POW/MIA 8/18/2012 Update - Page 1

[boardman]

http://www.kutnews.org/post/after-six-d ... hrough-dna

After Six Decades, Slain Texas POW ID'd Through DNA By Mark Dewey As American athletes come home from competing against the Chinese in the 2012 Summer Olympics medal count, it’s hard to remember that a few decades ago, American soldiers were fighting the Chinese Army in the Korean War.

In late 1950, General Douglas MacArthur mobilized American forces for a military campaign that he called "Home by Christmas, ” because the objective was to quickly win the war and get the troops home for the holidays. Instead, the Chinese attack at the Ch’ongch’on River led to the retreat of American forces and a protracted war in Korea.

In the midst of that battle on December 1, a 21-year-old medical supervisor from Rockwall County, Texas was taken prisoner.

Reports say SFC William Travis Barker, of the all-African American 503rd Field Artillery Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, was trying to administer aid to other soldiers when he was wounded and taken prisoner. He was taken to Puktong, a North Korean POW camp.

Two fellow prisoners of war later reported that Barker died in the camp, in February 1951. But with a lack of physical evidence, Barker’s status had been listed as MIA ever since.

Skip ahead to this summer, when a volunteer group called the Korean War Project announced that Barker’s remains had been conclusively identified, and that he was finally heading home to Texas.

Ted Barker, who is no relation to SFC Barker, updates the online registry for the Korean War Project. He says that it was science, specifically a DNA comparison to a close biological relative, that brought the soldier home.

“A family member would have provided a DNA sample that would have gone to the Federal Laboratory in Maryland, processed, then sent to the field lab out in Hawaii, at Hickam Air Force Base, ” says Baker. “That’s where all the forensic studies have been going on for World War I, World War II, and specifically Korea in this case, since 1981. … DNA was probably the deciding determinant. ”

SFC Barker’s remains were flown to Austin on Monday. A motorcycle escort of Patriot Guards led him to Killeen, where he’s expected to be buried Wednesday at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery.

In from Bob Dumas:

Hi Bill, We all know that is a total lie by our Government the only known prisoner of war. That is a joke. The evidence shows there are hundreds of pows from vietnam and Korean pows still living in North Korea all these long years. Cong Muzilli, Cong Rangle, and Sen Lugur have urged Obama to negotiate for these long overdue American heroe, s. Muzilli said last year that these prisoners want to come home. I have a copy of all three resolutions that were voted and passed last year. Someone got to Obama to scuttle any talk about live pows any where in the world. You and I know this has been going on for many years. Amb Charles Ray said it him self, Yes we know they are holding our men but there is nothing we can do because they have all been declared dead a long time ago. That is how they have been getting away with their lying using these real heroe, s as scape coats. It then is no wonder we have a bunch of wimps running this country. The truth will prevail, and when it doee, s it is going to take down a lot of politicians who knew about the truth all these years and did nothing to lift a finger for these poor devils. It is not that far off that the truth will prevail about these prisoners. Bob

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13385784 New report highlights North Korean abductions By Lucy Williamson BBC News, Seoul Amnesty International recently reported that political prisoner camps in the North were growing A new report detailing North Korea's decades-long policy of abducting foreign nationals has been published by a US-based human rights group.

The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea says more than 180,000 people from 14 countries have been taken.

The vast majority of these cases are not typical abductions.

They involve prisoners not returned after the 1950-53 Korean War and Japanese who settled in North Korea but were never allowed home.

Other reports highlight North Korea's foreign operations - including a Japanese college student and his girlfriend snatched from a beach in Japan by North Korean agents.

The figure includes more than 3,000 South Korean fishermen forcibly towed into North Korean waters and students in European cities - including London, it says - lured to the secretive state with the promise of jobs and then denied permission to leave.

In one such case at a London language school in 1983, a North Korean agent, Megumi Yao, was operating undercover, targeting Japanese students for abduction.

She promised them good jobs in North Korea, and introduced one of the students to her contacts in Denmark. A few weeks later, the student boarded a flight to Pyongyang and disappeared.

The figure of 180,000 is much larger than usually quoted because researchers have added together all the groups that may have been affected by North Korea's alleged practices.

Some abductions, they say, are apparently a bid to train its intelligence agents, but the report also cites more recent claims that North Korean agents are targeting those in China's border areas who are suspected of helping their people escape the closed state.

The allegations are almost impossible to verify without free access to North Korea.

In 2002, Pyongyang released a handful of Japanese nationals, in response to Japan's questions about its missing people.

But since then, it has not confirmed the presence of any more abductees inside the country.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/br ... 6450686548

Aussies urged to remember Sandakan POWs VETERANS Affairs Minister Warren Snowdon has urged Australians to remember one of the blackest experiences of World War II, the Sandakan Death March.

Mr Snowdon said August 15 marked Sandakan Day, commemorating the 2400 Australian and British Prisoners of War (POWs) who lost their lives at the Sandakan prisoner of war camp in Borneo and in the death marches in the latter days of the Second World War.

"Sandakan Day, 15 August, is an opportunity to reflect on the immense suffering endured by Australian and British servicemen, as well as recognise the efforts of the local people who often put their own safety at risk to help the prisoners," he said in a statement.

"Today, as we mark the end of the marches, we honour the spirit and courage of the men who endured brutal conditions and for most, a tragic death."

Between January and June 1945, surviving POWs made three forced marches of more than 260 kilometres from Sandakan to Ranau POW camp.

About 500 prisoners died of illness or starvation and others were murdered by Japanese guards. The rest died at the Ranau or Sandakan camps.

The last prisoner, too weak to make the march and left behind at Sandakan, was beheaded by a Japanese guard on August 15, 1945, the same day Japan surrendered.

Just six survived and only because they managed to escape.

Mr Snowdon said VP Day (Victory in the Pacific Day) was an opportunity to remember almost one million Australians who served in the Second World War and to honour the more than 39,000 who made the ultimate sacrifice.

"The Victory in the Pacific, and the earlier Victory in Europe ended almost six years of Australian involvement in the Second World War," he said.

http://www.stripes.com/news/pow-mia-com ... r-1.185650

POW/MIA command gets first Air Force commander

Stars and Stripes Published: August 13, 2012 The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command will be led by an Air Force general for the first time, the Department of Defense said Monday.

Maj. Gen. Kelly McKeague will replace retiring Army Maj. Gen. Stephen Tom in October as JPAC commander at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he will supervise 450 military and civilian personnel.

McKeague is leaving his assignment as assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for National Guard matters in Washington, D.C.

JPAC is responsible for recovery, identification and return of the remains of U. S. servicemembers who have been lost in various conflicts around the world.

JPAC recovery teams are currently conducting investigations for missing servicemembers in Papua New Guinea and Vietnam.

“Leave No Man Behind: Bill Bell and the search for POW/MIAs from the Vietnam War”

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1? url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=leave+no+man+behind

There were several reasons for writing this book, not the least of which, is the “loser” mentality of many Vietnam vets today. If you will read my flyer below carefully I believe you can see that I have made a good case for what I perceive to be “victory” by American and allied vets, not a lost war as described by liberals like Tom Hayden, Jane Fonda and the media. We lost 58,000 troops while killing 1.3 million communists, including some 300,000 KIA body not recovered, 150,000 of which are unaccounted-for today. Unlike the French before us we did not go to Vietnam to open coal mines or gold mines, or tea or rubber plantations. We went there to close with, and kill, destroy or capture the enemy. This was our mission and we definitely accomplished it. We did not go to Southeast Asia in order to conquer Vietnam or make it a colony of the United States. We all knew we would be coming home, we simply didn’t know when. Due to the efforts made by Vietnam Vets, today one quarter of the population of the earth is living under democratically elected governments. The citizens of two of the world’s largest Muslim nations are able to freely worship Islam. During the American War in Vietnam our military forces never lost a major battle and the USSR’s involvement in supporting the communists while we were fighting there led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the disbanding of the Communist Party and a clear victory of the Cold War for Vietnam war vets. America’s Vietnam Vets can hold their heads high and be proud for their service during one of the most critical periods of American history. The struggle is not over, the two most important issues remaining are a full and transparent accounting for our unreturned veterans and democracy for the Vietnamese people.

Leave No Man Behind: Bill Bell and the Search for American POW/MIAs from the Vietnam War by Garnett "Bill" Bell

(5 customer reviews) Price New Used Collectible $287.58 $39.87 $199.95

Leave No Man Behind by Garnett Bill Bell 479-674-5449

"No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now. Rarely have so many people been so wrong about so much. Never have the consequences of their misunderstanding been so tragic." (Nixon)

"Psychologists or sociologists may explain some day what it is about that distant monochromatic land, of green mountains and fields merging with an azure sea, that for millennia has acted as a magnet for foreigners who sought glory there and found frustration, who believed that in its rice fields and jungles some principle was to be established and entered them only to recede in disillusion." (Henry Kissinger, White House Years, 1979. Reminiscing about Vietnam)

Leave No Man Behind: An eyewitness account of the Vietnam War from its early stages through the last day of the Republic, 30 April 1975. A startling new look at the postwar era and the issue of America's unreturned veterans listed as POW/MIA, an issue that has haunted America since the beginning of American involvement. Shrouded in controversy, a subject of great emotion amid charges of governmental conspiracy and Communist deceit, the possibility of American servicemen being held in secret captivity after the war's end has influenced U. S. policy toward Southeast Asia for three decades. Now, the first chief of the U. S. Government's only official office in postwar Vietnam provides an insider's account of that effort. The challenges he faced in dealing with U. S. politicians, including Vietnam veterans, Senators John McCain and John Kerry, are an ardent reminder of the many similarities in the bloody wars fought by American troops in both Vietnam and Iraq-Afghanistan. In an illuminating and deeply personal memoir, the government's top missing persons investigator in Southeast Asia, who later became a member of the U. S. Congressional Staff, discusses the history of the search for missing Americans, reveals how the Communist Vietnamese stonewalled U. S. efforts to discover the truth, and how the standards for MIA case investigations were gradually lowered while pressure for expanded commercial and economic ties with communist Vietnam increased. Leave No Man Behind is the compelling story of a dedicated group of professionals who, against great odds, were able to uphold the proud military traditions of duty, honor and country.

Every American fighting in Afghanistan should read 'Leave No Man Behind.' As the US Marine Corps helicopter lifted from the roof of the American Embassy in Saigon at daybreak on April 30, 1975, I thought about the carnage that would result from a heat-seeking missile fired by Vietnamese Communist forces gradually encircling the besieged capital of the dying Republic of Vietnam (RVN). Exhausted by a lack of sleep for the previous several days, I no longer felt fear, only curiosity. Tears welled up in my eyes, perhaps due in part to the anguish of witnessing the tragic events unfolding before me, but also from caustic smoke belched out of rooftop incinerators glowing cherry-red from reams of frantically burned secret US Government documents. Feeling a sense of relief, I nevertheless harbored an even stronger sense of guilt. On the Republic of Vietnam's final day, as I looked down into the gradually diminishing compound and into the terrified eyes in the upturned faces of hundreds of Vietnamese nationals and citizens of other countries friendly to the United States, who were being left behind, I knew that I would be haunted for many years to come. As the venerable 'Sea Stallion' throbbed its way through the damp morning air toward a helicopter carrier anchored off the coast at Vung Tau, blazing multicolored tracers rising from the dark-canopied jungle below bade farewell to America and to an era known as the Vietnam War.

During the more than 30 minute flight into the future I sat angry and confused after some 10 years of involvement with a faraway place called Vietnam. I wondered whether the sacrifices in lives and national treasure made by America had been worthwhile or in vain. After contemplating the issue for many years, I believe it is now time to take stock of the American War in Vietnam so that Americans, especially those of us who served there, can finally decide whether or not we now have cause for a celebration or the lingering agony of defeat.

With the fall of the RVN, as many analysts had predicted, jubilant communist forces quickly invaded and occupied the populated areas. Hundreds of thousands of former military and civilian officials were required to be screened, classified and registered as enemies of the revolution to be detained in remote, isolated concentration camps under horrific conditions. Thousands died due to disease and malnutrition, many never to be heard from again by family members. At the same time, the communist leadership insisted that the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the north and the Provisional Revolutionary Government in the south be united as one. From that day forward, according to the constitution, only one political party, the Vietnam Communist Party, would be allowed to exist. On official letterheads of government stationery the three previously used terms comprising the national motto of the communist north: 'Freedom, Independence and Democracy' were changed forever to read 'Freedom, Independence and Happiness.' To the Vietnamese people this change in terminology, especially the reference to happiness, would provide one of the few sources of humor during a desperate time. To add insult to injury, the graves of fallen RVN military personnel were razed by bulldozers in cemeteries across the country. Typewriters, radios, televisions and anything that could be used for propagation or communication were required to be registered with the 'Military Management Committee' responsible for political security under the new 'Socialist Republic of Vietnam.' As interest began to wane, occasional references to the Vietnam War coined phrases such as ‘a noble cause' or 'an unnecessary war.' The question as to whether the Vietnam War was or was not necessary was just as divisive in postwar debate as it was during the days following the 1968 'Tet’ Offensive. In my own assessment of both the necessity for and the outcome of the Vietnam War two primary considerations were the U. S. national interest at the time and the mission of the U. S. Military Forces that fought in Southeast Asia.

The overall mission of U. S. military forces for the latter part of the 20th century began to take shape shortly after the conclusion of World War II. At that time the policy of the United States was one of containment of Communism. I believed that this policy was fully justified, because it was obvious that the Communist International, especially Russia and China, sought to 'liberate' the entire world. This policy of containment became known as the 'Cold War.' Although there were numerous clashes involving air crews during missions involving special operations and reconnaissance, the first major battlefield of that war erupted in 1950 on the Korean Peninsula, where the successful accomplishment of the mission of containing communism there was dubbed by the media as a 'stalemate.'

At the beginning of the War in Vietnam, the basic mission of American soldier worldwide was to kill, destroy, or capture the enemy, or repel his assault by fire. Over one million men and women answered their nation's call, and they did their level best to carry out their mission in Southeast Asia. As a result, some 58,000 Americans and some 225,000 allied personnel made the ultimate sacrifice, while by comparison, communist Vietnam suffered the loss of over 1,300,000 personnel, including 150,000 personnel who were killed-in-action but never recovered. I personally witnessed the strongest blow struck at communist forces by hard-fighting American and South Vietnamese troops that occurred during the January 31, 1968, 'Tet' offensive. The bodies of thousands of communist personnel were stacked in piles around installations throughout South Vietnam, and losses were so heavy for the communist side that the entire military rank structure was temporarily abandoned and cadre selected to command and control units were assigned based on position or job title only, rather than actual military rank. The loss of life to the communist side was nothing less than staggering, and any U. S. military commander whose losses approached even a small percentage of actual communist fatalities at that time would most likely have been relieved of command.

Even though America's servicemen and women fought valiantly during the 1968 'Tet' offensive, the U. S. and international media nevertheless managed to reshape their hard-earned victory into a political defeat. Vietnamese communist propaganda experts were so skillful that they were able to convince many members of the media and even some military analysts that two separate governments, the National Liberation Front in South Vietnam and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the North, existed side by side and that both were involved in a 'civil war.' It has since been proven that both the NLF and the DRV were tightly controlled by the Vietnam Communist Party and both governments were actually one and the same. Moreover, personnel of the two purported military organizations of both illusionary governments, the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Viet Cong (VC), were in reality members of the Peoples Army of Vietnam (PAVN).

Admittedly, in terms of national treasure the Vietnam War was not cheap. Depending on which expert's figures are used, the total cost of the Vietnam War to America was somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 billion dollars. By comparison the overall U. S. defense budget during postwar, peacetime years exceeded that amount annually. In reality one million men could not have been trained at U. S.-based training centers for a 10 year period, even using blank ammunition, for a lesser amount. While the Vietnam War was certainly a drain on the U. S. economy, during the decade of our of engagement there the former Soviet Union also provided significant amounts of financial and material support to communist forces deployed throughout Southeast Asia. Support by the USSR to Vietnam, the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan and a badly managed, centrally controlled economy all combined to bring the former Soviet Union to its knees and bring about the collapse of the Communist Party. Ultimately this collapse led to the end of the Cold War. Veterans of the Cold War, especially those who fought in Korea and Vietnam, now enjoy the gratitude of the peoples of many European, East Asian and Southeast Asian nations. It is now clear that as a result of the sacrifices made by American and allied veterans, today the people of Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia are living under freely elected governments. This accounts for one quarter of the earth's population. Radical Muslims bent on Jihad should pause to remember that the citizens of the two largest Islamic nations, Malaysia and Indonesia, are able to freely worship Islam due in large to the sacrifices made on their behalf by Americans fighting against Communism throughout Southeast Asia.

Obviously, the true losers of the Vietnam War are the Vietnamese people, not just the people of the former Republic of Vietnam, but citizens from all areas of the country, including the north. Although millions of Vietnamese 'voted with their feet' by escaping on small boats across dangerous ocean currents, resulting in staggering losses to mankind, today millions more freedom-loving Vietnamese still yearn to be free. I believe that the two most important bilateral issues remaining between the U. S. and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam are an accounting for the almost 1,800 Americans still missing from the Vietnam War and democracy for the Vietnamese people. Successive administrations in Washington, D.C. have pressed for democracy in many countries around the world, including Russia, Haiti, South Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq. But there has been very little interest shown in gaining democracy for Asians, and this double standard is difficult to understand. It is almost as though we Americans have a collective mentality whereby we believe that peoples with yellow skin cannot manage freedom, and that tight control is the only option available.

The American business community, aggressively buying up cheap products manufactured in Asia for resale on the U. S. market, is blinded by the lack of labor unions, cheap wages and fear of violent reprisals against labor strikes. It is ironic that after some 58,000 fine young Americans died in Vietnam while fighting for democracy the American business community is now steadily developing the economy of communist controlled Vietnam, insuring that the Vietnam Communist Party will not only remain in power, but that it will increasingly have the ability to maintain an even larger and more powerful military force. Concerning the plight of the families of Vietnam War POWs and MIAs, democracy can also go a long way to help in this regard. I believe that most Americans, especially Vietnam veterans, will agree that for the most part the Vietnamese people are honest and hardworking. Like our people right here at home, I can't imagine a situation where the people of Vietnam would be willing to hide the remains of anyone's loved one in order to extort money from them. Although during the past 30 years the ruling communists have gradually doled out bits and pieces of skeletal remains and personal effects in return for large monetary sums, once the Vietnam Communist Party has collapsed the Vietnamese people will rise to the occasion and provide whatever assistance is necessary to resolve the issue of our missing men. We should all be doing everything we can to make sure that day comes.

Garnett 'Bill' Bell, a native of Texas and a retired GM-14, DoD, went to Vietnam as an infantryman in 1965 and served four tours there. Bell was awarded 20 individual decorations and numerous unit awards. Bell later served as an instructor in the Department of Exploitation and Counterintelligence, U.S. Army Intelligence Center and school. During his career Bell served in the 327th Airborne Battle Group, 101st Airborne Division, the 1/35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, the 2/506th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, the 101st MI Company, the 525th Military Intelligence Group, the Defense Language Institute, the U. S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, the 6th Special Forces Group, the Joint Casualty Resolution Center (JCRC), the Four Party Joint Military Team (FPJMT) and the Joint Task Force Full-Accounting (JTFFA). Bell's wife and son were killed and a daughter critically injured in April 1975, when the families of U. S. officials assigned to the American Embassy in Saigon were evacuated in conjunction with the 'Operation Babylift' program. After being evacuated by helicopter from the roof of the American Embassy on the final day of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) (30 April 1975), Bell returned to postwar Vietnam as the first official U. S. representative after the war ended when he was assigned as the Chief of the U. S. Office for POW/MIA Affairs in Hanoi. He served more than 12 years on the POW/MIA Search Teams. An Airborne-Ranger and Jumpmaster, Bell eventually became a member of the Congressional Staff, U.S. House of Representatives. Fluent in Vietnamese, Thai and Laotian, Bell is a graduate of Chaminade University and the author of 'Leave No Man Behind.' Bell is a life member of the VFW, Combat Infantrymens Association (CIA) and the Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH). Bell is employed as an investigator in the 12th Judicial District western Arkansas.

This book is one of the most accurate and detailed accounts of the Vietnam War from beginning to end. It is arguably the very best book ever written concerning the important POW/MIA issue. No one, military, civilian, or private citizen, has contributed as much as Bill Bell to the national effort to recover and repatriate America's unreturned veterans from the Vietnam War. Every veteran of any war definitely needs to read this important work, which is destined to become an icon that will withstand the test of time. Bill Bell certainly deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his courageous efforts." Michael De Paulo, Vietnam Vet, USMC and National Service Officer, Rolling Thunder Inc.

This book isn't just for the soldier, student, or history buff. It's also for the average American who should know more about the Vietnam War, how people in our CURRENT government felt and behaved then, and how the war in Afghanistan might have a similar outcome. 474 pages, semi-hardback: ISBN 096476634-5,

Signed copy available at billbell@pinncom.com for $20, or from http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/ ... ollectible? ie=UTF8

[boardman]

http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_ ... 1208120006

Relatives of British prisoner of war on 'memorial' visit in Taiwan 2012/08/12 15:06:08 Taipei, Aug. 12 (CNA) The granddaughter of a WWII British prisoner of war (POW) is on a visit in Taiwan in commemoration of Private John Hayes, who was held in prison camps in Asian countries such as Taiwan and Thailand.

Joanne Officer, along with her husband, visited one such camp in the southern county of Pintung on her first Taiwan trip, which she said was a "memorial" to her grandfather.

The couple also toured the POW Memorial Park in Jinguashi in the northern city of New Taipei, the site of one of the most notorious Japanese camps known as Kinkaseki.

Officer told CNA that she found her grandfather's name on a war memorial at the park, among the names of 4,362 other POWs who were held in camps around Taiwan between 1942 and 1945.

Those were the last four years of Japanese colonization of Taiwan, which began in 1895.

On Saturday evening, Officer attended a program in Taipei organized by the non-profit Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society to mark Far East Prisoner of War Day, which is observed on Aug. 15.

At the service dedicated to military personnel and civilians who were imprisoned by Japanese forces during WWII, Officer shared her grandfather's story.

She said Hayes was among those fortunate enough to return home after suffering the hardships of war camps.

The thought of his "wife and son back home" was the greatest motivation for him to survive the hardships, Officer said.

"His eyes were quite sad," she recalled.

At Saturday's memorial service, there was also a screening of the documentary "The True Story of the Bridge on the River Kwai," which details the experience of the POWs who constructed the Railway of Death in Burma and Thailand.

The POWs endured terrible mental and physical mistreatment at the hands of Japanese troops, the film shows. The prisoners suffered starvation, disease, overwork, beatings and torture, according to the documentary.

What they went though is something that "should not have happened to human beings," said one of the POWs in the documentary.

"It is very moving," Officer said, tears streaming down her cheeks as she watched the film.

The joy of those POWs who eventually made it home reminded her of her grandfather, she said.

Officer and her husband will wrap up their Taiwan trip Monday.

The memorial service has been held annually by the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society since 2008, one year after the United Kingdom designated Aug. 15 as day of commemoration of those who were imprisoned in East and Southeast Asia by Japanese troops, said Michael Hurst, the Canadian founder and director of the organization.

In addition to organizing the annual memorial service, Hurst has been instrumental in setting up monuments and other memorials at former POW camps around Taiwan.

"Their (the POWs') stories must be told," Hurst said.
(By Elaine Hou)

http://www.chroniclejournal.com/content ... turns-neys Former POW returns to Neys Carl Clutchey Monday, August 13, 2012 - 08:00 As 96-year-old Paul Mengelberg slowly shuffled down the walkway to the park’s single-storey visitors centre overlooking Lake Superior’s roaring surf, it seemed like yet another example of determination over adversity in the long and full life of one very determined man. Many people who turned up for Saturday morning’s ceremony to mark Neys Provincial Park’s origins as a Second World War prisoner of war camp wondered if Mengelberg — a German POW who would spend most of his life in his adopted Longlac — would be able to show up, given his current fragile state. But Mengelberg, accompanied by his daughter, came after all, showing the kind of grit he displayed in 1940 when a Canadian prison guard pulled his numb and shrunken body out of a freezing creek shortly after he’d disembarked from a CP Rail train in the dead of winter with hundreds of other German POWs. “This is indeed something to smile about, ” he declared Saturday under brilliant sunshine during the unveiling of a plaque about Camp 100. Mengelberg, who worked as a logger and camp cook, had actually spent his POW years slightly further east at another work camp at Angler Creek. He seemed to enjoy the outdoor life that would foreshadow his working years in Longlac’s thriving forestry sector during the prosperous decades that followed. Some POWs tried to escape the North Shore camps, with some getting as far away as Western Canada before they were caught. (One escapee’s account was vividly reported at the time from Heron Bay by Canadian Press writer Scott Young, the father of rock icon Neil Young.) But Mengelberg, who confirmed the official Canadian government version that its POWs were treated better than prisoners held in other countries during the war, adapted well to the rugged Northern Ontario wilderness. For one thing, the food was a lot better and more plentiful than what POWs like Mengelberg got during their pre-Canadian sojourns in England, which struggled during the war just to feed its own citizens. “I think there were very few who wanted to escape (the camps) — I know he didn’t want to, ” Mengelberg’s daughter, Doris Mengelberg said Saturday while poring over smiling photos of her father at work at logging camps. While those who attended Saturday’s ceremony munched on oatmeal cookies and looked over a model of Camp 100 inside Neys’ visitors centre, Mengelberg watched an interview of himself conducted several years earlier in a documentary. As he watched the video, surrounded by folks who have never experienced the horrors of war, Mengelberg seemed transfixed, as black-and-white photos of the old camps flashed on a wall screen. Doris Mengelberg said her father’s decision to return to Canada after the war probably wasn’t all that difficult: Cologne, Mengelberg’s home city, was in a shambles in the wake of Allied bombing raids. Jobs and a places to live were hard to come by. “He liked it (in Canada) and had made some connections here, ” she said. In the mid 1960s, long after he was ensconced in Canada and married with two children, Mengelberg met and befriended Thunder Bay’s Frank Spence while both men were active as volunteers in the Scouting movement. Spence, an avid outdoorsman, would become fascinated by the stories about the North Shore POW camps; it became a decades-long mission by Spence to get them formally recognized by the Historic Site and Monuments Board of Canada, which has been around almost as long as Mengelberg. Alas, after his dream for the camps was finally realized earlier this year, Spence, who suffered from heart problems, died in April. “Frank worried that Paul would be the one who might not be able to make (Saturday’s plaque ceremony), ” said Spence’s wife Lucy, who read the speech her husband had prepared for the occasion. The speech “was written two days before he died, ” said Lucy, who accompanied Frank on their many travels to Ontario parks. As Saturday’s ceremony came to a close, historic site board chairman Richard Alway, who presided over the ceremony with panache, remarked to the crowd that he had rarely witnessed the unveiling of a plaque “in such a spectacular setting. ” The sun was brilliant and some campers were already venturing into Superior’s waves. Frank Spence, who could not be there, wrote in his speech: “Wouldn’t it be nice if future generations only know of war through archives and history books. ” Neys became a provincial park in 1965. Only foundation footings of Camp 100 remain. As he watched the ceremony Saturday, 65-year-old Michigan resident Pete Denman said he’s been coming to Neys for many summers. “There’s nothing like it on our side of the lake, in terms of the beach and the access, ” said Denman.

http://news.google.com/news/url? ct2=us%2F1_0_s_19_1_a&sa=t&usg=AFQjCNFQhPcZwi-QcR01J5kEfJDdNyuEhQ&cid=4149839652900898927&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ottawacitizen.com%2Fnews%2Fprisoners%2Bdeserve%2Bapology%2F7091175%2Fstory. html&ei=SrIrUN--GsjMtwemVg&rt=SECTION&vm=STANDARD&bvm=section&did=4149839652900898927&sid=top-stories

All prisoners of war deserve an apology By Jane Rowland, Ottawa CitizenAugust 15, 2012 6:52 AM Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/priso ... 1175/story. html#ixzz23cpmWrvb Re: Former POW can't forget, can't forgive, Aug. 13.

I want to thank Dave Brown for his column on the POWs held by the Japanese during the Second World War and John Franken's crusade.

If the Japanese Embassy truly feels that there is no one left who is interested in the barbaric treatment the Japanese meted out to al-lied personnel - soldiers, airman, sailors and nurses - they are very much mistaken.

I am the daughter of a Royal Air Force medic (Burma Star) who was in the Far East during the Second World War. I well remember the stories my father related at my urging.

I also knew a man named Herbert, a dear gentleman in Suffolk, England who was a prisoner of war. He suffered terrible health for the rest of his life, and not many years before he died, doctors found his stomach still contained live worms from the disgusting rations the Japanese fed prisoners and slaves.

It would be nice to think that one day Japan's emperor and his government would apologize to all prisoners of war they held and compensate their families accordingly.

I cannot forget either. I owe it to the veterans.

http://www.thereporter.com/rss/ci_21281100? source=rss

POW-MIA Day events set
Published by The Reporter Posted: 08/10/2012 01:04:10 AM PDT

The Vacaville Veterans Organizations and Auxiliaries will host a National POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony at 9:30 a. m. on Friday, Sept. 21 at the Solano County Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 630 Merchant Street in Vacaville. Sascha Weinzheimer Jansen, whose family was captured by the Japanese in WWII in Manila and spent three years in the civilian camp of Santo Tomas will be the keynote speaker. Jeff Jewell, team leader of the Sacramento VETS Center, will serve as Master of Ceremonies

Organizers noted the event is open to the public and said the special ceremony "will pay tribute to our former prisoners of war who served this nation in time of crisis and it will also be a time to remember those that are still listed as missing in action."

http://www.messenger-index.com/news/art ... 19bb2963f4. html

Airmen missing from Vietnam War identifiedPosted: Wednesday, August 15, 2012 4:00 am 0 comments The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced that the remains of two servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors. Air Force Lt. Col. Charles M. Walling of Phoenix, Ariz. and Maj. Aado Kommendant of Lakewood, N.J., were buried as a group at Arlington National Cemetery on the 46th anniversary of the crash that took their lives. On Aug. 8, 1966, Walling and Kommendant were the crew of an F-4C aircraft that crashed while on a close air support mission over Song Be Province, Vietnam. Other Americans in the area reported seeing the aircraft crash and no parachutes being deployed. Search and rescue efforts were not successful in the days following the crash. In 1992, a joint U. S.-Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S. R.V.) team investigated the crash site and interviewed a local Vietnamese citizen who had recovered aircraft pieces from the site. In 1994, a joint U. S.-S. R.V. team excavated the site and recovered a metal identification tag bearing Walling’s name and other military equipment. In 2010, the site was excavated again, and additional evidence was recovered, including human remains. Scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used circumstantial and material evidence, along with forensic identification tools including mitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains. For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO website at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call 703-699-1169. http://www.wwaytv3.com/video/2012/08/st ... ept-secret StarNews Sunday Preview:

Family learns veteran's long-kept secretThere are more than 23 million American Veterans living today, but you may be surprised how many never speak of their service, especially in WWII. In Sunday's StarNews you can read the story of a prisoner of war that even his family did not know for a long time. Ashley Jacobs gets a preview from Jim Ware of the StarNews.

All, Our scheduled guests on POW/MIA Radio for Sunday, August 19, 2012 are: 2:00pm Mtn - News and Views: An hour of the latest POW/MIA and veterans issues. 3:00pm Mtn - Mr. Ed Moise: Among the topics we will be discussing with Mr. Moise are the 1964 Tonkin Gulf Incident and the later Tet Offensive in 1968, the overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem, the Paris Negotiations and the weird way President Johnson tried to avoid big, dramatic steps while escalating the war in 1965. Ed is professor of history at Clemson University and author of several books on the Vietnam War and Southeast Asia. One of his recent books is "Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War". We have just recently remembered the 48th anniversary of the Tonkin Gulf Incident, the reported attack on US Navy Destroyers by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. The attacks on August 2 and 4, 1964 led to the now famous Tonkin Gulf Resolution that gave President Johnson increased authority to escalate the war in Vietnam. Did either of these attacks really happen? Ed will discuss his thorough research of the incident and offer his conclusion. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident and TET Offensive were two of the most important events in the Vietnam War and Mr. Moise will discuss what it meant to those in Southeast Asia and to Americans back home. For more information please visit Ed Moise's home page: http://www.clemson.edu/caah/history/fac ... raphy.html . 4:00pm Mtn - Mr. Marc Yablonka: We will continue our discussion with Marc about his recently re-issued book, Distant War: Recollections of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Marc is working on a couple of new projects, including a new book, and he will update us on the progress of both. He is a veteran of the US Army and a graduate of the Professional Writing School of the University of Southern California. Marc served as a Public Affairs Officer (CWO-2) with the 40th Infantry Division Support Brigade and the Installation Support Group, California State Military Reserve, at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, California, between 2001 and 2008. He also served with the Sar-El unit of the Israeli Defense Forces. His book, Distant War: Recollections of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, is "a freelance journalist’s observations and recollections of Southeast Asia, in the decades following the Vietnam War. Part exploratory journalism and part unofficial history, Distant War combines photographs, interviews, and personal insights from people on both sides of the conflict to reveal a side of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia that few Americans have ever seen." Please visit: www.marcpyablonka.com for more information and when there, I especially invite you to click on the information posted on "Marc's Articles". Bill Bell has graciously offered to donate to POW/MIA Radio, half the profits from the sale of his book, "Leave No Man Behind", from anyone who buys a copy for $20.00. Please contact Bill at billbell@pinncom.com for more information and tell Bill you heard it on POW/MIA Radio. This is an extraordinary opportunity to learn more about Bill Bell's search for American POW/MIAs and support POW/MIA Radio. Jack and Wilma Laeufer of Lima Area MIA-POW (a 501(c) 3 org. in 1984 (LIMA AREA MIA-POW EIN# 34-1408002) - Longtime supporters of the POW/MIA issue, Jack and Wilma contributed to many POW/MIA groups by raising funds through the sale of POW/MIA and military merchandise. They originally intended to cease sales at the end of 2011. They have reviewed that decision and decided they will continue to sell merchandise into 2012, to exhaust their inventory. Great prices, many items are half price or lower! If you need flags, or POW/MIA items, please contact Jack and Wilma at:

6525 Mayberry Road (residence) Columbus Grove, Ohio 45830 Res 419-641-2340 Cell 419-792-9113 email: jwlaeufer@watchtv.net

For a full, revised list of their merchandise, visit http://www.nationalalliance.org/lima/order.htm. You can print a copy of their order form from the website.

Thanks to our sponsors for this sponsorship period: The National Alliance of POW/MIA Families Lima Area MIA-POW Chained Eagles of Ohio Listen to POW/MIA Radio every Sunday, worldwide, on The American Freedom Network, http://www.americanewsnet.com. We also broadcast with 10,000 watts on KHNC-AM, 1360kz, Johnstown, Colorado. If you are unable to get the show on the website, please delete your bookmark and re-enter the URL in your browser address line and try again. Please note our show call-in number, 1-877-254-7524. Rod Utech "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!" Patrick Henry, 1775

The following is from Vietnam POW Col. Charles Shelton's daughter.

Joan's son was one of the young cadets that graduated from the Army Cadet Corps Training Center in Millersburg, KY. It was a disgrace that we had such a small group there for him to see at their Annual Parade in Millersburg, KY recently. Those that cared were there to give our support to the Cadets and the training center. If anyone can be in Owensboro. KY on the 23rd, please show your support for Col. Shelton's family that have gave so much for our country. You may also be able to shake the hand of his grandson that is carrying on the family tradition of serving their country. Danny "Greasy" Belcher, Executive Director Executive Director, Task Force Omega of KY Inc. Vietnam Infantry Sgt. 68-69 "D" Troop 7th Sqdn. 1st Air Cav. ----- Original Message ----- From: Joan Shelton To: tfogreasy@windstream.net Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2012 10:40 AM Subject: Re: Col. Shelton Freedom Memorial Dedication

Just to let you know the Mayor in Owensboro is re-dedicating my Dad's Memorial next Thursday Aug. 23 at 7:00 PM. My sons and I, plus my brother and many family members are going to be there. There is also a reception following the ceremony. They have re-done the park and the memorial, it is still on the river and everyone is welcome. Please put the word out. Hope you can attend? Would love to see ya. God Bless, Joan

http://newportplaintalk.com/story/38270 McNabb, Korean War POW, dies at 81

Author: Duay O'Neil Source: The Newport Plain Talk

CLINTON-Everett 'Ebb' McNabb, who survived nearly two years of imprisonment in North Korea during the Korean War, died Thursday after a period of declining health.

McNabb, 81, a Cocke County native, entered the service on December 3, 1951, at age 20, and was serving on the front lines with the United States Army, when North Korean forces overran his company, inflicting numerous casualties and taking many other soldiers prisoner.

"He told us the bodies were stacked high," said his son on Friday morning. "They threw a grenade into his bunker and he was shot during the attack. Actually he was shot a total of nine times in the war, including the time he was shot when he tried to escape the prison camp."

For more details, please see the latest edition of the Newport Plain Talk.

Mary Elizabeth Videen posted in POW/MIA

Mary Elizabeth Videen We are fast approaching the 40th anniversary of "HOmecoming One" when the first known POWs steped off the plane in the Phillipiens on February 12,1973. I was wondering at work, today, are there any plans to mark this happy chapter in the unhappy Vietnam war? If so, I would like to help out as much as I can from up here in Seattle. But, if there are not any plans as of yet, us activists should start making them. This is a part of American history that an entire generation doesn't know anything about. I don't think they teach anything about the homecoming of the Vietnam POWs or even the release of the American hostages that were held in Iran for 444 days in the public schools. Who knows, maybe a production of this anniversary could spark interest in the POW issue and just maybe, bring home one, two, or a whole mess of our men who have been waiting oh so long! THE WIINDSOCK NEWS The Official Newsletter of the Royal Lao Airborne mtskoik[ vkdkf csj’ ritik- vtok9ad]k; August 2012 www.royallaoairborne.org LAO NEWS Remains of 6 US Airmen recovered in Laos buried at Arlington National Cemetery WASHINGTON -- Remains of crew members who were aboard a U. S. Air Force plane that went down during the Secret War in Laos were buried July 9th, 2012 at Arlington National Cemetery. The remains were buried with full military honors in a single casket at Arlington National Cemetery. The six crewmen had been aboard a AC-47D gunship aircraft, that failed to return from a combat strike in southern Laos on Dec. 24, 1965, the Defense Department said in a news release. The crew had sent out a "mayday" signal over Laos when the aircraft went down on Christmas Eve, 1965 In 1995, a man in Laos found wreckage in a farm field and a U. S.- Lao People's Democratic Republic team recovered small pieces of aircraft. Joint U. S.-Lao People's Democratic Republic recovery teams excavated the crash site again in 2010 and recovered human remains, personal items and military equipment, and three more excavations in 2011 turned up more human remains and evidence. The remains of the six crewmen were identified by scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command using dental records and circumstantial evidence, the release said. The crew members were identified as Air Force Col. Joseph Christiano of Rochester, N.Y. Col. Derrell B. Jeffords of Florence, S.C. Lt. Col. Dennis L. Eilers of Cedar Rapids, Iowa Chief Master Sgt. William K. Colwell of Glen Cove, N.Y. ; Chief Master Sgt. Arden K. Hassenger of Lebanon, Ore. Chief Master Sgt. Larry C. Thornton of Idaho Falls, Idaho. Christiano's son, Jeff Christiano, who was just a toddler when his father died, said he would like to visit the site of the plane crash someday. "I never really knew my father. Now I'm saying goodbye to a man I've never really known," he said.. ROYAL LAO AIIRBORNE NEWS US Army, Royal Lao Airborne, SC National Guard, and the Paladin Battalion, ROTC to Co-Sponsor Military Appreciation Weekend The Royal Lao Airborne along with the US Army, the SC National Guard, and the Paladin Battalion ROTC are cosponsoring a Military Appreciation Weekend on 9 & 10 NOV 2012. Events include a Retreat Ceremony at 1800 hours on 9 NOV, and a free tailgate party on the 10th before the North Greenville - Univ. of Virginia at Lynchburg football game. The tailgate party begins at 1100 hours with kick-off at 1350 hours. The guest of honor is our own MG Khambang Sibounheuang who will be honored at half-time. Additionally, there will be military vehicles on display as well as demonstrations of current military gear and hardware by the SC National Guard and Royal Lao Airborne. The Paladin Battalion, ROTC consists of cadets from Furman University, North Greenville University, and Greenville Technical College. NEWS IN BRIEF… - The Royal Lao Airborne continues to grow. We now have 58 active personnel on staff and 750+ members. - Military Development Courses begin in OCT. Advanced Raider training has already started with cold weather training beginning in NOV. Another Basic Raider Course will begin in JAN and as of this writing has 16 students signed up. - The Royal Lao Airborne was given another hanger at Anderson Regional Airport in which to locate our offices, supply and support services. Air Operations will remain at the current hanger. - The Royal Lao Airborne Annual Formal Banquet will be held on 29 SEP at the Newberry (SC) Country Club. Dress will be Dress Blues, Dress Greens, or Coat and Tie. The cost will be $35.00 and that includes an open bar in the price. Seating is limited and the event is expected to sell out very quickly. Registration will begin the last week in August and will be on a first-come, firstserved basis. So don’t wait until the last minute after registration begins. A splendid time is guaranteed for all. Check www.royallaoairborne.org for updates. SEND IT IN Send us your news, events, happenings, new duty posts, etc. that you would like to have in the newsletter.

http://www.waow.com/story/19289025/pow- ... ring-story

POW travels country sharing story
Posted: Aug 15, 2012 5:57 PM CDT By Emily Neubauer, Multimedia Journalist - bio | email

A man held as a prisoner in Iraq for years is sharing his story nation-wide. And, he's doing it all on a motorcycle.

Two years, seven months and one day. That's how long Peter Moore spent as an Iraqi Prisoner of War.

"When you're in that situation you just get on with it, you have to get on with it," Moore said.

In May 2007 Moore was working international intelligence in Baghdad. His tour was only supposed to last three months. But then, everything changed.

"A load of Iraqi police officers stormed the building, took myself and 4 guards away," Moore recalls. "Two days later they took the blindfolds off and guys in black masks were all around me with machine guns."

Moore says his first year in captivity was the hardest.

"I was blindfolded, handcuffed and chained," Moore said.

And at one point, he says he lost hope.

"All the guards were killed around me."

But, in December of 2009 there was hope. Moore was released a free man. But, that didn't mean his nightmare was over.

"Readjusting, that's the hardest thing," Moore explained. "Adjusting back to life in the U. K was really difficult."

But now he's finding freedom on the open road. Moore and his friend Princess Nash are traveling the country on a motorcycle. They're determined to hit every state.

"Things don't always go as planned, we end up in obscure cities for weeks," Nash said.

But, that doesn't bother them. So far the pair has been to 21 states in three months.

"There's no timeline," Nash said. "We're in no rush to visit the other 29."

"I never thought I'd be alive to do this, I thought I was going to die," Moore said. "So, to go around and meet people, see things, it's brilliant."

And even though the flashbacks still haunt him. He says he's determined to take advantage of this second chance.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... y-NEVER-up. html? ITO=1490

Forced to dig his own grave, then kneel as a Japanese sadist raised a sword to behead him. The lion-hearted uncle who taught Chris Hoy to NEVER give up
By Tony Rennell PUBLISHED: 19:54 EST, 17 August 2012|

Under the blazing sun, Andy Coogan — his body emaciated by dysentery, malnutrition, years of crushing slave labour and the beatings administered by vicious guards — scratched away at the jungle floor, digging a grave for his dead mate, Speedy, one of hundreds who succumbed to Japanese brutality in the work camp where they were held as British prisoners-of-war. Out of respect — a scant commodity in that Pacific hell-hole — he dug deep to bury his friend out of the reach of scavenging animals, deeper than the sadistic Lieutenant Suzuki in charge of the detail had demanded.

The Japanese officer, furious at being disobeyed, screamed at him to stop but Coogan — skeletal and dressed in nothing more than a loincloth — ploughed on until Speedy was decently buried.

As he finished and put down his spade, Suzuki eyed him coldly. ‘Dig another grave, ’ he then ordered, ‘for yourself. Tomorrow you die. ’

It was a threat the terrified Coogan had no doubt would be carried out as he spent a sleepless night, ticking down his last hours on earth. He had suffered every form of physical abuse as a prisoner of the Japanese since the fall of Singapore in February 1942.

He had been starved and beaten to a pulp, seen comrades used as bayonet practice, heard the swish of canes and samurai swords, witnessed heads lopped from shoulders, felt the victor’s heel on his own neck and escaped by the skin of his teeth for three-and-a-half terrible years.

But now it seemed his endurance and his courage would be to no avail. The end had come. He was doomed.

Come the morning, however, there was another dead POW to dispose of from the over-crowded, fly-blown, rat-infested huts. Coogan buried the fresh corpse, and Suzuki told him again. ‘Dig another grave, for tomorrow you die. ’

The same happened the next day, and the one after that. The mental torture continued for days, until Suzuki tired of the game.

Coogan survived. But seven decades later, aged 95, those terrible experiences still haunt him — as they also haunt, and inspire, a celebrated member of his family.

For Andy Coogan is the great-uncle of Olympic superman and six-time gold medallist Chris Hoy, Britain’s greatest Olympian, whose sporting pre-eminence was underlined on the cycling track at London 2012 just days ago.

Hoy is a sporting legend but he would be the first to admit that, for guts, endurance and strength of body and mind, his Uncle Andy is in a different league. The word ‘hero’ has been sprinkled with casual abandon during the Olympics. In someone like Coogan, we are reminded of its true meaning.

No wonder that Hoy nominated his uncle to carry the Olympic flame when it passed through Scotland in June on its journey to London. He did so, in white tracksuit, clutching his mobility frame and waving to the crowds.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/373614/ ... vernmental. htm

Japan And North Korea To Hold First Talks In Four Years To Discuss 'Unfortunate Past' By VIVIAN TSAI: August 14, 2012 2:09 PM EDT Japan and North Korea are to hold their first governmental-level talks for the first time in four years on Aug. 29, the Tokyo government announced.

Chief government spokesman Osamu Fujimura stated that the goal of this meeting is to settle "the unfortunate past" and to restore normal relations.

These two nations have no formal diplomatic ties, and they have not had any governmental-level discussions since August 2008. Their frosty relations were caused largely by disputes over North Korea's nuclear program and its alleged abduction of Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 1980s.

In the absence of normal diplomatic relations with Pyongyang, Japan has lived under the threat of military attacks from its neighbor across the Sea of Japan.

This ongoing threat intensified when North Korea abandoned the six-party talks with China, U.S., South Korea, Russia and Japan in 2008. When asked to suspend its nuclear and missile tests, North Korea responded by launching a long-range missile on April 2009.

In addition, North Korea bombed South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island in November 2010, killing four and injuring 19 South Korean citizens. In response, Seoul's ally Japan issued an angry statement condemning North Korea and called upon the U. N. Security Council to denounce the shelling as a violation of U. N. resolutions.

Nevertheless, efforts to restore normal relations with North Korea had begun in Japan as early as 2002, when Prime Minister Koizumi visited North Korea. During this visit, then-North Korean leader Kim Jong Il admitted and apologized for the abduction of 13 Japanese citizens, among whom he pronounced that only five were still alive. (The Japanese nationals were reportedly kidnapped in order to be trained as spies.)

The five abductees were later returned to Japan safely later that year, but North Korea failed to explian the fate of the others.

The abduction issue inflamed Japan -- overwhelming support for the victims and the victims' families pressured the Japanese government into action.

In 2006, Japan instituted the Headquarters on the Abduction Issue, headed by the prime minister. This committee has continually expanded since its establishment. It implements economic sanctions against North Korea and raises awareness regarding the abduction issues in Japan.

Current Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has publicly expressed his deep concern over the unsolved abductions. Spokesman Fujimura said that Japan will push to have the issue included in the agenda of the upcoming talks.

North Korea and Japan have a complicated history, involving 45 years of Japanese occupation from 1905-1945. At the end of that period, after Soviet troops entered what is now North Korea, 34,600 Japanese soldiers died. According to Al-Jazeera, while the remains of about 13,000 Japanese have been repatriated, around 21,000 others remain buried in North Korea.

The Red Cross Society on both sides talked for the first time in a decade last week about the repatriation of the remains of these troops. Its success seems to have been a great push for the governmental-level talk scheduled later this month on Aug. 29.