POW/MIA UPDATE: December 1, 2010

[boardman]

AMERICANS IDENTIFIED: There are now 1,705 Americans listed by the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) as missing and unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War. On November 3rd, DPMO posted the news that the remains of two US Air Force officers dad been recovered and identified. The first is Major Thomas J. Beyer, of North Dakota, listed as MIA in south Vietnam on July 30, 1968. He remains were recovered December 1, 2009, and identified on October 12, 2010. The second officer isMajor Richard G. Elzinga, of Oregon, listed as MIA in Laos on March 26, 1970. His remains were recovered June 22, 2009 and identified October 28, 2010. Several others have been identified, but not yet announced by DPMO as they are awaiting family notification by the Service Casualty Offices. The number of Americans returned and identified since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is 878; another 63 US personnel, recovered post-incident and identified before the end of the war, bring the total to 941. Of the 1,705 Americans POW/MIAs from the Vietnam War, our unreturned veterans, 90% were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Laos and Cambodia under Vietnam’s wartime control: Vietnam – 1,305 (VN-478, VS-827); Laos – 334; Cambodia – 59; Peoples Republic of China territorial waters – 7. Over 450 are considered over-water losses.

ACCOUNTING COOPERATION: Now ongoing in Vietnam is the 101st JFA, with three Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) Recovery Teams (RTs), one Investigation Team (IT) and one Research Investigation Team (RIT) operating simultaneously. This first Joint Field Activity (JFA) of Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11) will conclude at the end of November. Following the Change of Command noted below, JPAC Commander MG Stephen Tom, USAR, visited the field teams operating in Vietnam. Recent high level visitors to JPAC’s Detachment Two in Vietnam included the US Army Chief of Staff General Casey andSecretary of the Navy Mabry, both of whom spent time with JPAC personnel and met with senior SRV officials. The next high level military visitors will include Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Rougheadand Commander, US Pacific Command, ADM Willard. These visits are in keeping with increased bilateral military-to-military relations and a broader political and economic agenda within expanded bilateral relations.

Four RTs recently completed the 116th JFA in Laos to account for US personnel lost in two incidents in Savannakhet Province and one in Xekong Province. These recovery operations concluded on November 16th with a repatriation ceremony to officially receive remains that could be those of Americans recently recovered. Present for the ceremony were Lao Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Hiem Phommachanh, BG Sisophone, Permanent Secretary of the Lao Ministry of National Defense,and US Charge d’Affaires Pete Haymond, Also present and visiting JPAC teams operating in Laos was COL John Sullivan, USMC, Deputy JPAC Commander, accompanied by LTC Chris Barnwell, USA, Commander of JPAC Detachment 3. On December 1st, technical POW/MIA Consultations took place in Vientiane in an ever expanding effort to develop the most effective processes to achieve increased accounting results. JPAC is focusing operations on the Vietnam War at present, but team size has been reduced to allow personnel to be diverted to WWII-related remains recoveries. JPAC has also had IT’s operating in Europe, a negotiating team meeting with officials in the PRC and other WWII-related countries to expand operations where larger crews were lost in slower moving aircraft in remote locations that can yield significant numbers of remains identifications.

JPAC DETACHMENT TWO CHANGES COMMANDERS: On November 1st, JPAC’s Detachment 2 in Vietnam conducted a formal Change of Command, with JPAC Commander, MG Stephen Tom, USAR, serving as the officiating officer. LTC Todd Emoto, US Army Special Forces, last of the Special Forces officers still serving as a JPAC Detachment Commander, relinquished command to LTC Pat Keane, USA, a Foreign Area Officer (FAO), specializing in Vietnam. LTC Keane worked for a year attached to the US Embassy in Hanoi while undergoing the additional training required for his specialty, a status that should serve him and the issue well during his tenure. That is our hope. Losing someone as committed to the issue as LTC Emoto is difficult at best. We wish him well in his new assignment at Special Operations Command/Pacific (SOCPAC).

JPAC TO HOST ARRIVAL CEREMONY: JPAC will host an arrival ceremony on December 3rd to honor fallen US personnel from the Vietnam War and WWII, after which the remains will be transferred to JPAC’s Central Identification Laboratory (CIL) where forensic analysis will begin.

NEW US AMBASSADOR TO LAOS SWORN IN: An impressive ceremony, hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, was held October 25th for Ambassador Karen Stewart to take the oath of office as the new US Ambassador to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Ambassador Stewart was due to arrive in Vientiane in time to participate in the celebration of Vientiane’s 450th anniversary of its founding, but until her credentials are presented to the Lao President, the US will continue to be represented by Pete Haymond, the current Charge d’Affaires who normally serves as the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM).

This is Ambassador Stewart’s third posting in Laos during her impressive career, having attained the rank of Ambassador when previously posted to Belarus. League Executive Director Ann Mills-Griffiths, a long-time friend and colleague of Ambassador Stewart, attended the formal swearing-in. In addition to offering congratulations to Ambassador Stewart and the Lao Ambassador, appreciation was expressed to Secretary of State Clinton for her recent helpful interventions with senior Vietnamese, Lao and Cambodian officials in support of POW/MIA efforts. She also commended supportive actions by current and former US Ambassadors to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Secretary Clinton traveled to Hanoi in early November to represent the US at the East Asia Summit and for talks with senior ASEAN officials. She also visited Cambodia for talks with senior officials familiar to the League, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, before continuing on to Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia where she was joined by Secretary of Defense Gates, before returning to the US. The League applauds efforts being made by State to initiate increased bilateral and multilateral engagement with ASEAN countries, as we do initiatives by DoD and PACOM to expand military-to-military relations between the US and Vietnam, US and Laos and US and Cambodia.

FUTURE OF US-RUSSIA JOINT COMMISSION (USRJC) ON POW/MIA AFFAIRS STILL UNKNOWN: After sending letters to the President and senior Obama Administration officials, the VFW, DAV, JWV, American Legion and the League are awaiting word on the future of the USRJC. Proposals under consideration within the bureaucracy, if adopted, would dramatically alter or even eliminate the Commission, plus undercut or destroy the effectiveness of the Joint Commission Support Directorate (JCSD), headed by Commission Executive Secretary Norm Kass. A meeting of all US Commissioners, including the US Chairman, General Robert “Doc” Foglesong, USAF (Ret), Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Repr4esentatives Sam Johnson (R-TX) and Tim Walz (D-MN), and Commissioners representing the Departments of State and Defense, Defense Intelligence Agency and National Archives, was held December 1st.

The League strongly supports expanding USRJC’s role under General Foglesong’s leadership, with Executive Secretary Norm Kass, Director of DPMO’s Joint Commission Support directorate (JCSD0, and his staff of skilled specialists in the JCSD Directorate. The Department of State (DoS) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) recently named replacements for their Commission seats. The Russian Federation recently selected its new Co-Chairman, as well as veteran group and parliament commissioners. Now is not the time to dismantle what could finally be a strengthened, effective, US-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIA Affairs. Major national veteran organizations agree.

MORE OF MOSCOW IN THE NEWS: In late September, DASD Bob Newberry spent a week in Russia, accompanied by Deputy JCSD Director Roger Schumacher. Due to DPMO’s reluctance to consult beforeactions are taken or decisions are made, specifics are unknown, but the need for access to Vietnam War-related archives was likely raised, and archives were visited that have long been the focus of USRJC efforts, and there are indications of increased access in the near term. DASD Newberry also met with US Ambassador to the Russian Federation John Byerle and other Embassy and JCSD-Moscow personnel to receive updates and paid a courtesy call on the newly selected Russian Chairman of the USRJC, counterpart to General Foglesong.

National Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Richard Eubanks and VFW Executive Director Bob Wallace were also in Moscow during the same time and met with officials and veterans of the former USSR who served in Vietnam (and, possibly, Laos) during the Vietnam War. Russian veterans, and those who were from Ukraine and other states then part of the USSR, have long been a major JCSD focus, due in no small part to the fact that the Russian Federation has thus far been uncooperative in providing Vietnam War-related archival documents and records, despite repeated League and official urging and formal requests.