAC Public Affairs before noon, July 16, to receive instructions for base access. All media will be escorted.
"Until they are home"
9 July 2009
The Washington Times
July 9, 2009
POW commission restarts
Russia
agreed this week to reactivate a U.S.-Russian commission on prisoners of
war and missing in action (POW-MIA) issues that Moscow backed away from
in 2004 amid worsening ties with Washington.
The White House announced that the U.S. and Russian governments reached "a common understanding on a framework" on the commission after exchanging diplomatic notes.
Specifically, the two sides are renewing talks at the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on Prisoners of War and Missing in Action set up in the early 1990s to resolve issues of missing servicemen.
The commission first rose to prominence in 1994 when the Russian head, Col. Gen. Dmitri Volkogonov, announced that he had discovered a KGB document from the 1960s stating that Russian intelligence had been assigned the task of delivering knowledgeable Americans to the then-Soviet Union for intelligence purposes. The general's claims were never verified, and Russian intelligence later claimed no such plan was implemented.
If American POWs were shipped from Vietnam to Russia, it would be contrary to official U.S. claims that all Americans were accounted for from the Vietnam War.
Longtime POW researcher Mark Sauter, who has 20 years' experience probing the fate of Korean War POW-MIAs, including research in Russia and North Korea, said Russia halted the commission work five years ago.
"Restoring the Joint Commission is overdue and necessary, but not sufficient, to resolve the fate of many missing American heroes," Mr. Sauter said.
Mr. Sauter said the commission helped the Russians resolve the fate of dozens to scores of Russian soldiers lost in Afghanistan after the 1979 Soviet invasion.
Several U.S. cases, including the recovery of the remains of an American aviator killed in Russia during the Cold War, also were resolved by the panel.
However, Mr. Sauter said the problem with the commission is that Moscow has been withholding secret files it has on American POWs shipped to Siberia from Korea.
"We know and they know they have files that would resolve cases of Americans shipped from Korea to China, to Siberia," he said. "But all the U.S. side has been allowed to do is pick around the edges of those files."
Mr. Sauter said Moscow has refused to release files from the KGB intelligence service, GRU military intelligence, and Central Committee documents on U.S. prisoners.
A Russian Embassy spokesman could not be reached for comment about the issue.
President Bush first requested in 2006 that the commission be reactivated and returned to its position under the Kremlin after it was downgraded and put under the Russian Defense Ministry in 2004.
"This exchange restores in full the important work of the Joint Commission and demonstrates the unwavering commitment both our countries have toward our servicemen and -women," the White House said in a July 6 statement.
The U.S. side is headed by retired Air Force Gen. Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong, and commission members include Sen. Saxby Chambliss, Georgia Republican, and Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat; former Vietnam War POW Rep. Sam Johnson, Republican of Texas; Ambassador Charles Ray, deputy assistant defense secretary for POW/MIA Affairs; A. Denis Clift, president of the Joint Military Intelligence College; Timothy Nenninger of the National Archives; and Pentagon official Norman Kass, who serves as the executive secretary.
The commission will include four working groups on missing from World War II; the Korean War; the Vietnam War, and the Cold War, including Soviet military personnel unaccounted for in Afghanistan.
It is not clear why Russia agreed to renew the Commission's work, but Mr. Sauter suggested it may have been a way for the Russian government to show a desire to improve relations with Washington while President Obama visited Moscow this week.
8 July 2009
U.S.
says Russia restores POW commission
Mon Jul 6,
2009 8:18am EDT
MOSCOW
(Reuters) - Russia restored a U.S.-Russian commission to help find missing
personnel from World War II, Vietnam and Afghanistan, the White House said
in a statement on Monday, five years after Moscow froze its side of the
body.
An exchange
of diplomatic notes during
Barack Obama's first visit to Russia as U.S. President "restores in full
the important work of the Joint Commission," the statement said.
The
commission was set up in 1992 but Russia's side was "effectively eliminated"
in June 2004, according to the web site of the U.S. Defense Department's
Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO).
The DPMO
said Moscow in 2006 withdrew direct access for U.S. researchers to archives
containing information on the fate of U.S. personnel.
Four working
groups will look to account for personnel from World War II, the Korean War,
the Vietnam War, and the Cold War, including Soviet military personnel
unaccounted for in Afghanistan, Monday's White House statement said.
Obama is to
hold talks with Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin during a two-day visit that is expected to make progress on
arms cuts and cooperation on the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan.
But talks
are likely to be overshadowed by deep divisions over U.S. plans to set up an
anti-missile system in central Europe and NATO efforts to expand into the
former Soviet Union.
(Writing by
Conor Humphries; Editing by Jon Boyle) |
2 July 2009
KABUL (AP) — Insurgents have captured an American soldier in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said Thursday.
Spokeswoman Capt. Elizabeth Mathias said the soldier went missing Tuesday.
"We are using all of our resources to find him and provide for his safe return," Mathias said.
Mathias did not provide details on the soldier, the location where he was captured or the circumstances.
"We are not providing further details to protect the soldier's well-being," she said.
An Afghan police official said the soldier went missing during the day Tuesday in the Mullakheil area of eastern Paktika province. Gen. Nabi Mullakheil said there is an American base in the area.
The news broke as thousands of U.S. Marines launched a major anti-Taliban offensive in southern Afghanistan. The missing soldier was not part of that operation.
Zabiullah Mujaheed, a spokesman for the Taliban, could not confirm that the soldier was with any of their forces. A myriad of insurgent groups operate in eastern Afghanistan, and the Taliban is only one of them.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/02/afghan.missing.soldier/index.html
