Red Cross to use Internet to seek war missing
Copyright © 1996 Nando.net
Copyright © 1996 Reuter Information Service
Brussels (Jul 4, 1996 3:17 p.m. EDT) - The Internet will be used for the first time to try and trace people missing as a result of war, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday.
"We don't know yet if it will be effective. So far it has not been very productive. But we want to try all means available," ICRC Belgium member Catherine Deman told a news conference on the agency's efforts to trace an estimated 11,000 people missing as a result of the war in former Yugoslavia.
The search started in March when, as set out in the Dayton peace accord, the ICRC began coordinating information exchanges on missing people.
It was widened to involve the general public last month when national ICRC offices were each sent a list of those reported missing. The list can now also be searched on the ICRC's World Wide Web site (http://www.cicr.org), Deman said.
She said the final number of missing would probably be higher than 11,000. "The collection of requests for information from families is still going on...We have to presume many are dead but we never give up hope," she added.

Keyword: MISSING

The information assembled on the Defense POW/Missing Personnel (DPMO) pages is to assist readers in understanding the U.S. government effort to achieve the fullest possible accounting of our missing in action -- from all wars. U.S. military and civilian personnel are at work daily in locations across the globe, seeking out information in dense jungles, in flooded rice paddies, in villages and in archives of U.S. former enemies. The information here is the result of years of painstaking analysis and intelligence reporting. Additional case-specific information, both classified and unclassified, is available to the primary next-of-kin of missing Americans.
Special reports
Advertisement seeks to relink family torn by war
BY Kristin Huckshorn
Mercury News Vietnam Bureau
Tuesday, March 31, 1998
While many Americans were aware that one 1 million Vietnamese fled their country after the communist victory in 1975, fewer understood that the infamous exodus by helicopter and boat from Saigon was in fact a second dramatic diaspora. Indeed, Giac's search was a quest common to many Vietnamese. In 1954, after the communists defeated the French colonialists in the epic battle at Dien Bien Phu, the country was split at the 17th parallel (the future DMZ). During the next 300 days, people were allowed to relocate to the region of their choice. Families divided along political lines and religious beliefs. Almost 900,000, many of them Catholic, fled to the anti-communist south. About 100,000 Vietnamese went north. Nguyen Van Giac, then a 22-year-old with ambitions for revolutionary soldiering, was among them.

POW/MIA document
declasified and released
DefenseLink News, Aug. 27, 1998

A key document used by the Department of Defense in its POW/MIA accounting efforts has recently been declassified. The Key Judgments of National Intelligence Estimate 98-03, Vietnamese Intentions, Capabilities and Performance Concerning the POW/MIA Issue, discussed Vietnam’s cooperation with the U.S. government on the POW/MIA issue. It was published in classified form in April by the National Intelligence Council, a senior staff serving the director of central intelligence, policymakers and senior military officials. Mr. Robert L. Jones, deputy assistant secretary of defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs, requested that Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet declassify the NIE so it could be shared with family members, veterans and family organizations. The declassification of the Key Judgments NIE 98-03 will enhance the public’s understanding of U.S.-Vietnamese cooperation on this important issue. (A copy of the document is attached.).

Operation Black Flag
"Keep the fire burning, there's one patrol still out"
Michael J Martin and Tim "Doc" Holiday

"Join this program to spread the word on our brothers who are still missing and unaccounted for from Vietnam, Korea and even WWII. And now, we have MIA's from Desert Storm as well. Public Awareness is the key factor. Let's inform the whole world. All it takes is a little of your time. We're tired of the political run-around. We're tired of hearing that this issue remains the "Number One Priority" of our government and still getting NO RESULTS. We're tired of being "blown off" while our brothers still wait for their freedom. We have "Black Flagged" Presidential Cantidates, members of Congress and other key officials in many different states across the USA. Now, let's "Black Flag" the whole world wide web and let everyone see where the veterans and true citizens of America really stand on this issue. Keep reading this page for all the details."

Korean War MIA/POW
Mission Statement
Korea Web Weekly
The Korean War ended in 1953 for the politicians of the combatant nations, but the War still goes on for the families of those who are still missing and "presumed" dead. Their relatives and friends will not stop searching until the "ultimate proofs" are found.

US officials have been "demanding" that N Korea settle the MIA issue without any regards for the other sides. Several hundreds thousands N/S Koreans and Chinese are still missing and unaccounted for. Furthermore, scores of Soviet servicemen are still mis sing (several hundreds high ranking Soviets, including the chief adviser to Kim Ilsung, died in Korea).

It is most likely that the great majority of the MIA's from both sides were killed in action or died in captivity. N Korea claims that several thousands POW's were killed by the American bombs while en route to POW camps and that many Americans and most ROKA captives were released only to be shot to death mistakenly by the UN forces while crossing the lines. Still others died of disease and malnutrition in POW camps. In addition, some POW's were killed by angry militias and NKPA units - indeed, in 1950, Gen. Kim Ilsung was forced to issue a specific order to his troops not to harm enemy POW's.

Both sides treated special forces personnel (spies, line-crossers, partisans, scouts in enemy uniforms, pilots downed in N Korea or China,,) as non-POW's - not covered by the armistice agreement. There is no accounting for these hapless people. A good m any of the American MIA's served with the 8th Army covert action units (CCRAK), US Air Force Technical Intelligence or JACK (CIA). Captured N Korean and Chinese special forces were routinely shot after summary trials - except for those who were "turned".

Covert actions did not cease with the armistice. As a matter of fact, both sides amplified spy operations, adding to the roster of the MIA's. The case of the covert action MIA's are complicated by the fact that their missions and their very existence are officially denied. For example, an American spy plane (EC-121) was shot down in N Korea and its crew members were presumed to have been captured alive. The US officials are in no position to demand their repatriation. Another example: an American pilot working for the CIA was shot down in Manchuria while trying to scoop up an agent. Pres. Nixon was forced to make a personal apology in order to get the pilot returned to US.

Then, there is the problem of defectors from both sides. It is unknown how many Americans have gone over to the other side willingly or after "brain washing". It is not good to make their names public for fear that their relatives may be harmed or that their services may be "compromised". For example, a large number of the CIA and CCRAK agents, including some Americans, inserted into N Korea were captured and turned. N Koreans kept their capture secret and the Americans pretended that they were not aware of the double-crossing.

It is hoped that the Internet will facilitate the final resolution of the MIA issue for all MIA families - US, Korean, Chinese and Russian. Someone knows something about an MIA somewhere out in the cyberspace. MIA families are encouraged to post inform ation on their beloved ones. Some families do offer rewards. It is hoped that the veterans (and their families) of the War from all participant nations will step forward and share any information they may possess on the fate of an enemy personnel - a "so uvenir" of family photos, diaries, letters, and other personal effects taken from a POW or a dead body.

Group Announces Grassroots Effort
to Protect MIAs/POWs
in America's Future Conflicts
Bonny Stilwell of the National Vietnam Veterans Coalition discussed the Missing Personnel Act, which was signed into law earlier this year as part of the Defense Department Authorization Act (which set up procedures for the military to follow to keep track of -- as much as possible -- POWs and MIAs in future conflicts, as well as some provisions for investigating the loss of unreturned POWs from past conflicts). Stilwell reported that the act has not been "effectively gutted," thanks to efforts by Senator John McCain (R-AZ). She said that there will be a grassroots effort to get the Act re-approved next year, particularly if 1) Rep. Bob Dornan (R-CA) and Senator Bob Smith (R-NH), the two key members of the House and Senate on POW issues, are re-elected, and 2) if Speaker Newt Gingrich re-appoints Bob Dornan to the relevant Defense subcommittee chairmanship. Contact Bonny Stilwell at 703/360-1173.

Time to heal
Copyright © Pathfinder
Copyright © Asia Week
Week of July 21, 1995

Flanked by senators who are decorated war veterans, one of them a former prisoner-of-war, U.S. President Bill Clinton announced on July 12 that the United States would resume full diplomatic relations with Vietnam. He said this would close the book on 20 years of enmity, which began when Americans ignominiously evacuated the old capital of South Vietnam. Secretary of State Warren Christopher plans to visit Hanoi to formalize the action next month. Some senators opposed to the move have threatened to block financing for a new embassy, but it seems doubtful that many legislators will want to hamper future foreign relations with such heavy-handed use of the Congressional power of the purse. Clinton praised Hanoi's cooperation in accounting for Americans missing in the war, but there are other irritants that could sour this budding friendship. The arrest of two well-known Communist Party intellectuals in June is the prelude to what could be controversies over human rights abuses. Arrested were Tran Ngoc Nghiem and Do Trung Hieu, who had written articles either criticising the Communist Party's monopoly on power or spreading "anti-socialist propaganda."

What is NARA? Album 1
Listing of U.S. military personnel
who died in the Vietnam war, 1957-86.

The Defense Department compiled a database of all U.S. military personnel who died or were captured, or missing in the war. Shown is a section of a list programed from the database, which was a primary source of names for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The original magnetic tapes are housed in NARA's Center for Electronic Records.
Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, RG 330


Missing Kuwaiti civilians
Davin Hutchins' CNN Transcripts
Waite's Web World
Aired May 2, 1996 4:45 am

CASSANDRA HENDERSON, Anchor: Kuwait tops our agenda today. Though the Persian Gulf War ended in 1991, the search for hundreds of missing Kuwaiti civilians has never stopped. Many of their relatives believe they are still alive in Iraqi prisons and are being held against their will. Davin Hutchins has more, as we continue our series, `Kuwait Rediscovered.'
DAVIN HUTCHINS, Correspondent: This photograph is the way one Kuwaiti woman likes to remember her dad, a proud Kuwaiti, loyal to family and country. But a photo is all she has now. She was 14 when she last saw her father five years ago, just before the invasion of Kuwait.
But she won't find her father here or anywhere, for he is missing, seized by Iraqi soldiers during the occupation.
UNIDENTIFIED KUWAITI WOMAN [through translator]: Our home is nothing without our father present.
DAVIN HUTCHINS: These men, women, and children share the same sorrow. Their loved ones are missing, too.
Since the Persian Gulf War, the United Nations has demanded that Iraq release all Kuwaiti prisoners of war; but Saddam Hussein insists all POWs have been released. However, Kuwait has produced documented proof that as many as 625 POWs may still be alive in Iraqi prisons. So, for many families, the Gulf War has not ended yet.

7. Flint, Michigan's Tent City No. 3
salutes the veterans

We honor those here and pay homage to our veterans that are not able to join us today. To the families of veterans, we recall a portion of a song from the Isley Brothers, "Ballad for the Fallen Soldier."When I was much youngerMy mother and I wondered whenMy Daddy was coming homeSo we called our Congressman and he said"Don't worry, there is more than just yourDaddy that is missing in the war..."Many of our families recall the fear and anxiety of waiting for loved ones to come home. Thousands of our Veterans put their lives on the line in a foreign land, the jungles of Vietnam or in a desert storm only to come home to a "death sentence" through poverty and police terror.We of Tent City No. 3 are committed to build a society worthy of your service. One free of unemployment, homelessness, and lack of health care. We honor you and invite you to join us in our fight -- the fight for survival. Never forget! Never Surrender!

Cambodia Repatriates
Remains Of U.S. Airman
by Mark Dodd
Canadian POW/MIA Information Centre
LZ-Memories POW/MIA Newsletter - June 1995
Ban Lung, Cambodia, May 2 (Reuter) - Cambodia formally handed over to the United States on Tuesday the suspected remains of an American pilot who crashed during a raid over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in 1966.
"We Americans see this activity as a humanitarian endeavor ... whether it's Cambodians who have been lost...Americans who have been lost," said United States Ambassador Charles Twining at a simple ceremony in Cambodia's remote northeast province of Ratanakiri. Cambodian Foreign Minister Ung Huot pledged to continue cooperation with U.S. military investigators trying to resolve the fate of 77 servicemen and civilians listed as missing-in-action in Cambodia since the Indochina War.
"I expect that soon, together, we will find all the remains in Cambodia", Huot said. He was speaking to a small audience of U.S. servicemen, Cambodian police and local government officials gathered at a dusty, red laterite air strip in Ban Lung, the provincial capital.
During the Indochina War, Ratanakiri province was an integral part of the so-called 'Ho Chi Minh Trail', a network of roads and tracks stretching from North Vietnam, south through Laos and Cambodia and terminating in the Parrots Beak area of southern Vietnam.
Huge B-52 bombers and other U.S. strike aircraft took part in devastating air raids against suspected enemy sanctuaries in the province, one of the most heavily bombed in Cambodia. If the identity of the remains handed over on Tuesday were confirmed, it would take to five the number of cases resolved involving American MIAs in Cambodia.
A senior U.S. officer told journalists the pilot had been flying a fixed wing aircraft involved in a strafing attack on enemy supply lines along the trail.
The aircraft, believed to be a propeller-driven A1-Skyraider, failed to pull out of a dive and crashed four km. (2.5 miles) inside of Cambodia.

599 LSU War Memorial Information
LSU Alumni Association
- Military commitment, honors and rank are no novelty among LSU alumni -- during times of war and during peacetime and in every branch of the US Armed Forces. The LSU War Memorial Commission was created in 1996 to establish a memorial to LSU faculty, staff, students and alumni who died or were listed as missing in World War II.

Why Vietnam still matters:
The Wall
By Anonymous
At the Wall, Vietnam veterans, family, and friends can now use a special computer system to help find the name of someone killed or missing in the war. We can perform searches by name, rank, hometown, service branch, casualty date, birth date, even a combination of these categories. But in the early days of the Memorial, all we had was the Wall and the paperback directory to perform a search. It was not unusual to spend extended periods of time attempting to assist a vet who could not remember his buddy's real name. In many cases, they knew each other only by nicknames.

96113. Accounting
for Korean War Missing
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

Washington, Feb. 29 -- Meetings with a North Korean delegation in Hawaii were constructive, but compensation remains a roadblock to recovering remains of U.S. service members lost during the Korean War.
James W. Wold also told the Korea Society -- a group devoted to improving U.S.-South Korea relations -- recently the United States is more committed than ever to resolve the fate of more than 8,100 Americans unaccounted for from the Korean conflict.
"We believe the remains of many of these men can still be recovered from North Korea," the deputy assistant secretary of defense for POW/MIA affairs said. "We also believe North Korea can provide answers about men whose fates still remain unresolved."
Wold cited some progress: North Korea has returned more than 200 remains since 1990. Unfortunately, the United States has been able to identify only five of those remains. Wold said direct U.S. involvement in recovery operations in North Korea would significantly increase chances for identifications.

America's POW/MIA Flag
is Not Allowed at the Wall
Have you ever wondered why?
By Ted Sampley
March/April/May 1997
Nearly 2,500 of the 58,000 names listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. are those of American servicemen who remained unaccounted for or were not returned after the shooting stopped and the Vietnam War ended in 1975. The failure of the communist Vietnamese to return the missing POW/MIAs, or give an honest and full accounting of what happened to them, caused a controversy that is still raging today.
From that controversy the POW/MIA flag was born. Emblazoned with a silhouette of a soldier in captivity, and the words You are not forgotten, it has become a nationally recognized and accepted symbol of the POW/MIA issue. It flies every day in the Rotunda of the nation's Capitol Building, on the flagpoles of veterans organizations, VA hospitals, post offices, state capitals and in yards throughout America, but is never allowed to be flown at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
A close study of the critically acclaimed V shaped memorial and its history may reveal why those who designed and created the Wall, as the memorial has become known, have fought so hard to prevent any modification of its original design, including the additions of an American and POW/MIA flag. Adding such "patriotic claptrap," the builders of the memorial successfully argued, would destroy the memorial's neutrality, simplicity and the visual poetry of its lines.     (Full text)