The
Gulag Study
U.S. - Russia
Joint Commission on POW/MIAs Report released February 11, 2005
POW/MIA Committee
Press release
Soldier Missing from Korean War Identified
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Presidential Proclamation: National POW/MIA Recognition Day
September 16, 2011
In every conflict in which our Nation has been involved, selfless American service members have sacrificed their lives for the sake of our country and its principles. Too many have never come home, or have endured unthinkable hardship as prisoners of war. On this day, we echo the creed inscribed on the black and white banners that fly in honor of America's Prisoners of War and Missing in Action, and we renew our promise to our heroes, that "You Are Not Forgotten."
We will never give up the search for those who are held as prisoners of war or have gone missing under our country's flag. We honor their sacrifice, and we must care for their families and pursue the fullest possible accounting for all missing members of our Armed Forces. Together, we must serve our Nation's patriots as well as they have served us by supporting them when they come home, and by carrying on the legacy of those who do not. This is a promise we keep for our fallen, for our veterans past and present, and for all those whose loved ones have not returned from the battlefield.
laos hands over remains of 89 vietnamese soldiers to nghe an
The Laotian Government officially organised a requiem and handed over the remains of 89 Vietnamese soldiers to Nghe An province, in Laos Xiengkuang province on January 5.
Present at the event were Laotian Deputy Minister of National Defense, Chansamon Channhalath, and thousands of people from Xiengkuang and Nghe An provinces.
Military finds (wwii) marine remains in tarawa
(September 25, 2010)
HONOLULU -- A U.S. military team returned from the remote Pacific atoll of Tarawa this week with the remains of what are believed to be two U.S. servicemen who died in a fierce World War II battle there.
A C-17 plane with the remains landed at Hickam Air Force Base after a 6 1/2-week excavation mission, Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command spokesman Army Maj. Ramon Osorio said Wednesday.
Missing WWII Soldier is Identified
(September 22, 2010)
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Army Pfc. James C. Konyud, of Cleveland, will be buried on Sept. 25 in his hometown. From mid-September 1944 to early February 1945, the Army was engaged against German forces in the Hürtgen Forest, along the Germany/Belgium border, in the longest continuously fought battle in American history. In early January 1945, elements of the 121st Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division were deployed defensively in the area southeast of Aachen. Konyud, a member of K Company, 121st Infantry Regiment, was reported missing near the location on Jan. 1.
The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of two U.S. servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
They are Lt. Francis B. McIntyre of Mitchell, S.D., and Aviation Radioman Second Class William L. Russell of Cherokee, Okla., both U.S. Navy. McIntyre will be buried on Wednesday at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington D.C. and Russell will be buried October 1 at Arlington.
VETERANS INITIATIVE PROGRAM
TEAM MISSION REPORT
MARCH 2010
Gary Jones, chairman, team leader
I must express the appreciation of the VIP “Team Tiger” and the POW/MIA Committee to the VVA National Board of Directors for the support and encouragement to make this trip possible. In my opinion as one who has made numerous trips, this one shall be marked as one of the most successful. This trip was memorable in many ways. The time was right and more importantly the reputation, conduct and support offered by the Viet Nam Veterans of America since 1994 on many missions has earned a place of great respect for us and what we stand for from the Vietnamese government, the people and mostly the veterans of the American-Vietnamese War. It is this respect for the warrior mentality that is and has led us to an environment of cooperation which has brought home thousands of soldiers who were not accounted for at the wars end. This accounting means the whole world for many American and Vietnamese mothers, fathers, siblings and friends.
The VVA Veteran March/april 2010
by Gary jones, chair
As for the progress on the Resolutions pertaining to the POW/MIA Committee, I invite your attention to the January-February issue of The VVA Veteran. In continuation of that, I want to mention some of the effort that goes into a mission trip to Vietnam—or elsewhere, for that matter. We are fine tuning our March 10 trip, and we may be in country when you read this.
It begins with hours of effort in gathering, investigating, documenting, and preparing a case file for each incident. Jim Lyons and Mokie Porter do a lot of this work. As of our last trip, we had 287 cases on file. The team makes contact with our sponsors in Hanoi: the Viet Nam/USA Society, which is a branch of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations. Approval for a working visa is produced by them, sent to the embassy in Washington, and the team members send in applications for their visas.
We don’t know in advance if or when we will have case files to deliver, or whether we will have new witnesses or specially talented people like Steve Hiller, who was on our last trip, or Dan Tucker, who will be on this trip. So we make sure adequate funding is available. That sometimes takes extra effort on our part to raise outside revenue.
Domestic and overseas air travel is coordinated for each team member and the tickets are purchased as early as possible to get affordable seats. Meanwhile, we are proposing and fine tuning itineraries with our Vietnam friends, JPAC, and State Department personnel. It is not an easy task to get everyone on the same page. In-country travel by land and air, as well as lodging, must be arranged early.
Meetings are arranged with all of our contacts throughout the trip. This March trip will be one of our shorter ones, lasting eighteen days. In that time we will travel about sixty-five hours; hold twenty-six formal meetings; visit three field sites, including one of our own JFAs; and travel by land and air from Hanoi to Hue, Quang Tri Province, Khe Sanh, FSB Tomahawk, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City. On rest days, we will work on our team evaluations and reports.
Long before departure, our team members get their health needs updated, pack, arrange finances, and work on their unique roles. While in country, our hosts proudly take us to see many culturally fascinating places. This cultural diplomacy generates friendships and understandings. We do the same thing with our foreign visitors when we have the opportunity to display America.
Upon return to the United States, it takes most of us a couple of weeks to recover from the effort and to adjust to the twelve-hour difference. I don’t know about the others, but I think I’m really getting older.
Well done, all team members—past, present, and future.
The POW/MIA Affairs Committee: Gary Jones, Chair; Grant Coates, Vice Chair. Members: Jack Devine, Al Cummings, Darrol L. Brown, Bill Duker, James Kuschel, Michael Marks, Bob Johnston, Bob Maras, Patty Darwin, and Lee Fisher. AVVA: Kaye Gardner. Staff Advisors: Sharon Hodge and Mokie Porter.
National POW/MIA Committee October 9, 2009
Meeting Report
[ download the PDF ]
Remains of Last 2 Australia MIAs in Vietnam Return
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SYDNEY (AP) -- The remains of Australia's last two servicemen missing
in action from the war in Vietnam were returned to their homeland
Monday, escorted by family and members of their air squadron.
The
remains of Flying Officer Michael Herbert and Pilot Officer Robert
Carver were found last month at a remote jungle site where their
bomber crashed 39 years ago.
After an official handover in Hanoi
a day earlier, the two flag-draped coffins were honored at a military
ceremony at the Richmond air base outside Sydney.
''They paid the
ultimate sacrifice in serving their country,'' Defense Personnel
Minister Greg Combet said at the service. ''Australia can finally
lay these brave airmen to rest and honor their memory.''
When Australia
withdrew its last combat troops from Vietnam in late 1971, the
bodies of six Australians remained behind. All have now been found
and repatriated.
Official interest in Australia for finding and
repatriating Australia's missing war dead was revived in 2007 after
a veterans' organization found the bodies of two soldiers. Another
soldier was found that year, with a fourth found last year.
The
hunt for the two airmen, however, was complicated because no one
knew where they had crashed.
The two airmen, both 24, went missing
Nov. 3, 1970, after a night bombing mission over central Vietnam.
It is not known what caused their crash.
In April, a search conducted
by the Australian army history unit found wreckage in thick jungle
on a hillside in remote Quang Nam province, near the Laos border.
The
remains of the men were found in July and identified by Vietnamese
and Australian forensic specialists.
The United States still has
nearly 1,800 servicemen unaccounted for throughout Southeast Asia
following the war, which ended in 1975. Some 1,335 are unaccounted
for in Vietnam alone.
U.S. Navy Ship Joins Joint Humanitarian Search Effort Off Vietnam Coast
Hanoi, Vietnam – The longstanding cooperation between the United States and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) on accounting for Americans missing from the Vietnam War broadened June 11 with the deployment of a U.S. Navy oceanographic survey ship to conduct search operations off the coast of Vietnam.
During the 95th search mission in Vietnam, which began May 25 and is scheduled until June 24 2009, representatives from the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) and the Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP) boarded the USNS Bruce C. Heezen, an oceanographic survey ship, for the humanitarian operation.
Army Seeks DNA Samples from Families of
MIA Soldiers
By Kristen Noel
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 19, 2008 – More than 6,300 families need
to be located to collect DNA samples for the purpose of identifying
missing soldiers from World War II and the wars in Korea and Vietnam,
a U.S. Army official said yesterday.
Would you search your memory for a war casualty?
Would you look back to a time long ago? Looking
for personal items belonging to Vietcong or NVA regulars. Click
here for more information
FROM THE VVA
CONSTITUTION
"The POW / MIA Committee shall seek and promote the fullest
accounting of those still listed as POW / MIAs in Southeast Asia
and any other areas of the world, regardless of the conflict that
initiated their disappearance. The committee shall disseminate
information received on the POW / MIA issue to the National Board
of Directors, State Councils, Chapters, POW / MIA families and
friends, and VVA membership as called upon."
