National League of
POW/MIA Families
Newsletters & Updates
POW/MIA Families
Newsletters & Updates
July dignified transfer
Pictures from a dignified transfer ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii on July 1, 2022. DPAA received remains and material remains from Vietnam.
Photo Credit: Staff Sgt. Blake Gonzales
Photo Credit: Staff Sgt. Blake Gonzales
FIrst Post-covid Investigations in Laos
Photo Credit: Staff Sgt. James Thompson (DPAA)
DPAA began their first investigations in Laos since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The investigations took place at the Savannakhet Province and Xekong Province during Joint Field Activities.
Southeast Regional Coordinator Dave Huffman and SE Virginia Coordinator Jeanie Jacobs Huffman took a trip to East Carolina University to visit with their underwater archeology department.
Veterans service organizations'
Positions on the POW/MIA Issue
While we continue our mission to obtain the release of all prisoners, the fullest possible accounting for the missing and repatriation of all recoverable remains of those who died serving our nation during the Vietnam War, we cannot do it alone. Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) have supported the League and our accounting mission since before the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. The VSOs' support helped build the United States Government accounting effort to its current capability, including an adequate budget for sustained operations. Their continued support is crucial, and the League is most grateful. The PDF below allows you to read the current policy of each listed VSO. Check them out!
| veterans_groups_on_pow-mia_issue.pdf |
Southeast Region Newsletter & Report: Click the files below to read the Southeast Region First Quarter Newsletter, created by Southeast Regional Coordinator Mr. David Huffman!
| southeast_region_1st_quarter__newsletter_2022_final_version.pdf |
Laos Joint Field Operations: "Dr. Peter Haymond, right, United States Ambassador to Laos, accompanied Mr. Bounleua Phandanouvong, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, to a DPAA Joint Field Activity in Sekong Province on Feb. 26, 2022. DPAA recovery teams have been at multiple remote sites in southern Laos since late January. The POW/MIA mission is the oldest example of U.S.-Lao cooperation and remains an important part of the bilateral relationship today” Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), https://www.dpaa.mil/.
Photo courtesy of Phonesavanh Sangsomboun, U.S. Embassy
UPDATE: September 8, 2021
LEAGUE 51ST ANNUAL MEETING/USG BRIEFINGS RESCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER 15-16, 2021: On September 6, 2021, the League and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) reached agreement on holding two days of virtual/live-streaming/in-person sessions. This was accomplished with significant effort and much compromise by all involved, and determined by the League Board of Directors and DPAA leadership to be the best possible solution in our current pandemic-restricted environment.
The Opening Session will be from 9:00 a.m. to noon, on Wednesday, September 15th. It will be League-chaired and include guest speakers and reports of specific interest. Presentation of League Distinguished Service Awards will conclude the League’s portion of the September 15th program. DPAA will host the second half of Opening Session from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m., starting with welcoming remarks from DPAA Director Kelly McKeague. Several specialists will address diverse projects and scientific aspects of the mission that impact achieving Vietnam War accounting results, closing with a moderated Q&A session.
DPAA will also host the General Session on Thursday, September 16th, 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. DPAA Director McKeague will lead off the session, followed by DIA Director Lieutenant General Scott Barrier, USA, then DPAA Deputy Director for Operations (DDO) Rear Admiral Darius Banaji, USN. DPAA Indo-Pacific Regional Director Col Matt Brannen, USMC, and DIA Stony Beach Program Director Brad Taylor will lead into country-specific presentations from six DPAA and Stony Beach speciali5ts working in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. This session will also conclude with a DPAA-moderated Q&A Session.
The closing League General Session will be 3:30 – 5:00 p.m., during which the newly elected 2021-2023 League Board of Directors will be introduced. The virtual audience of family members, veterans and other interested Americans will then have an opportunity to raise questions and issues for later consideration by the 2021-23 Board. On Friday September 17th , at 10:00 a.m., the National POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremony will be held at the Pentagon, COVID restrictions permitting.
SUPPORT THE LEAGUE: You can support the League on Facebook by creating a fundraiser to celebrate meaningful occasions and events. Opportunities are nearly endless, ranging from appeals for donations to the League in lieu of birthday gifts or to honor a missing loved one on the anniversary of his loss and, if returned, his story commemorating his recovery, etc. If you would like to create a fundraiser to benefit the League, visit www.facebook.com/fund/powmiafamilies. 100% of the proceeds raised from your Facebook fundraiser will benefit the League! (FEIN 233-7071242; CFC 10218; 501 ( c ) (3) nonprofit)
You and your family, friends and colleagues can also support the League by shopping at Amazon Smile. It is simple and automatic, at no extra cost to you. Just visit https://smile.amazon.com/ch/23- 7071242, and you will find the exact same prices, vast selection and convenient shopping to which you may be increasingly accustomed. The added bonus? The Amazon Smile Foundation automatically donates 0.5% of the cost of your eligible purchases to the League.
MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED-FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is still 1,584. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on March 14th that US Naval Reserve CDR Paul C. Charvet, 26, killed during the Vietnam War, but unrecovered at the time, was accounted for March 1, 2021. On March 21, 1967, his A-1H Skyraider airplane disappeared near Hon Me Island off the coast of North Vietnam. Until this announcement, there had been no US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War since July 2020.
During the April 29th DPAA-hosted Family/VSO Quarterly Call & Update, the DPAA Lab Director affirmed that there are NO Vietnam War-related remains awaiting ID. DPAA laboratories and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) continue to focus efforts on remains buried in US cemeteries as unknowns from WWII and the Korean War, disinterred then subsequently identified, as well as identifying remains previously recovered and those turned over unilaterally by indigenous personnel or foreign countries.
Of the 1,584 still missing and unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War, 90% were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Cambodia or Laos under Vietnam’s wartime control: Vietnam-1,244 (VN-442, VS-802); Laos-285; Cambodia-48; PRC territorial waters-7. Since chartered in 1970, the League has sought the return of all POWs, the fullest possible accounting for the missing, and repatriation of all recoverable remains. The total accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is 999.
A breakdown by country of these 999 Americans is: Vietnam – 674, Laos – 280, Cambodia – 42, and the PRC – 3. In addition, 63 US personnel were accounted for between 1973 and 1975, the formal end of the Vietnam War, for a grand total of 1,062. A total of 288 have been accounted for from Laos, 729 from Vietnam, 42 from Cambodia and 3 from the PRC. The 63 Americans were accounted for by US-only efforts in accessible areas, not due to cooperation by post-war governments in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia.
DPAA JOINT ACCOUNTING EFFORTS: COVID-19 pandemic and associated quarantine restrictions have been a significant challenge, adversely impacting Vietnam War field operations more deeply than WWII and Korean War field recoveries, but with scant impact on DPAA disinterment efforts at US cemeteries at home and abroad.
Joint Field Activities (JFAs) just concluded in Laos and are scheduled to resume in mid-October.
In Vietnam, pandemic restrictions permitting, a full JFA of 4 Recovery Teams (RTs) and 2 Investigation Teams (ITs) is scheduled to occur for approximately 60 days, October – December.
The single JFA scheduled in Cambodia for Fiscal Year 2022 will be in February-March but, thankfully, Stony Beach Cambodia specialist Eric Phillips is authorized by Cambodian authorities to conduct investigations and interviews around the country pretty much at will.
DPAA continues to conduct WWII, Korean War and Cold War field recoveries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific Region, most recently in Austria, Belgium, and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea. Investigations were earlier planned to take place from May – September in Germany, Poland, Italy, Belgium and Panama, a later US Navy incident which DPAA was requested to handle.
The most recent large-scale unilateral turnover of remains was the K55 repatriation that followed the Singapore Agreement in 2018 between former President Trump and DPRK President Kim Jong Un. Reportedly, DPAA’s Lab has made close to 100 IDs on the comingled remains, estimated to possibly be those of as many as 160-170 US personnel.
update_9-8-21.pdf
LEAGUE 51ST ANNUAL MEETING/USG BRIEFINGS RESCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER 15-16, 2021: On September 6, 2021, the League and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) reached agreement on holding two days of virtual/live-streaming/in-person sessions. This was accomplished with significant effort and much compromise by all involved, and determined by the League Board of Directors and DPAA leadership to be the best possible solution in our current pandemic-restricted environment.
The Opening Session will be from 9:00 a.m. to noon, on Wednesday, September 15th. It will be League-chaired and include guest speakers and reports of specific interest. Presentation of League Distinguished Service Awards will conclude the League’s portion of the September 15th program. DPAA will host the second half of Opening Session from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m., starting with welcoming remarks from DPAA Director Kelly McKeague. Several specialists will address diverse projects and scientific aspects of the mission that impact achieving Vietnam War accounting results, closing with a moderated Q&A session.
DPAA will also host the General Session on Thursday, September 16th, 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. DPAA Director McKeague will lead off the session, followed by DIA Director Lieutenant General Scott Barrier, USA, then DPAA Deputy Director for Operations (DDO) Rear Admiral Darius Banaji, USN. DPAA Indo-Pacific Regional Director Col Matt Brannen, USMC, and DIA Stony Beach Program Director Brad Taylor will lead into country-specific presentations from six DPAA and Stony Beach speciali5ts working in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. This session will also conclude with a DPAA-moderated Q&A Session.
The closing League General Session will be 3:30 – 5:00 p.m., during which the newly elected 2021-2023 League Board of Directors will be introduced. The virtual audience of family members, veterans and other interested Americans will then have an opportunity to raise questions and issues for later consideration by the 2021-23 Board. On Friday September 17th , at 10:00 a.m., the National POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremony will be held at the Pentagon, COVID restrictions permitting.
SUPPORT THE LEAGUE: You can support the League on Facebook by creating a fundraiser to celebrate meaningful occasions and events. Opportunities are nearly endless, ranging from appeals for donations to the League in lieu of birthday gifts or to honor a missing loved one on the anniversary of his loss and, if returned, his story commemorating his recovery, etc. If you would like to create a fundraiser to benefit the League, visit www.facebook.com/fund/powmiafamilies. 100% of the proceeds raised from your Facebook fundraiser will benefit the League! (FEIN 233-7071242; CFC 10218; 501 ( c ) (3) nonprofit)
You and your family, friends and colleagues can also support the League by shopping at Amazon Smile. It is simple and automatic, at no extra cost to you. Just visit https://smile.amazon.com/ch/23- 7071242, and you will find the exact same prices, vast selection and convenient shopping to which you may be increasingly accustomed. The added bonus? The Amazon Smile Foundation automatically donates 0.5% of the cost of your eligible purchases to the League.
MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED-FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is still 1,584. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on March 14th that US Naval Reserve CDR Paul C. Charvet, 26, killed during the Vietnam War, but unrecovered at the time, was accounted for March 1, 2021. On March 21, 1967, his A-1H Skyraider airplane disappeared near Hon Me Island off the coast of North Vietnam. Until this announcement, there had been no US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War since July 2020.
During the April 29th DPAA-hosted Family/VSO Quarterly Call & Update, the DPAA Lab Director affirmed that there are NO Vietnam War-related remains awaiting ID. DPAA laboratories and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) continue to focus efforts on remains buried in US cemeteries as unknowns from WWII and the Korean War, disinterred then subsequently identified, as well as identifying remains previously recovered and those turned over unilaterally by indigenous personnel or foreign countries.
Of the 1,584 still missing and unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War, 90% were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Cambodia or Laos under Vietnam’s wartime control: Vietnam-1,244 (VN-442, VS-802); Laos-285; Cambodia-48; PRC territorial waters-7. Since chartered in 1970, the League has sought the return of all POWs, the fullest possible accounting for the missing, and repatriation of all recoverable remains. The total accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is 999.
A breakdown by country of these 999 Americans is: Vietnam – 674, Laos – 280, Cambodia – 42, and the PRC – 3. In addition, 63 US personnel were accounted for between 1973 and 1975, the formal end of the Vietnam War, for a grand total of 1,062. A total of 288 have been accounted for from Laos, 729 from Vietnam, 42 from Cambodia and 3 from the PRC. The 63 Americans were accounted for by US-only efforts in accessible areas, not due to cooperation by post-war governments in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia.
DPAA JOINT ACCOUNTING EFFORTS: COVID-19 pandemic and associated quarantine restrictions have been a significant challenge, adversely impacting Vietnam War field operations more deeply than WWII and Korean War field recoveries, but with scant impact on DPAA disinterment efforts at US cemeteries at home and abroad.
Joint Field Activities (JFAs) just concluded in Laos and are scheduled to resume in mid-October.
In Vietnam, pandemic restrictions permitting, a full JFA of 4 Recovery Teams (RTs) and 2 Investigation Teams (ITs) is scheduled to occur for approximately 60 days, October – December.
The single JFA scheduled in Cambodia for Fiscal Year 2022 will be in February-March but, thankfully, Stony Beach Cambodia specialist Eric Phillips is authorized by Cambodian authorities to conduct investigations and interviews around the country pretty much at will.
DPAA continues to conduct WWII, Korean War and Cold War field recoveries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific Region, most recently in Austria, Belgium, and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea. Investigations were earlier planned to take place from May – September in Germany, Poland, Italy, Belgium and Panama, a later US Navy incident which DPAA was requested to handle.
The most recent large-scale unilateral turnover of remains was the K55 repatriation that followed the Singapore Agreement in 2018 between former President Trump and DPRK President Kim Jong Un. Reportedly, DPAA’s Lab has made close to 100 IDs on the comingled remains, estimated to possibly be those of as many as 160-170 US personnel.
update_9-8-21.pdf
“Cambodia Virtual Talks: Rear Adm. Darius Banaji DPAA’s Deputy Director for Operations, speaks with His Excellency General Pol Saroeun, head of the Kingdom of Cambodia’ POW/MIA Committee, during a video teleconference at the DPAA facilities on Joint Base Perl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Aug. 25. The consultation included several DPAA directorates, the U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia W. Patrick Murphy and the JOC’s POW/MIA Committee. The VTC highlighted future DPAA missions to Cambodia, in addition to strengthening the working relationship between the two countries.” (DPAA Website, www.dpaa.mil/)
“Ambassador visits Laos Joint Field Activity sites: Dr. Peter Haymond, U.S. Ambassador to the Lao people’s Democratic Republic, visited two DPAA Activity sites in Northern Laos on August 23, 2021. The provincial Vice Governor, along with senior representatives from the Lao Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs, joined the Ambassador for the visit. Ambassador Haymond thanked the Lao government for its continued support to the DPAA mission and highlighted how DPAA’s activities in Laos are the longest enduring example of US-Lao cooperation.” (from DPAA Website, www.dpaa.mil)
Photo by Sgt. Mitchell Ryan
UPDATE: July 13, 2021
MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED-FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is still 1,584. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on March 14th that US Naval Reserve CDR Paul C. Charvet, 26, killed during the Vietnam War, but unrecovered at the time, was accounted for March 1, 2021. On March 21, 1967, his A-1H Skyraider airplane disappeared near Hon Me Island off the coast of North Vietnam. Until this announcement, there had been no US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War since July 2020.
During the April 29th DPAA-hosted Family/VSO Quarterly Call & Update, the DPAA Lab Director affirmed that there are NO Vietnam War-related remains awaiting ID. DPAA laboratories and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) continue to focus efforts on identifying remains previously recovered, turned over unilaterally by foreign countries or buried in US cemeteries as unknowns from WWII and the Korean War, disinterred then subsequently identified.
Of the 1,584 still missing and unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War, 90% were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Cambodia or Laos under Vietnam’s wartime control: Vietnam-1,244 (VN-442, VS-802); Laos-285; Cambodia-48; PRC territorial waters-7. Since chartered in 1970, the League has sought the return of all POWs, the fullest possible accounting for the missing, and repatriation of all recoverable remains. The total accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is 999.
A breakdown by country of these 999 Americans is: Vietnam – 674, Laos – 280, Cambodia – 42, and the PRC – 3. In addition, 63 US personnel were accounted for between 1973 and 1975, the formal end of the Vietnam War, for a grand total of 1,062. A total of 288 have been accounted for from Laos, 729 from Vietnam, 42 from Cambodia and 3 from the PRC. These 63 Americans were accounted for by US-only efforts in accessible areas, not due to cooperation by post-war governments in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia.
DPAA JOINT ACCOUNTING EFFORTS: COVID-19 pandemic and associated quarantine restrictions have been a significant challenge to work around, adversely impacting Vietnam War field operations more deeply than WWII and Korean War efforts. Joint field operations are about to begin in Laos and, as is evident in the photos, just concluded in Vietnam and concluded June 23rd in Laos. The schedule for resuming joint operations in Cambodia is unknown at present, but Cambodia is going through another “surge” in COVID-19 infections and a tragic increase in deaths as well.
DPAA continues to conduct WWII, Korean War and Cold War field recoveries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific Region, most recently in Austria and Belgium, and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea. A recovery in Germany is underway or soon will be, and investigations were earlier planned to take place from May – September in Germany, Poland, Italy, Belgium and Panama, a later US Navy incident which DPAA was requested to handle.
The most recent large-scale unilateral turnover of remains was the K55 repatriation that followed the Singapore Agreement reached in the summer of 2018 by former President Trump and DPRK President Kim Jong Un. Reportedly, DPAA’s Lab has made 76 IDs on the comingled remains, estimated to possibly be those of as many as 160-170 US personnel.
Underwater Recovery Mission - Vietnam: U.S. Coast Guard Diver 2nd Class Corey Smith, a mission augmentee from Coast Guard Regional Dive Locker Pacific, jumps into the water from a barge during an underwater recovery mission in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam, May 27. Smith is one of four Coast Guard divers who joined DPAA’s underwater recovery team to search for unaccounted-for U.S. service members as part of the 143rd Joint Field Activity. DPAA is grateful to the Vietnamese government for their sustained cooperation and partnership in our on-going mission to recover our unaccounted-for service members from the Vietnam War.
MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED-FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is still 1,584. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on March 14th that US Naval Reserve CDR Paul C. Charvet, 26, killed during the Vietnam War, but unrecovered at the time, was accounted for March 1, 2021. On March 21, 1967, his A-1H Skyraider airplane disappeared near Hon Me Island off the coast of North Vietnam. Until this announcement, there had been no US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War since July 2020.
During the April 29th DPAA-hosted Family/VSO Quarterly Call & Update, the DPAA Lab Director affirmed that there are NO Vietnam War-related remains awaiting ID. DPAA laboratories and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) continue to focus efforts on identifying remains previously recovered, turned over unilaterally by foreign countries or buried in US cemeteries as unknowns from WWII and the Korean War, disinterred then subsequently identified.
Of the 1,584 still missing and unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War, 90% were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Cambodia or Laos under Vietnam’s wartime control: Vietnam-1,244 (VN-442, VS-802); Laos-285; Cambodia-48; PRC territorial waters-7. Since chartered in 1970, the League has sought the return of all POWs, the fullest possible accounting for the missing, and repatriation of all recoverable remains. The total accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is 999.
A breakdown by country of these 999 Americans is: Vietnam – 674, Laos – 280, Cambodia – 42, and the PRC – 3. In addition, 63 US personnel were accounted for between 1973 and 1975, the formal end of the Vietnam War, for a grand total of 1,062. A total of 288 have been accounted for from Laos, 729 from Vietnam, 42 from Cambodia and 3 from the PRC. These 63 Americans were accounted for by US-only efforts in accessible areas, not due to cooperation by post-war governments in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia.
DPAA JOINT ACCOUNTING EFFORTS: COVID-19 pandemic and associated quarantine restrictions have been a significant challenge to work around, adversely impacting Vietnam War field operations more deeply than WWII and Korean War efforts. Joint field operations are about to begin in Laos and, as is evident in the photos, just concluded in Vietnam and concluded June 23rd in Laos. The schedule for resuming joint operations in Cambodia is unknown at present, but Cambodia is going through another “surge” in COVID-19 infections and a tragic increase in deaths as well.
DPAA continues to conduct WWII, Korean War and Cold War field recoveries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific Region, most recently in Austria and Belgium, and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea. A recovery in Germany is underway or soon will be, and investigations were earlier planned to take place from May – September in Germany, Poland, Italy, Belgium and Panama, a later US Navy incident which DPAA was requested to handle.
The most recent large-scale unilateral turnover of remains was the K55 repatriation that followed the Singapore Agreement reached in the summer of 2018 by former President Trump and DPRK President Kim Jong Un. Reportedly, DPAA’s Lab has made 76 IDs on the comingled remains, estimated to possibly be those of as many as 160-170 US personnel.
Underwater Recovery Mission - Vietnam: U.S. Coast Guard Diver 2nd Class Corey Smith, a mission augmentee from Coast Guard Regional Dive Locker Pacific, jumps into the water from a barge during an underwater recovery mission in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam, May 27. Smith is one of four Coast Guard divers who joined DPAA’s underwater recovery team to search for unaccounted-for U.S. service members as part of the 143rd Joint Field Activity. DPAA is grateful to the Vietnamese government for their sustained cooperation and partnership in our on-going mission to recover our unaccounted-for service members from the Vietnam War.
Vietnam Recovery Mission: U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Luigi Lawrence, a DPAA recovery team member, swings a pick axe to loosen dirt during a recovery mission in Quang Binh province, Vietnam, July 3, 2021. During the recovery mission, which was part of the 143rd Joint Field Activity, DPAA personnel, augmentees and local nationals spent their days digging and screening in hopes of finding a missing U.S. service member lost during the Vietnam War. There are more than 1,500 Americans who remain unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, and the U.S. continues its decades-long partnership with the Vietnamese government to find and bring missing military members home.
Photo by Lance Cpl. Timothy Fowler
Vietnam Repatriation Ceremony: Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Detachment 2 and the Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP) held the 155th Repatriation Ceremony on 9 July 2021 at Gia Lam Airport outside Hanoi, Vietnam. During the ceremony, the United States Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. Christopher Klein and Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Americas Department, Mr. Le Chi Dung, witnessed the signing over of remains thought to be associated with a U.S. service member still missing from the war in Vietnam. This ceremony was the culmination of collaborative efforts of the U.S. and Vietnam during the 143rd Joint Field Activity, working together on an underwater recovery site off the coast of Nha Trang. These remains will be transferred to the DPAA Laboratory in Hawaii for further review. The ceremony’s location was especially significant to the history of the MIA accounting mission in Vietnam. From February to April 1973, over 500 American POWs were repatriated through Gia Lam Airport and returned home. Friday’s ceremony was the first repatriation at Gia Lam Airport since “Operation Homecoming” almost five decades ago.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Klein thanked the government and people of Vietnam for their continued support to locate and return Americans who are still missing from the war. He also highlighted the efforts of both DPAA and the VNOSMP to safely continue this important humanitarian mission in accordance with all COVID 19 prevention protocols. Mr. Le Chi Dung, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Americas Department and Director of the VNOSMP, remarked on the special significance of Gia Lam Airport. In addition to being the location of the first repatriation of Americans after the war, Gia Lam district was also the location of the first post-unification excavation activity in 1985. The United States and Vietnam have cooperated for over 30 years to account for those Americans still missing from the war in Vietnam.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Klein thanked the government and people of Vietnam for their continued support to locate and return Americans who are still missing from the war. He also highlighted the efforts of both DPAA and the VNOSMP to safely continue this important humanitarian mission in accordance with all COVID 19 prevention protocols. Mr. Le Chi Dung, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Americas Department and Director of the VNOSMP, remarked on the special significance of Gia Lam Airport. In addition to being the location of the first repatriation of Americans after the war, Gia Lam district was also the location of the first post-unification excavation activity in 1985. The United States and Vietnam have cooperated for over 30 years to account for those Americans still missing from the war in Vietnam.
Repatriation Ceremony – Laos: Bounthavy Sengphachanh (seated right), Director of the America MIA Division, Europe and Americas Department of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Lt. Col. Daniel Oh (seated left), commander of DPAA’s Detachment Three-Laos, pause for a photo during the signing of remains turnover documents at a Repatriation Ceremony June 22 in Vientiane, Laos.
Ambassador Peter Haymond (third from left), U.S. Ambassador to the Lao PDR, represented the U.S. and Lao Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bounleua Phandanouvong (fourth from left) represented the Lao PDR in turning over believed-to-be remains of U.S. service members to the U.S. government for transport back to the United States. Thanks to the continued support of the Lao PDR, DPAA has been able conduct four to five recovery missions per year for over 30 years, with 288 U.S. service members having been recovered and identified to date.
As we celebrate the 5th anniversary of the U.S.-Lao Comprehensive Partnership, this humanitarian endeavor, which began in 1985, represents our longest-standing area of bilateral cooperation in Laos. We are grateful to the Lao PDR government and the people of Laos for their assistance as we work to account for missing Americans.
Ambassador Peter Haymond (third from left), U.S. Ambassador to the Lao PDR, represented the U.S. and Lao Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bounleua Phandanouvong (fourth from left) represented the Lao PDR in turning over believed-to-be remains of U.S. service members to the U.S. government for transport back to the United States. Thanks to the continued support of the Lao PDR, DPAA has been able conduct four to five recovery missions per year for over 30 years, with 288 U.S. service members having been recovered and identified to date.
As we celebrate the 5th anniversary of the U.S.-Lao Comprehensive Partnership, this humanitarian endeavor, which began in 1985, represents our longest-standing area of bilateral cooperation in Laos. We are grateful to the Lao PDR government and the people of Laos for their assistance as we work to account for missing Americans.
Photo by Thathsaphone Keomoungkhoun, U.S. Embassy Public Diplomacy Section
Honorable Carry from Laos: DPAA members conducted an Honorable Carry ceremony on Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam, June 23, for possible remains recently recovered during a mission to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. The remains were recently repatriated to the U.S. during a ceremony in Vientiane, Laos, and will be examined by forensic anthropologists and odontologists at DPAA’s skeletal laboratory where the process of identification will begin. As always, DPAA is grateful to the Laotian government for their sustained cooperation and partnership in this mission, and looks forward to continuing partnership in the future.
U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jacqueline A. Clifford
UPDATE: June 8, 2021
MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED-FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is still 1,584. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on March 14th that U.S. Naval Reserve Cmdr. Paul C. Charvet, 26, killed during the Vietnam War, was accounted for March 1, 2021. On March 21, 1967, his A-1H Skyraider airplane disappeared near Hon Me Island off the coast of North Vietnam. Until this announcement, there had been no US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War since July 2020. During the “DPAA Family/VSO Quarterly Call and Update” on April 29th, the Lab affirmed that there are NO Vietnam War-related remains awaiting ID. DPAA laboratories and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) continue to focus efforts on identifying remains previously recovered, turned over unilaterally by foreign countries or buried in US cemeteries as unknowns, disinterred then identified.
Of the 1,584 still missing and unaccounted-for, 90% were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Cambodia or Laos under Vietnam’s wartime control: Vietnam-1,244 (VN-442, VS-802); Laos-285; Cambodia-48; PRC territorial waters-7. Since chartered in 1970, the League has sought the return of all POWs, the fullest possible accounting for the missing, and repatriation of all recoverable remains. The total accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is 999. A breakdown by country of these 999 Americans is: Vietnam – 674, Laos – 280, Cambodia – 42, and the PRC – 3. In addition, 63 US personnel were accounted for between 1973 and 1975, the formal end of the Vietnam War, for a grand total of 1,062. A total of 288 have been accounted for from Laos, 729 from Vietnam, 42 from Cambodia and 3 from the PRC. These 63 Americans, were accounted for by US-only efforts in accessible areas, not due to cooperation by post-war governments in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia.
ACCOUNTING OPERATIONS/EVENTS CANCELLED FOR 2020; UNILATERAL SRV RECOVERIES HELPED REDUCE THE DELAYS CAUSED BY COVID 19: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Defense (DoD) banned all DoD travel in early 2020, and Joint Field Activities (JFAs) in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were canceled. During this hiatus, DPAA Deputy Director for Operations RDML Darius Banaji, USN, met virtually with the Cambodian POW/MIA Committee. US Ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy and Cambodian Deputy Chairman Sieng Lapresse participated, as did DPAA IndoPacific Regional Director Col Brian Peterson, USMC.
Also during this difficult time, Vietnam fielded three Unilateral Recovery Teams (URTs) that focused on several cases. Though DPAA has provided few details, some remains were reportedly recovered. DoD, DIA, State Department and other US agencies are still largely teleworking, but some are alternating schedules to try to ensure greater in-person coverage and productivity. DIA Headquarters personnel, including Stony Beach specialists, are working in shifts, as are DPAA scientists in the respective laboratories at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and Offutt AFB, Nebraska. In Vietnam, a large Joint Field Activity (JFA) will include 3 Recovery Teams (RTs), 1 underwater RT, a Research Investigation Team (RIT), plus 2 SRV URTs.
Field operations resumed in early February in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia. A DPAA “partnership” 70-day recovery, ending March 23rd, was undertaken at Koh Tong, Cambodia, with the University of Illinois-Chicago. US teams recently concluded the 142nd Joint Field Activity (JFA) in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam. Reportedly, there were three RTs and one joint Investigation Team (IT) that included DIA Stony Beach specialists. Two Vietnamese URTs were added to plus-up the pace and scope of long-delayed operations.
A Joint Field Activity in Laos was unfortunately canceled when US personnel were not permitted in-country due to further COVID pandemic-related restrictions. Thankfully, DIA’s Stony Beach Lao specialist, permanently in-country, was allowed to utilize the helicopter support previously arranged, so investigations occurred, though no further information is available as to what was accomplished. A JFA in Laos is now ongoing, following a required quarantine at the beginning. It consists of three Recovery Teams.
DPAA continues to conduct WWII, Korean War and Cold War field recoveries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific Region, most recently in Austria and Belgium, and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea. Planning is ongoing for a recovery in Germans, and investigations are planned to take place from May – September in Germany, Poland, Italy, Belgium and Panama, a later US Navy incident on which DPAA was requested to handle. The latest large-scale unilateral turnover of remains was the K55 repatriation that followed the Singapore Agreement reached in the summer of 2018 by former President Trump and DPRK President Kim Jong Un. Reportedly, DPAA’s Lab has made 74 IDs on the comingled remains, estimated to possibly be those of as many as 160-170 US personnel. Eighty remains believed to be those of indigenous personnel were turned over to the South Korean Government.
LEAGUE 51ST ANNUAL MEETING TO BE HELD SEPTEMBER 15-19, 2021: As previously announced, no annual meeting could be held in 2020, was rescheduled for June 23-27, 2021, and, after again re-scheduling, the 51st Annual Meeting will be held September 15-19, 2021. It is increasingly looking like DoD travel restrictions will be lifted, meaning COIN Assist travel for eligible next-of-kin will be available. Hilton Crystal City Hotel is now open on a limited basis, and we’re hoping for fewer restrictions and greater normalcy by September.
The Board of Directors Election for 2021-2023 was postponed and will be held prior to the 51st Annual Meeting, with results announced at that time. Applications to run for the Board can be accessed on the League website and will be sent in advance by USPS by the end of this month to all League family members.
SUPPORT THE LEAGUE: You can support the League on Facebook by creating a fundraiser to celebrate meaningful occasions and events. Opportunities are nearly endless, ranging from appeals for donations to the League in lieu of birthday gifts or to honor a missing loved one on the anniversary of his loss and, if returned, his story commemorating his recovery, etc. If you would like to create a fundraiser to benefit the League, visit www.facebook.com/fund/powmiafamilies. 100% of the proceeds raised from your Facebook fundraiser will benefit the League!
You and your family, friends and colleagues can also support the League by shopping at Amazon Smile. It is simple and automatic, at no extra cost to you. Just visit https://smile.amazon.com/ch/23-7071242, and you will find the exact same prices, vast selection and convenient shopping to which you may be increasingly accustomed. The added bonus? The Amazon Smile Foundation automatically donates 0.5% of the cost of your eligible purchases to the League.
Donate today, 501(c)(3), Fed Tax ID #23-7071242, at www.pow-miafamilies.org.
update_6-8-21.pdf
MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED-FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is still 1,584. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on March 14th that U.S. Naval Reserve Cmdr. Paul C. Charvet, 26, killed during the Vietnam War, was accounted for March 1, 2021. On March 21, 1967, his A-1H Skyraider airplane disappeared near Hon Me Island off the coast of North Vietnam. Until this announcement, there had been no US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War since July 2020. During the “DPAA Family/VSO Quarterly Call and Update” on April 29th, the Lab affirmed that there are NO Vietnam War-related remains awaiting ID. DPAA laboratories and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) continue to focus efforts on identifying remains previously recovered, turned over unilaterally by foreign countries or buried in US cemeteries as unknowns, disinterred then identified.
Of the 1,584 still missing and unaccounted-for, 90% were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Cambodia or Laos under Vietnam’s wartime control: Vietnam-1,244 (VN-442, VS-802); Laos-285; Cambodia-48; PRC territorial waters-7. Since chartered in 1970, the League has sought the return of all POWs, the fullest possible accounting for the missing, and repatriation of all recoverable remains. The total accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is 999. A breakdown by country of these 999 Americans is: Vietnam – 674, Laos – 280, Cambodia – 42, and the PRC – 3. In addition, 63 US personnel were accounted for between 1973 and 1975, the formal end of the Vietnam War, for a grand total of 1,062. A total of 288 have been accounted for from Laos, 729 from Vietnam, 42 from Cambodia and 3 from the PRC. These 63 Americans, were accounted for by US-only efforts in accessible areas, not due to cooperation by post-war governments in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia.
ACCOUNTING OPERATIONS/EVENTS CANCELLED FOR 2020; UNILATERAL SRV RECOVERIES HELPED REDUCE THE DELAYS CAUSED BY COVID 19: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Defense (DoD) banned all DoD travel in early 2020, and Joint Field Activities (JFAs) in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were canceled. During this hiatus, DPAA Deputy Director for Operations RDML Darius Banaji, USN, met virtually with the Cambodian POW/MIA Committee. US Ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy and Cambodian Deputy Chairman Sieng Lapresse participated, as did DPAA IndoPacific Regional Director Col Brian Peterson, USMC.
Also during this difficult time, Vietnam fielded three Unilateral Recovery Teams (URTs) that focused on several cases. Though DPAA has provided few details, some remains were reportedly recovered. DoD, DIA, State Department and other US agencies are still largely teleworking, but some are alternating schedules to try to ensure greater in-person coverage and productivity. DIA Headquarters personnel, including Stony Beach specialists, are working in shifts, as are DPAA scientists in the respective laboratories at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and Offutt AFB, Nebraska. In Vietnam, a large Joint Field Activity (JFA) will include 3 Recovery Teams (RTs), 1 underwater RT, a Research Investigation Team (RIT), plus 2 SRV URTs.
Field operations resumed in early February in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia. A DPAA “partnership” 70-day recovery, ending March 23rd, was undertaken at Koh Tong, Cambodia, with the University of Illinois-Chicago. US teams recently concluded the 142nd Joint Field Activity (JFA) in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam. Reportedly, there were three RTs and one joint Investigation Team (IT) that included DIA Stony Beach specialists. Two Vietnamese URTs were added to plus-up the pace and scope of long-delayed operations.
A Joint Field Activity in Laos was unfortunately canceled when US personnel were not permitted in-country due to further COVID pandemic-related restrictions. Thankfully, DIA’s Stony Beach Lao specialist, permanently in-country, was allowed to utilize the helicopter support previously arranged, so investigations occurred, though no further information is available as to what was accomplished. A JFA in Laos is now ongoing, following a required quarantine at the beginning. It consists of three Recovery Teams.
DPAA continues to conduct WWII, Korean War and Cold War field recoveries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific Region, most recently in Austria and Belgium, and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea. Planning is ongoing for a recovery in Germans, and investigations are planned to take place from May – September in Germany, Poland, Italy, Belgium and Panama, a later US Navy incident on which DPAA was requested to handle. The latest large-scale unilateral turnover of remains was the K55 repatriation that followed the Singapore Agreement reached in the summer of 2018 by former President Trump and DPRK President Kim Jong Un. Reportedly, DPAA’s Lab has made 74 IDs on the comingled remains, estimated to possibly be those of as many as 160-170 US personnel. Eighty remains believed to be those of indigenous personnel were turned over to the South Korean Government.
LEAGUE 51ST ANNUAL MEETING TO BE HELD SEPTEMBER 15-19, 2021: As previously announced, no annual meeting could be held in 2020, was rescheduled for June 23-27, 2021, and, after again re-scheduling, the 51st Annual Meeting will be held September 15-19, 2021. It is increasingly looking like DoD travel restrictions will be lifted, meaning COIN Assist travel for eligible next-of-kin will be available. Hilton Crystal City Hotel is now open on a limited basis, and we’re hoping for fewer restrictions and greater normalcy by September.
The Board of Directors Election for 2021-2023 was postponed and will be held prior to the 51st Annual Meeting, with results announced at that time. Applications to run for the Board can be accessed on the League website and will be sent in advance by USPS by the end of this month to all League family members.
SUPPORT THE LEAGUE: You can support the League on Facebook by creating a fundraiser to celebrate meaningful occasions and events. Opportunities are nearly endless, ranging from appeals for donations to the League in lieu of birthday gifts or to honor a missing loved one on the anniversary of his loss and, if returned, his story commemorating his recovery, etc. If you would like to create a fundraiser to benefit the League, visit www.facebook.com/fund/powmiafamilies. 100% of the proceeds raised from your Facebook fundraiser will benefit the League!
You and your family, friends and colleagues can also support the League by shopping at Amazon Smile. It is simple and automatic, at no extra cost to you. Just visit https://smile.amazon.com/ch/23-7071242, and you will find the exact same prices, vast selection and convenient shopping to which you may be increasingly accustomed. The added bonus? The Amazon Smile Foundation automatically donates 0.5% of the cost of your eligible purchases to the League.
Donate today, 501(c)(3), Fed Tax ID #23-7071242, at www.pow-miafamilies.org.
update_6-8-21.pdf
NEWSLETTER
Newsletter: May 30, 2021
MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED-FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is 1,584. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on March 14th that US Naval Reserve Cmdr. Paul C. Charvet, 26, killed during the Vietnam War, was accounted for March 1, 2021. On March 21, 1967, his A-1H Skyraider aircraft disappeared near Hon Me Island off the coast of North Vietnam. This recovery was accomplished unilaterally by a Vietnamese Recovery Team; the remains were turned over to the US for identification. This was a significant, important step by Vietnam and one which the League had long advocated, recognizes and appreciates. Until this announcement, there had been no US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War since July 2020. During the DPAA Family/VSO Quarterly Call & Update on April 29th, the Lab affirmed there are NO Vietnam War-related remains awaiting ID.
Of the 1,584 still missing and unaccounted-for, 90% were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Cambodia or Laos under Vietnam’s wartime control: Vietnam-1,244 (VN-442, VS-802); Laos-285; Cambodia-48; PRC territorial waters-7. Since chartered in 1970, the League has sought the return of all POWs, the fullest possible accounting for the missing, and repatriation of all recoverable remains. The total accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is 999. A breakdown by country of these 999 Americans is: Vietnam – 674, Laos – 280, Cambodia – 42, and the PRC – 3. In addition, 63 US personnel were accounted for between 1973 and 1975, the formal end of the Vietnam War, for a grand total of 1,062. These 63 Americans, were accounted for by US-only efforts in accessible areas, not due to cooperation by post-war governments in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia. A total of 288 have been accounted for from Laos, 729 from Vietnam, 42 from Cambodia and 3 from the PRC.
DPAA & DIA SIGNED FORMAL MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU): On September 17, 2020, DPAA Director Kelly McKeague and then Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director LTG Bob Ashley, USA, signed an MOU to formalize integration of DIA’s Stony Beach Team of specialists into Vietnam War accounting operations. Formed in 1986, and deployed in 1987, well before the accounting mission broadened to include personnel unrecovered from the Korean War, Cold War and World War II, Stony Beach’s sole objective was Vietnam War accounting, focused then, as now, on resolving Last Known Alive (LKA) cases of US personnel initially listed as POW/MIA. This MOU was deemed critically important as a means to fully integrate these highly trained specialists to augment the investigation process while there is still time. Having been repeatedly cautioned about time running out, witnesses dying, remains disintegrating, etc., it is hoped that this formal agreement will expand fully integrated cooperation.
ACCOUNTING OPERATIONS/EVENTS CANCELLED FOR 2020; UNILATERAL SRV RECOVERIES HELPED REDUCE DELAYS CAUSED BY COVID 19: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Defense (DoD) banned all DoD travel in early 2020, and Joint Field Activities (JFAs) in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were canceled. DoD, DIA, State Department and other US agencies are now moving to open up, though some are still teleworking. DIA Headquarters personnel, including Stony Beach specialists, were working in shifts, as were DPAA scientists in the respective laboratories at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and Offutt AFB, Nebraska, but those restrictions are gradually easing.
During the earlier hiatus, DPAA Deputy Director for Operations RDML Darius Banaji, USN, met virtually with the Cambodian POW/MIA Committee. US Ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy and Cambodian Deputy Chairman Sieng Lapresse participated, as did DPAA IndoPacific Regional Director Col Brian Peterson, USMC. Field operations resumed in early February in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia. Also encouraging was a 70-day DPAA partnership recovery with the University of Illinois-Chicago that ended March 23rd and was undertaken at Koh Tong, Cambodia.
During this difficult time, and very significantly, Vietnam fielded three Unilateral Recovery Teams (URTs) that focused on several cases. US teams recently concluded the 142nd Joint Field Activity (JFA) in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam. Reportedly, there were three RTs and one joint Investigation Team (IT) that included DIA Stony Beach specialists. Two Vietnamese URTs were added to plus-up the pace and scope of long-delayed operations. Also in Vietnam, a large Joint Field Activity (JFA) now ongoing includes 3 Recovery Teams (RTs), 1 underwater RT, a Research Investigation Team (RIT), plus 2 SRV URTs.
A Joint Field Activity in Laos was unfortunately canceled when US personnel were not permitted in-country due to further COVID pandemic-related restrictions. Thankfully, DIA’s Stony Beach Lao specialist, permanently in-country, was allowed to utilize the helicopter support previously arranged, so investigations occurred. A JFA in Laos is now ongoing, following a required quarantine at the beginning. It consists of three Recovery Teams.
DPAA continues to conduct WWII, Korean War and Cold War field recoveries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific Region, most recently in Austria and Belgium, and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea. Planning is ongoing for a recovery in Germany, and investigations are planned to take place from May – September in Germany, Poland, Italy, Belgium and Panama, a more recent US Navy incident which DPAA was requested to handle.
KOREAN WAR REMAINS RECOVERIES & IDENTIFICATIONS: There still is no clarity on when/whether agreement to resume remains recovery operations in North Korea will occur, but there is ongoing effort, amid speculation. Reportedly high on the agenda, the subject is something leaders of both countries agree can be pursued on a separate humanitarian basis, regardless of political and/or policy differences. It is hoped working level talks to sort through specific issues related to in-country cooperation can resume soon.
It should be noted that 74 IDs of US personnel have now been made on remains unilaterally repatriated by North Korea in the 55 flag-draped transfer cases, due to agreements reached during the 2018 US-DPRK summit in Singapore. DPAA leaders stated publicly that DNA on as many as 170 US personnel and approximately 80 likely indigenous personnel may be represented by the remains turned over. Prospects are very good for a large number of identified remains of Korean War personnel to be returned to their families for honorable burial because of the high percentage of DNA reference samples that Korean War families have ensured are available. This expectation is also raised due identification of remains disinterred from US cemeteries and from the earlier unilateral DPRK turnover of the K-208, representing an estimated 500-600 individuals.
MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED-FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is 1,584. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on March 14th that US Naval Reserve Cmdr. Paul C. Charvet, 26, killed during the Vietnam War, was accounted for March 1, 2021. On March 21, 1967, his A-1H Skyraider aircraft disappeared near Hon Me Island off the coast of North Vietnam. This recovery was accomplished unilaterally by a Vietnamese Recovery Team; the remains were turned over to the US for identification. This was a significant, important step by Vietnam and one which the League had long advocated, recognizes and appreciates. Until this announcement, there had been no US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War since July 2020. During the DPAA Family/VSO Quarterly Call & Update on April 29th, the Lab affirmed there are NO Vietnam War-related remains awaiting ID.
Of the 1,584 still missing and unaccounted-for, 90% were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Cambodia or Laos under Vietnam’s wartime control: Vietnam-1,244 (VN-442, VS-802); Laos-285; Cambodia-48; PRC territorial waters-7. Since chartered in 1970, the League has sought the return of all POWs, the fullest possible accounting for the missing, and repatriation of all recoverable remains. The total accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is 999. A breakdown by country of these 999 Americans is: Vietnam – 674, Laos – 280, Cambodia – 42, and the PRC – 3. In addition, 63 US personnel were accounted for between 1973 and 1975, the formal end of the Vietnam War, for a grand total of 1,062. These 63 Americans, were accounted for by US-only efforts in accessible areas, not due to cooperation by post-war governments in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia. A total of 288 have been accounted for from Laos, 729 from Vietnam, 42 from Cambodia and 3 from the PRC.
DPAA & DIA SIGNED FORMAL MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU): On September 17, 2020, DPAA Director Kelly McKeague and then Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director LTG Bob Ashley, USA, signed an MOU to formalize integration of DIA’s Stony Beach Team of specialists into Vietnam War accounting operations. Formed in 1986, and deployed in 1987, well before the accounting mission broadened to include personnel unrecovered from the Korean War, Cold War and World War II, Stony Beach’s sole objective was Vietnam War accounting, focused then, as now, on resolving Last Known Alive (LKA) cases of US personnel initially listed as POW/MIA. This MOU was deemed critically important as a means to fully integrate these highly trained specialists to augment the investigation process while there is still time. Having been repeatedly cautioned about time running out, witnesses dying, remains disintegrating, etc., it is hoped that this formal agreement will expand fully integrated cooperation.
ACCOUNTING OPERATIONS/EVENTS CANCELLED FOR 2020; UNILATERAL SRV RECOVERIES HELPED REDUCE DELAYS CAUSED BY COVID 19: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Defense (DoD) banned all DoD travel in early 2020, and Joint Field Activities (JFAs) in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were canceled. DoD, DIA, State Department and other US agencies are now moving to open up, though some are still teleworking. DIA Headquarters personnel, including Stony Beach specialists, were working in shifts, as were DPAA scientists in the respective laboratories at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and Offutt AFB, Nebraska, but those restrictions are gradually easing.
During the earlier hiatus, DPAA Deputy Director for Operations RDML Darius Banaji, USN, met virtually with the Cambodian POW/MIA Committee. US Ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy and Cambodian Deputy Chairman Sieng Lapresse participated, as did DPAA IndoPacific Regional Director Col Brian Peterson, USMC. Field operations resumed in early February in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia. Also encouraging was a 70-day DPAA partnership recovery with the University of Illinois-Chicago that ended March 23rd and was undertaken at Koh Tong, Cambodia.
During this difficult time, and very significantly, Vietnam fielded three Unilateral Recovery Teams (URTs) that focused on several cases. US teams recently concluded the 142nd Joint Field Activity (JFA) in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam. Reportedly, there were three RTs and one joint Investigation Team (IT) that included DIA Stony Beach specialists. Two Vietnamese URTs were added to plus-up the pace and scope of long-delayed operations. Also in Vietnam, a large Joint Field Activity (JFA) now ongoing includes 3 Recovery Teams (RTs), 1 underwater RT, a Research Investigation Team (RIT), plus 2 SRV URTs.
A Joint Field Activity in Laos was unfortunately canceled when US personnel were not permitted in-country due to further COVID pandemic-related restrictions. Thankfully, DIA’s Stony Beach Lao specialist, permanently in-country, was allowed to utilize the helicopter support previously arranged, so investigations occurred. A JFA in Laos is now ongoing, following a required quarantine at the beginning. It consists of three Recovery Teams.
DPAA continues to conduct WWII, Korean War and Cold War field recoveries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific Region, most recently in Austria and Belgium, and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea. Planning is ongoing for a recovery in Germany, and investigations are planned to take place from May – September in Germany, Poland, Italy, Belgium and Panama, a more recent US Navy incident which DPAA was requested to handle.
KOREAN WAR REMAINS RECOVERIES & IDENTIFICATIONS: There still is no clarity on when/whether agreement to resume remains recovery operations in North Korea will occur, but there is ongoing effort, amid speculation. Reportedly high on the agenda, the subject is something leaders of both countries agree can be pursued on a separate humanitarian basis, regardless of political and/or policy differences. It is hoped working level talks to sort through specific issues related to in-country cooperation can resume soon.
It should be noted that 74 IDs of US personnel have now been made on remains unilaterally repatriated by North Korea in the 55 flag-draped transfer cases, due to agreements reached during the 2018 US-DPRK summit in Singapore. DPAA leaders stated publicly that DNA on as many as 170 US personnel and approximately 80 likely indigenous personnel may be represented by the remains turned over. Prospects are very good for a large number of identified remains of Korean War personnel to be returned to their families for honorable burial because of the high percentage of DNA reference samples that Korean War families have ensured are available. This expectation is also raised due identification of remains disinterred from US cemeteries and from the earlier unilateral DPRK turnover of the K-208, representing an estimated 500-600 individuals.
DPAA DISINTERMENT CEREMONY, May 17, 2021: Members of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) salute a casket during a disinterment ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii, May 17, 2021. The ceremony was part of DPAA’s efforts to disinter the remains of unknown service members lost during the Korean War. DPAA’s mission is to achieve the fullest possible accounting for missing and unaccounted-for U.S. personnel to their families and our nation. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jacqueline A. Clifford)
POW/MIA FLAG IN US CAPITOL ROTUNDA: Media coverage of the lawless intrusion at the US Capitol on January 6th visibly showed the POW/MIA flag on display. It is important to understand that the accounting mission is bipartisan-supported and has been since the League was formed on May 28, 1970. With unanimous bipartisan support in the 100th Congress, the League's POW/MIA Flag was installed in the US Capitol Rotunda on March 9, 1989. Since that date, it has been displayed "as a powerful symbol of America’s determination to account for US personnel still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War." The 101st Congress also passed bipartisan legislation recognizing our POW/MIA flag and designating it "the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia."
POW/MIA FLAG REMOVED FROM TOP OF WHITE HOUSE: Despite President Trump’s decision to sign bipartisan-supported House and Senate legislation into law (PL 116-67) on November 7, 2019, the mandate and intention of the National POW/MIA Flag Act was violated. By law, the League-originated POW/MIA flag was, and is, directed to be visibly displayed whenever the US flag is posted on Federal properties, including the White House, the US Capitol, all US Senate and House Buildings, the World War II Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial and the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial, every national cemetery, buildings containing the official offices of the Secretaries of State, Defense and Veterans Affairs and the Director of the Selective Service system, all major military installations, as directed by the Secretary of Defense, all VA medical centers, and all offices of the US Postal Service. On Flag Day, June 14, 2020, the POW/MIA Flag was removed from atop the White House and placed on a separate flag pole, under the US flag, but scarcely visible in a small cluster of trees outside the circular drive around the South Lawn of the White House grounds. More problematic, Flag Day is one of the six days each year when long-existing laws required that our POW/MIA flag be flown, in addition to Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, National POW/MIA Recognition Day and Veterans Day.
POW/MIA FLAG RESTORED TO TOP OF WHITE HOUSE
The League is grateful for the Biden Administration’s decision to restore the POW/MIA flag to its rightful, intended position atop the White House on April 9, 2021. We are also grateful to Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) for their initial introduction of legislation that became the National POW/MIA Flag Act and for asking President Biden to restore our flag to its rightful place.
The League is also grateful to the many who weighed in to support the restoration, as we are to the 100th and 101st Congresses for the meaningful signals their actions conveyed to senior US and foreign officials whose cooperation and responsiveness were and are absolutely necessary to the accounting mission.
Our POW/MIA flag flying under the US flag atop the White House signals worldwide that America stands behind and with those who serve – past, present and future – and, if captured or missing, all reasonable efforts will be made to recover and bring home as many as possible of our missing veterans.
POW/MIA FLAG IN US CAPITOL ROTUNDA: Media coverage of the lawless intrusion at the US Capitol on January 6th visibly showed the POW/MIA flag on display. It is important to understand that the accounting mission is bipartisan-supported and has been since the League was formed on May 28, 1970. With unanimous bipartisan support in the 100th Congress, the League's POW/MIA Flag was installed in the US Capitol Rotunda on March 9, 1989. Since that date, it has been displayed "as a powerful symbol of America’s determination to account for US personnel still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War." The 101st Congress also passed bipartisan legislation recognizing our POW/MIA flag and designating it "the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia."
POW/MIA FLAG REMOVED FROM TOP OF WHITE HOUSE: Despite President Trump’s decision to sign bipartisan-supported House and Senate legislation into law (PL 116-67) on November 7, 2019, the mandate and intention of the National POW/MIA Flag Act was violated. By law, the League-originated POW/MIA flag was, and is, directed to be visibly displayed whenever the US flag is posted on Federal properties, including the White House, the US Capitol, all US Senate and House Buildings, the World War II Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial and the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial, every national cemetery, buildings containing the official offices of the Secretaries of State, Defense and Veterans Affairs and the Director of the Selective Service system, all major military installations, as directed by the Secretary of Defense, all VA medical centers, and all offices of the US Postal Service. On Flag Day, June 14, 2020, the POW/MIA Flag was removed from atop the White House and placed on a separate flag pole, under the US flag, but scarcely visible in a small cluster of trees outside the circular drive around the South Lawn of the White House grounds. More problematic, Flag Day is one of the six days each year when long-existing laws required that our POW/MIA flag be flown, in addition to Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, National POW/MIA Recognition Day and Veterans Day.
POW/MIA FLAG RESTORED TO TOP OF WHITE HOUSE
The League is grateful for the Biden Administration’s decision to restore the POW/MIA flag to its rightful, intended position atop the White House on April 9, 2021. We are also grateful to Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) for their initial introduction of legislation that became the National POW/MIA Flag Act and for asking President Biden to restore our flag to its rightful place.
The League is also grateful to the many who weighed in to support the restoration, as we are to the 100th and 101st Congresses for the meaningful signals their actions conveyed to senior US and foreign officials whose cooperation and responsiveness were and are absolutely necessary to the accounting mission.
Our POW/MIA flag flying under the US flag atop the White House signals worldwide that America stands behind and with those who serve – past, present and future – and, if captured or missing, all reasonable efforts will be made to recover and bring home as many as possible of our missing veterans.
VETERAN SERVICE ORGANIZATION (VSO) SUPPORT CONTINUES
THE AMERICAN LEGION (from website): The American Legion is committed to achieving a full accounting of all POW/MIAs from the Gulf War, Vietnam War, Cold War, Korean War and World War II. This means returning living POWs, the repatriation of their remains, or finding convincing evidence why neither of these is possible. The American Legion supports the continued declassification of all POW/MIA information, the strengthening of joint commissions with Russia, North Korea and China, and adequate resourcing of investigative efforts and field operations to resolve POW/MIA issues. The American Legion has also worked continuously with both Congress and DoD to improve the policies and programs for the accountability of missing persons. This includes urging the President and Congress to fully fund the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) for its current and future mission of ensuring the accountability of US servicemembers. The American Legion will continue to speak out and exert maximum pressure on both the administration and on Congress to fully account for America's POW/MIAs.
AMERICAN VETERANS (AMVETS): In addition to demanding accountability from the government for service members missing in action, AMVETS announced that in addition to calling attention to the need to account as fully as possible for America’s POW/MIAs, their 2021 Rolling to Remember will also focus on the veterans suicide epidemic…….”It is a serious demonstration to bring awareness and accountability for POWs and MIAs left behind and suicide prevention,” AMVETS National Executive Director Joe Chenelly said. “Millions of motorcycle-riding patriots from all walks of life, from every corner of the United States, and even from other countries, have spent their Memorial Day weekends for the past three-plus decades in our nation’s capital because they want to make a real difference. This event will ensure those who take part are making a difference. The number of congressional offices displaying the POW/MIA flag has dropped from nearly all to just about half over the past 10 years.” An AMVETS official stated, “That’s unacceptable. Perhaps they didn’t realize how meaningful and purposeful it is to display that flag. I hope that by the time Rolling to Remember is upon us, 100 percent of the offices will have it up, properly.” AMVETS stated an up-to-date list would be published showing which lawmakers are displaying the POW/MIA flag outside their offices on Capitol Hill.
DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS (DAV), RESOLUTION #176: RESOLVED, that DAV in National Convention assembled in Orlando, FL, August 3-6, 2019, urges the U.S. government to ensure this issue be considered as one of America’s highest priorities by accelerating efforts to obtain the release of any American who may still be held captive and obtain, to the fullest possible extent, an accounting of those still missing and the repatriation of the remains of those who died while serving our nation; AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we urge the government of the SRV to increase its unilateral efforts to account for American POW/MIAs, including locating and making available remains of Americans last known alive in captivity that have not previously been returned. RESOLUTION #341: RESOLVED that DAV remains steadfast in its commitment to the goal of achieving the fullest possible accounting for all U.S. military and designated civilian personnel missing from our nation’s wars; AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call on our government to support personnel increases and full funding for the efforts of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL), including specific authorization to augment assigned personnel when additional assets and resources are necessary.
JEWISH WAR VETERANS (JWV), from the testimony of National Commander Jeffrey Sacks before the Joint House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees, March 4, 2021: “For many years, JWV has consistently sought the return of all POWs, the fullest possible accounting for the missing, and repatriation of all recoverable remains. At every National Executive meeting, JWV displays the POW/MIA flag in front of the dais to show our continued support. JWV asks the Congress to provide the necessary personnel and funding to continue to make every effort to bring closure to the families of the missing. The number of still missing and otherwise unaccounted for service members from the Vietnam War is 1,584. The Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America urges Congress to provide adequate funding to support the greatest possible accounting of missing service members and the repatriation of all recoverable remains. JWV remains a strong advocate for the return of all those missing in action and prisoners of war. It’s important that as many families as possible have closure.”
SPECIAL OPERATIONS ASSOCIATION/SPECIAL FORCES ASSOCIATION/ (SOA/SFA), from LTC Mike Taylor, USA, (Ret), Vice President, SOA, and Chairman of the SOA/SFA POW/MIA Committee, May 21, 2021:
“The SOA POW/MIA Committee was not very active until 2013. New leadership and new members quickly realized that SFA had no such committee, despite serious interest in the accounting mission. An SOA proposal to form a Joint SOA/SFA POW/MIA Committee was quickly adopted by SFA, and we’ve since been very busy representing 12,000+ Army Special Forces, Navy Seals, Marine Force Recon, Air Commandos and our supporting air assets.
Our mission: (1) Represent SOA and SFA on all matters related to the accounting mission and support those working responsibly to account as fully as possible for missing and unrecovered personnel from all previous wars and conflicts, especially from the Vietnam War in which most of us fought and knew those still missing; and (2) keep SOA and SFA members informed regarding the accounting mission. Our committee attends national conferences to represent SOA/SFA and attends regional DPAA Family Member Updates to assist and support family members of special operations personnel. Our members have accompanied DPAA and predecessor organizations on in-country investigation and survey teams to provide eye-witness insights directly from participants in operations where our missing brothers were lost.
We encourage SOA and SFA members to (1) provide accounting-related data to DPAA and DIA officials; and (2) support the accounting mission budget with their Congressional representatives. We understand that a full accounting will never be possible and that DPAA pledges that Vietnam War accounting is their highest operational priority; but the fact remains that there has been only one Vietnam War ID since July 2020, and the last remains ID of one of our lost brothers resulted in his burial with honors on May 11, 2018. We urge DPAA to restore the once robust Vietnam War research and analysis capability that has been allowed to deteriorate shockingly. We applaud the sterling efforts of DIA’s Stony Beach Team; their significant and expanding contributions are sorely needed and greatly appreciated. We also found DPAA recovery teams in the field worthy of special commendation. Team members spend a great deal of time away from home, working under often difficult conditions, and they are doing a terrific job. If Vietnam War accounting is truly DPAA’s top priority, there should be a full-court press on increasing field operations which have dropped to a small number, as compared to the prior historical pace.
VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA (VVA), from testimony of VVA President John Rowan before the Joint House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees, March 4, 2021: “THE FULLEST POSSIBLE ACCOUNTING of America’s POW/MIAs has long been our solemn priority. VVA continues to press for answers regarding those Americans still missing and listed as killed in action, body not recovered, in the Southeast Asia theatre of operations. We must insist that Congress fund the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) with what is required to investigate potential crash and burial sites, and to recover and identify remains. This is the 27th year of our Veterans Initiative Program. We continue to assist our former enemy in locating their unrecovered loved ones by providing fate-clarifying information such as maps of mass burial sites, ID cards, photos, and more. As we continue to work veteran-to-veteran with our former enemy, we have strengthened the trust between American and Vietnamese veterans and have encouraged the continued cooperation by Vietnamese authorities with DoD search teams.”
VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS (VFW), from testimony of VFW Commander-in-Chief Harold J. “Hal” Roesch, II, before the Joint House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs, March 18, 2021: “Locating, identifying, and recovering the remains of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our country from conflicts spanning nearly 80 years is a difficult and hazardous mission, but it is one of the most important obligations that we have as a grateful nation. It is a promise to those serving in uniform today that no matter what, we will travel to the ends of the Earth to return you home to your families. As an Air Force veteran who served in Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield, I am fully aware of the cost of war and the importance of returning fallen veterans to their loved ones. Congress must continue to support full mission funding and personnel staffing for DPAA, as well as its supporting agencies, such as the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory and the military service casualty offices. The fullest possible accounting mission remains a top priority for the VFW, and we will not rest until every possible missing American military service member is brought home.”
VIETNAM WAR ACCOUNTING EFFORTS
RDML Darius Banaji, USN, DPAA Deputy Director for Operations, speaks with Mike Taylor, SOA/SFA POW/MIA Committee Chair, at the Family Member Update (FMU) hosted by DPAA in Portland, Oregon, February 22, 2020. DPAA visited the area meeting with strategic partners, government leadership, service members and DoD personnel. 259 family members representing 136 losses attended the FMU. The breakdown by conflict was Vietnam War: 43 family members representing 18 losses; Korean/Cold War: 88 family members representing 48 losses; and WWII: 127 family members representing 48 losses. (USAF photo by SSgt Leah Ferrante)
THE AMERICAN LEGION (from website): The American Legion is committed to achieving a full accounting of all POW/MIAs from the Gulf War, Vietnam War, Cold War, Korean War and World War II. This means returning living POWs, the repatriation of their remains, or finding convincing evidence why neither of these is possible. The American Legion supports the continued declassification of all POW/MIA information, the strengthening of joint commissions with Russia, North Korea and China, and adequate resourcing of investigative efforts and field operations to resolve POW/MIA issues. The American Legion has also worked continuously with both Congress and DoD to improve the policies and programs for the accountability of missing persons. This includes urging the President and Congress to fully fund the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) for its current and future mission of ensuring the accountability of US servicemembers. The American Legion will continue to speak out and exert maximum pressure on both the administration and on Congress to fully account for America's POW/MIAs.
AMERICAN VETERANS (AMVETS): In addition to demanding accountability from the government for service members missing in action, AMVETS announced that in addition to calling attention to the need to account as fully as possible for America’s POW/MIAs, their 2021 Rolling to Remember will also focus on the veterans suicide epidemic…….”It is a serious demonstration to bring awareness and accountability for POWs and MIAs left behind and suicide prevention,” AMVETS National Executive Director Joe Chenelly said. “Millions of motorcycle-riding patriots from all walks of life, from every corner of the United States, and even from other countries, have spent their Memorial Day weekends for the past three-plus decades in our nation’s capital because they want to make a real difference. This event will ensure those who take part are making a difference. The number of congressional offices displaying the POW/MIA flag has dropped from nearly all to just about half over the past 10 years.” An AMVETS official stated, “That’s unacceptable. Perhaps they didn’t realize how meaningful and purposeful it is to display that flag. I hope that by the time Rolling to Remember is upon us, 100 percent of the offices will have it up, properly.” AMVETS stated an up-to-date list would be published showing which lawmakers are displaying the POW/MIA flag outside their offices on Capitol Hill.
DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS (DAV), RESOLUTION #176: RESOLVED, that DAV in National Convention assembled in Orlando, FL, August 3-6, 2019, urges the U.S. government to ensure this issue be considered as one of America’s highest priorities by accelerating efforts to obtain the release of any American who may still be held captive and obtain, to the fullest possible extent, an accounting of those still missing and the repatriation of the remains of those who died while serving our nation; AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we urge the government of the SRV to increase its unilateral efforts to account for American POW/MIAs, including locating and making available remains of Americans last known alive in captivity that have not previously been returned. RESOLUTION #341: RESOLVED that DAV remains steadfast in its commitment to the goal of achieving the fullest possible accounting for all U.S. military and designated civilian personnel missing from our nation’s wars; AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call on our government to support personnel increases and full funding for the efforts of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL), including specific authorization to augment assigned personnel when additional assets and resources are necessary.
JEWISH WAR VETERANS (JWV), from the testimony of National Commander Jeffrey Sacks before the Joint House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees, March 4, 2021: “For many years, JWV has consistently sought the return of all POWs, the fullest possible accounting for the missing, and repatriation of all recoverable remains. At every National Executive meeting, JWV displays the POW/MIA flag in front of the dais to show our continued support. JWV asks the Congress to provide the necessary personnel and funding to continue to make every effort to bring closure to the families of the missing. The number of still missing and otherwise unaccounted for service members from the Vietnam War is 1,584. The Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America urges Congress to provide adequate funding to support the greatest possible accounting of missing service members and the repatriation of all recoverable remains. JWV remains a strong advocate for the return of all those missing in action and prisoners of war. It’s important that as many families as possible have closure.”
SPECIAL OPERATIONS ASSOCIATION/SPECIAL FORCES ASSOCIATION/ (SOA/SFA), from LTC Mike Taylor, USA, (Ret), Vice President, SOA, and Chairman of the SOA/SFA POW/MIA Committee, May 21, 2021:
“The SOA POW/MIA Committee was not very active until 2013. New leadership and new members quickly realized that SFA had no such committee, despite serious interest in the accounting mission. An SOA proposal to form a Joint SOA/SFA POW/MIA Committee was quickly adopted by SFA, and we’ve since been very busy representing 12,000+ Army Special Forces, Navy Seals, Marine Force Recon, Air Commandos and our supporting air assets.
Our mission: (1) Represent SOA and SFA on all matters related to the accounting mission and support those working responsibly to account as fully as possible for missing and unrecovered personnel from all previous wars and conflicts, especially from the Vietnam War in which most of us fought and knew those still missing; and (2) keep SOA and SFA members informed regarding the accounting mission. Our committee attends national conferences to represent SOA/SFA and attends regional DPAA Family Member Updates to assist and support family members of special operations personnel. Our members have accompanied DPAA and predecessor organizations on in-country investigation and survey teams to provide eye-witness insights directly from participants in operations where our missing brothers were lost.
We encourage SOA and SFA members to (1) provide accounting-related data to DPAA and DIA officials; and (2) support the accounting mission budget with their Congressional representatives. We understand that a full accounting will never be possible and that DPAA pledges that Vietnam War accounting is their highest operational priority; but the fact remains that there has been only one Vietnam War ID since July 2020, and the last remains ID of one of our lost brothers resulted in his burial with honors on May 11, 2018. We urge DPAA to restore the once robust Vietnam War research and analysis capability that has been allowed to deteriorate shockingly. We applaud the sterling efforts of DIA’s Stony Beach Team; their significant and expanding contributions are sorely needed and greatly appreciated. We also found DPAA recovery teams in the field worthy of special commendation. Team members spend a great deal of time away from home, working under often difficult conditions, and they are doing a terrific job. If Vietnam War accounting is truly DPAA’s top priority, there should be a full-court press on increasing field operations which have dropped to a small number, as compared to the prior historical pace.
VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA (VVA), from testimony of VVA President John Rowan before the Joint House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees, March 4, 2021: “THE FULLEST POSSIBLE ACCOUNTING of America’s POW/MIAs has long been our solemn priority. VVA continues to press for answers regarding those Americans still missing and listed as killed in action, body not recovered, in the Southeast Asia theatre of operations. We must insist that Congress fund the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) with what is required to investigate potential crash and burial sites, and to recover and identify remains. This is the 27th year of our Veterans Initiative Program. We continue to assist our former enemy in locating their unrecovered loved ones by providing fate-clarifying information such as maps of mass burial sites, ID cards, photos, and more. As we continue to work veteran-to-veteran with our former enemy, we have strengthened the trust between American and Vietnamese veterans and have encouraged the continued cooperation by Vietnamese authorities with DoD search teams.”
VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS (VFW), from testimony of VFW Commander-in-Chief Harold J. “Hal” Roesch, II, before the Joint House and Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs, March 18, 2021: “Locating, identifying, and recovering the remains of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our country from conflicts spanning nearly 80 years is a difficult and hazardous mission, but it is one of the most important obligations that we have as a grateful nation. It is a promise to those serving in uniform today that no matter what, we will travel to the ends of the Earth to return you home to your families. As an Air Force veteran who served in Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield, I am fully aware of the cost of war and the importance of returning fallen veterans to their loved ones. Congress must continue to support full mission funding and personnel staffing for DPAA, as well as its supporting agencies, such as the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory and the military service casualty offices. The fullest possible accounting mission remains a top priority for the VFW, and we will not rest until every possible missing American military service member is brought home.”
VIETNAM WAR ACCOUNTING EFFORTS
RDML Darius Banaji, USN, DPAA Deputy Director for Operations, speaks with Mike Taylor, SOA/SFA POW/MIA Committee Chair, at the Family Member Update (FMU) hosted by DPAA in Portland, Oregon, February 22, 2020. DPAA visited the area meeting with strategic partners, government leadership, service members and DoD personnel. 259 family members representing 136 losses attended the FMU. The breakdown by conflict was Vietnam War: 43 family members representing 18 losses; Korean/Cold War: 88 family members representing 48 losses; and WWII: 127 family members representing 48 losses. (USAF photo by SSgt Leah Ferrante)
FIELD OPERATIONS IN LAOS AND CAMBODIA, JANUARY/FEBRUARY, 2020
US Ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy, prepares to screen dirt during a DPAA recovery mission in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia, February 1, 2020.
US Ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy, prepares to screen dirt during a DPAA recovery mission in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia, February 1, 2020.
During his visit, Amb. Murphy spoke with DPAA recovery team members and local nationals and witnessed the recovery efforts for a missing US service member lost during the Vietnam War. Ambassador Murphy continues to be a helpful champion of the accounting mission, and for that we extend our deepest gratitude. (USAF photo by SSgt Rusty Frank)
Mr. Alexander Garcia-Putnam, right, a senior recovery expert assigned to DPAA, speaks to US service members and Lao officials during a joint field activity (JFA) in Khammouan Province, Laos, February 2, 2020.
During the JFA, a group of more than 70 personnel, assigned to DPAA and augmented from military units around the globe, worked together to help fulfill our nation's promise to provide the fullest possible accounting of our missing personnel. (USMC photo by Sgt Jacqueline Clifford)
SSG Carter Caraker, USA, a DPAA supply non-commissioned officer, passes buckets to local workers during a JFA in Khammouan Province, Laos, February 10, 2020. During the JFA, a group of more than 70 personnel, assigned to DPAA and augmented from military units around the globe, worked together to help fulfill our nation's promise to provide the fullest possible accounting of our missing personnel. (USMC photo by Sgt Jacqueline Clifford)
Photos taken during field operations are regularly posted on DPAA’s website, https://www.dpaa.mil/.
US-RUSSIA JOINT COMMISSION ON POW/MIA: The 23rd Plenum scheduled for November 2020 was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Russian President Putin demonstrated his country’s continued commitment to the USRJC by filling long-standing vacancies on the Russian side of the Commission, including officials from the Russian security services, Armed Forces General Staff, and legislators from the Duma and Federation Council. The US and Russian Chairmen General Robert “Doc” Foglesong, USAF (Ret), and Russian Chairman Colonel General Valery Vostrotin talk regularly by phone, and plans continue for virtual working level sessions to be held and the Plenum rescheduled in 2021. Despite tension between the US and Russia, including expulsion of US and Russian diplomats from each country, it appears that both sides continue to respect earlier agreement to sustain direct bilateral dialogue on the accounting mission as a separate humanitarian effort.
LEAGUE 51ST ANNUAL MEETING IS A GO! As previously announced, no annual meeting could be held in 2020 and it was rescheduled for June 23-27, 2021. After further COVID-19 requirements to again re-schedule, the 51st Annual Meeting is now set for September 15-19, 2021. It appears that DoD travel restrictions will be lifted, thus Service-supported travel for eligible next-of-kin (two family members representing each Vietnam War missing serviceman or civilian) will be available as stipulated by law years ago. The Hilton Crystal City Hotel is now open on a limited basis; restrictions are easing rapidly and are expected to be fully lifted before September.
This year, National POW/MIA Recognition Day falls on Friday, September 17th, in the midst of our rescheduled 51st Annual Meeting. As a result, we’re hopeful that this meaningful commemoration will be hosted by President Biden and held for only the second time ever, on the South Lawn of the White House, where President Reagan hosted it on July 20, 1984. It was during this first White House commemoration that the accounting mission’s status as “a matter of highest national priority” for the United States was reinforced.
This positive action by the Biden Administration would also clearly signal that America’s determination to account as fully as possible for those who served our nation and have yet to come home will be sustained as the bipartisan-supported, non-political humanitarian mission that it is. The positive messages that can, and hopefully will, result from President Biden hosting this event at the White House are enormous, will expand the pace and scope of US and partner nation efforts, and have tremendous worldwide impact.
LEAGUE 2021-2023 BOARD OF DIRECTORS ELECTION POSTPONED: The Board of Directors Election for 2021-2023 was postponed and will be held prior to the 51st Annual Meeting, with results announced at that time. Applications to run for the 2021-2023 Board can be accessed on the League website, www.pow-miafamilies.org, and will soon be sent to all League family members by US Postal Service.
DPAA-HOSTED FAMILY MEMBER UPDATES: Last year, DPAA cancelled Family Member Updates previously scheduled from March through the end of the year. Virtual FMU’s were then arranged and have continued, and individual case reviews can also be arranged virtually with US officials.
CHAIRMAN’S COMMENTS: It will soon be two full years since we gathered to celebrate the League’s 50th Anniversary Annual Meeting in June 2019. Inspiring and motivational as it was to have with us so many near-legendary former officials attesting to 50 years of League efforts seeking answers, many challenges were already apparent and others were building. I waited much too long to share my thoughts on where things stand. I can wait no longer, despite my concern over serious disappointment on impacted family members, countless veterans and other dedicated Americans who’ve been key to sustaining the League all these years.
Background: The greatest disappointment and frustration has been DPAA’s failure to learn from, overcome and get beyond the initial, failed restructure, directed by former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in early 2014 with the League’s strong support and encouragement. Unfortunately, the well-coordinated, valid restructure plan was dropped by the flag officer and his team to implement as directed. With little knowledge of the accounting mission or prior successful policy and implementation, the result was a dysfunctional DPAA with no informed, integrated policy foundation to guide decisions by the military officers given responsibility for regional operations. What was intended to be a well-informed, civilian-led DoD agency, became an operational command, without an evidence-based assessment of expectations or policy guidance on the way ahead to achieve the fullest possible accounting on original status POW/MIA and KIA/BNR Vietnam War personnel. All were initially very pleased by the selection of Kelly McKeague as DPAA Director, familiar with the Vietnam War accounting mission as the last Commander of Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC). Unfortunately he inherited the misguided, dysfunctional structure that is finally beginning to change for the better, but will take more time.
Current Situation: After nearly four years of League appeals for an objective intelligence assessment of where the VN War accounting mission stands as compared with original evidence-based expectations, DPAA finally sent a request in October 2020 for an outside intelligence assessment to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security. Since then, little information has been available. Our Senior Policy Advisor Richard “Dick” Childress (President Reagan’s NSC point man, 1981-89) and I combed through countless documents and sent them to key US officials to ensure they would have the evidentiary foundation from which to undertake a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE). I know we all earnestly hope for qualified, objective analysts to produce this critical assessment. There must be no political bias or personal agenda as was the case in a pre-normalization assessment conducted in the early 1990s. This assessment is necessary as the basis for DPAA to develop policy for the way ahead to achieve realistic accounting goals. If there is no foundation, policy can’t be formed. Without policy approved by interagency leadership, effective implementation to achieve established goals has no foundation. To me, this is common sense, but it sometimes seems that knowledge, experience, integrity and common sense are sorely lacking in some bureaucracies today.
The Challenges: DPAA’s regionally-led military operational leadership, versus the intended civilian-led DoD agency, resulted in agency dysfunction and low morale. Frustration over forced internal reassignments brought reduced job satisfaction, resulting in change requests and retirements – a few age-related – of dedicated, knowledgeable civilians. Not only were the League and our supporters frustrated over decreased answers and accounting results, so were loyal, committed long-time specialists determined to stick with us. That is where we now are: pushing for changes urgently needed to enable today’s DPAA to meet, and hopefully exceed accounting goals. To accomplish the long-sought changes outlined in Secretary Hagel’s 2014 directed restructure, the League must continue to be viable, with a strong Board of Directors and reliable funding to hire a qualified Executive Director to represent our interests. While I’ve decided to again be a candidate for the 2021-23 Board of Directors, I feel it would be irresponsible for me to continue as CEO/Executive Director at the approaching age of 80! We must have well-informed, capable representation here in DC and with foreign officials whose cooperation DPAA and DIA must have to succeed.
THAT MEANS THE LEAGUE NEEDS FUNDING NOW AND IN THE FUTURE! You daily see TV appeals for commitment of $10 or $11 a month to help injured veterans or provide support to surviving families, both worthy causes. I haven’t asked in years, but now must ask for your commitment going forward, via our website or by check to the League Office. There is no alternative but to ask for your commitment now! Reliable funding for the League is critical to sustaining USG priority and interest – congressional key departments and agencies – as well as that of foreign countries.
league_newsletter__5-30-21.pdf
Photos taken during field operations are regularly posted on DPAA’s website, https://www.dpaa.mil/.
US-RUSSIA JOINT COMMISSION ON POW/MIA: The 23rd Plenum scheduled for November 2020 was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Russian President Putin demonstrated his country’s continued commitment to the USRJC by filling long-standing vacancies on the Russian side of the Commission, including officials from the Russian security services, Armed Forces General Staff, and legislators from the Duma and Federation Council. The US and Russian Chairmen General Robert “Doc” Foglesong, USAF (Ret), and Russian Chairman Colonel General Valery Vostrotin talk regularly by phone, and plans continue for virtual working level sessions to be held and the Plenum rescheduled in 2021. Despite tension between the US and Russia, including expulsion of US and Russian diplomats from each country, it appears that both sides continue to respect earlier agreement to sustain direct bilateral dialogue on the accounting mission as a separate humanitarian effort.
LEAGUE 51ST ANNUAL MEETING IS A GO! As previously announced, no annual meeting could be held in 2020 and it was rescheduled for June 23-27, 2021. After further COVID-19 requirements to again re-schedule, the 51st Annual Meeting is now set for September 15-19, 2021. It appears that DoD travel restrictions will be lifted, thus Service-supported travel for eligible next-of-kin (two family members representing each Vietnam War missing serviceman or civilian) will be available as stipulated by law years ago. The Hilton Crystal City Hotel is now open on a limited basis; restrictions are easing rapidly and are expected to be fully lifted before September.
This year, National POW/MIA Recognition Day falls on Friday, September 17th, in the midst of our rescheduled 51st Annual Meeting. As a result, we’re hopeful that this meaningful commemoration will be hosted by President Biden and held for only the second time ever, on the South Lawn of the White House, where President Reagan hosted it on July 20, 1984. It was during this first White House commemoration that the accounting mission’s status as “a matter of highest national priority” for the United States was reinforced.
This positive action by the Biden Administration would also clearly signal that America’s determination to account as fully as possible for those who served our nation and have yet to come home will be sustained as the bipartisan-supported, non-political humanitarian mission that it is. The positive messages that can, and hopefully will, result from President Biden hosting this event at the White House are enormous, will expand the pace and scope of US and partner nation efforts, and have tremendous worldwide impact.
LEAGUE 2021-2023 BOARD OF DIRECTORS ELECTION POSTPONED: The Board of Directors Election for 2021-2023 was postponed and will be held prior to the 51st Annual Meeting, with results announced at that time. Applications to run for the 2021-2023 Board can be accessed on the League website, www.pow-miafamilies.org, and will soon be sent to all League family members by US Postal Service.
DPAA-HOSTED FAMILY MEMBER UPDATES: Last year, DPAA cancelled Family Member Updates previously scheduled from March through the end of the year. Virtual FMU’s were then arranged and have continued, and individual case reviews can also be arranged virtually with US officials.
CHAIRMAN’S COMMENTS: It will soon be two full years since we gathered to celebrate the League’s 50th Anniversary Annual Meeting in June 2019. Inspiring and motivational as it was to have with us so many near-legendary former officials attesting to 50 years of League efforts seeking answers, many challenges were already apparent and others were building. I waited much too long to share my thoughts on where things stand. I can wait no longer, despite my concern over serious disappointment on impacted family members, countless veterans and other dedicated Americans who’ve been key to sustaining the League all these years.
Background: The greatest disappointment and frustration has been DPAA’s failure to learn from, overcome and get beyond the initial, failed restructure, directed by former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in early 2014 with the League’s strong support and encouragement. Unfortunately, the well-coordinated, valid restructure plan was dropped by the flag officer and his team to implement as directed. With little knowledge of the accounting mission or prior successful policy and implementation, the result was a dysfunctional DPAA with no informed, integrated policy foundation to guide decisions by the military officers given responsibility for regional operations. What was intended to be a well-informed, civilian-led DoD agency, became an operational command, without an evidence-based assessment of expectations or policy guidance on the way ahead to achieve the fullest possible accounting on original status POW/MIA and KIA/BNR Vietnam War personnel. All were initially very pleased by the selection of Kelly McKeague as DPAA Director, familiar with the Vietnam War accounting mission as the last Commander of Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC). Unfortunately he inherited the misguided, dysfunctional structure that is finally beginning to change for the better, but will take more time.
Current Situation: After nearly four years of League appeals for an objective intelligence assessment of where the VN War accounting mission stands as compared with original evidence-based expectations, DPAA finally sent a request in October 2020 for an outside intelligence assessment to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security. Since then, little information has been available. Our Senior Policy Advisor Richard “Dick” Childress (President Reagan’s NSC point man, 1981-89) and I combed through countless documents and sent them to key US officials to ensure they would have the evidentiary foundation from which to undertake a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE). I know we all earnestly hope for qualified, objective analysts to produce this critical assessment. There must be no political bias or personal agenda as was the case in a pre-normalization assessment conducted in the early 1990s. This assessment is necessary as the basis for DPAA to develop policy for the way ahead to achieve realistic accounting goals. If there is no foundation, policy can’t be formed. Without policy approved by interagency leadership, effective implementation to achieve established goals has no foundation. To me, this is common sense, but it sometimes seems that knowledge, experience, integrity and common sense are sorely lacking in some bureaucracies today.
The Challenges: DPAA’s regionally-led military operational leadership, versus the intended civilian-led DoD agency, resulted in agency dysfunction and low morale. Frustration over forced internal reassignments brought reduced job satisfaction, resulting in change requests and retirements – a few age-related – of dedicated, knowledgeable civilians. Not only were the League and our supporters frustrated over decreased answers and accounting results, so were loyal, committed long-time specialists determined to stick with us. That is where we now are: pushing for changes urgently needed to enable today’s DPAA to meet, and hopefully exceed accounting goals. To accomplish the long-sought changes outlined in Secretary Hagel’s 2014 directed restructure, the League must continue to be viable, with a strong Board of Directors and reliable funding to hire a qualified Executive Director to represent our interests. While I’ve decided to again be a candidate for the 2021-23 Board of Directors, I feel it would be irresponsible for me to continue as CEO/Executive Director at the approaching age of 80! We must have well-informed, capable representation here in DC and with foreign officials whose cooperation DPAA and DIA must have to succeed.
THAT MEANS THE LEAGUE NEEDS FUNDING NOW AND IN THE FUTURE! You daily see TV appeals for commitment of $10 or $11 a month to help injured veterans or provide support to surviving families, both worthy causes. I haven’t asked in years, but now must ask for your commitment going forward, via our website or by check to the League Office. There is no alternative but to ask for your commitment now! Reliable funding for the League is critical to sustaining USG priority and interest – congressional key departments and agencies – as well as that of foreign countries.
league_newsletter__5-30-21.pdf
Update: May 16,2021
MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED-FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is 1,584. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on March 14th that U.S. Naval Reserve Cmdr. Paul C. Charvet, 26, killed during the Vietnam War, was accounted for March 1, 2021. On March 21, 1967, his A-1H Skyraider airplane disappeared near Hon Me Island off the coast of North Vietnam. Until this announcement, there had been no US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War since July 2020. During the “DPAA Family/VSO Quarterly Call and Update” on April 29th, the Lab affirmed that there are NO Vietnam War-related remains awaiting ID. DPAA laboratories and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) continue to focus efforts on identifying remains previously recovered, turned over unilaterally by foreign countries or buried in US cemeteries as unknowns, disinterred then identified.
Of the 1,584 still missing and unaccounted-for, 90% were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Cambodia or Laos under Vietnam’s wartime control: Vietnam-1,244 (VN-442, VS-802); Laos-285; Cambodia-48; PRC territorial waters-7. Since chartered in 1970, the League has sought the return of all POWs, the fullest possible accounting for the missing, and repatriation of all recoverable remains. The total accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is 999. A breakdown by country of these 999 Americans is: Vietnam – 674, Laos – 280, Cambodia – 42, and the PRC – 3. In addition, 63 US personnel were accounted for between 1973 and 1975, the formal end of the Vietnam War, for a grand total of 1,062. A total of 288 have been accounted for from Laos, 729 from Vietnam, 42 from Cambodia and 3 from the PRC. These 63 Americans, were accounted for by US-only efforts in accessible areas, not due to cooperation by post-war governments in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia.
ACCOUNTING OPERATIONS/EVENTS CANCELLED FOR 2020; UNILATERAL SRV RECOVERIES HELPED REDUCE THE DELAYS CAUSED BY COVID 19: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Defense (DoD) banned all DoD travel in early 2020, and Joint Field Activities (JFAs) in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were canceled. During this hiatus, DPAA Deputy Director for Operations RDML Darius Banaji, USN, met virtually with the Cambodian POW/MIA Committee. US Ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy and Cambodian Deputy Chairman Sieng Lapresse participated, as did DPAA IndoPacific Regional Director Col Brian Peterson, USMC.
Also during this difficult time, Vietnam fielded three Unilateral Recovery Teams (URTs) that focused on several cases. Though DPAA has provided few details, some remains were reportedly recovered. DoD, DIA, State Department and other US agencies are still largely teleworking, but some are alternating schedules to try to ensure greater in-person coverage and productivity. DIA Headquarters personnel, including Stony Beach specialists, are working in shifts, as are DPAA scientists in the respective laboratories at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and Offutt AFB, Nebraska. In Vietnam, a large Joint Field Activity (JFA) will include 3 Recovery Teams (RTs), 1 underwater RT, a Research Investigation Team (RIT), plus 2 SRV URTs.
Field operations resumed in early February in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia. A DPAA “partnership” 70-day recovery, ending March 23rd, was undertaken at Koh Tong, Cambodia, with the University of Illinois-Chicago. US teams recently concluded the 142nd Joint Field Activity (JFA) in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam. Reportedly, there were three RTs and one joint Investigation Team (IT) that included DIA Stony Beach specialists. Two Vietnamese URTs were added to plus-up the pace and scope of long-delayed operations.
A Joint Field Activity in Laos was unfortunately canceled when US personnel were not permitted in-country due to further COVID pandemic-related restrictions. Thankfully, DIA’s Stony Beach Lao specialist, permanently in-country, was allowed to utilize the helicopter support previously arranged, so investigations occurred, though no further information is available as to what was accomplished. A JFA in Laos is now ongoing, following a required quarantine at the beginning. It consists of three Recovery Teams.
DPAA continues to conduct WWII, Korean War and Cold War field recoveries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific Region, most recently in Austria and Belgium, and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea. Planning is ongoing for a recovery in Germans, and investigations are planned to take place from May – September in Germany, Poland, Italy, Belgium and Panama, a later US Navy incident on which DPAA was requested to handle. The latest large-scale unilateral turnover of remains was the K55 repatriation that followed the Singapore Agreement reached in the summer of 2018 by former President Trump and DPRK President Kim Jong Un. Reportedly, DPAA’s Lab has made 74 IDs on the comingled remains, estimated to possibly be those of as many as 160-170 US personnel. Eighty remains believed to be those of indigenous personnel were turned over to the South Korean Government.
LEAGUE 51ST ANNUAL MEETING TO BE HELD SEPTEMBER 15-19, 2021: As previously announced, no annual meeting could be held in 2020, was rescheduled for June 23-27, 2021, and, after again re-scheduling, the 51st Annual Meeting will be held September 15-19, 2021. It is increasingly looking like DoD travel restrictions will be lifted, meaning COIN Assist travel for eligible next-of-kin will be available. Hilton Crystal City Hotel is now open on a limited basis, and we’re hoping for fewer restrictions and greater normalcy by September.
The Board of Directors Election for 2021-2023 was postponed and will be held prior to the 51st Annual Meeting, with results announced at that time. Applications to run for the Board can be accessed on the League website and will be sent in advance by USPS by the end of this month to all League family members.
DPAA-HOSTED FAMILY MEMBER UPDATES: Last year, DPAA cancelled Family Member Updates previously scheduled for March, April, May, August and September. DPAA-hosted Annual Government Briefings for Korean War/Cold War Families, previously planned for August, 2020, were also cancelled and are now scheduled for August, 2021. The next DPAA FMU will again be virtual and held May 22nd in Oklahoma City, OK. During all such FMUs, individual case reviews can be held virtually with US officials.
SUPPORT THE LEAGUE: You can support the League on Facebook by creating a fundraiser to celebrate meaningful occasions and events. Opportunities are nearly endless, ranging from appeals for donations to the League in lieu of birthday gifts or to honor a missing loved one on the anniversary of his loss and, if returned, his story commemorating his recovery, etc. If you would like to create a fundraiser to benefit the League, visit www.facebook.com/fund/powmiafamilies. 100% of the proceeds raised from your Facebook fundraiser will benefit the League!
You and your family, friends and colleagues can also support the League by shopping at Amazon Smile. It is simple and automatic, at no extra cost to you. Just visit https://smile.amazon.com/ch/23-7071242, and you will find the exact same prices, vast selection and convenient shopping to which you may be increasingly accustomed. The added bonus? The Amazon Smile Foundation automatically donates 0.5% of the cost of your eligible purchases to the League.
update_5-16-21.pdf
Donate today, 501(c)(3), Fed Tax ID #23-7071242, at www.pow-miafamilies.org
MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED-FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is 1,584. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on March 14th that U.S. Naval Reserve Cmdr. Paul C. Charvet, 26, killed during the Vietnam War, was accounted for March 1, 2021. On March 21, 1967, his A-1H Skyraider airplane disappeared near Hon Me Island off the coast of North Vietnam. Until this announcement, there had been no US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War since July 2020. During the “DPAA Family/VSO Quarterly Call and Update” on April 29th, the Lab affirmed that there are NO Vietnam War-related remains awaiting ID. DPAA laboratories and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) continue to focus efforts on identifying remains previously recovered, turned over unilaterally by foreign countries or buried in US cemeteries as unknowns, disinterred then identified.
Of the 1,584 still missing and unaccounted-for, 90% were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Cambodia or Laos under Vietnam’s wartime control: Vietnam-1,244 (VN-442, VS-802); Laos-285; Cambodia-48; PRC territorial waters-7. Since chartered in 1970, the League has sought the return of all POWs, the fullest possible accounting for the missing, and repatriation of all recoverable remains. The total accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is 999. A breakdown by country of these 999 Americans is: Vietnam – 674, Laos – 280, Cambodia – 42, and the PRC – 3. In addition, 63 US personnel were accounted for between 1973 and 1975, the formal end of the Vietnam War, for a grand total of 1,062. A total of 288 have been accounted for from Laos, 729 from Vietnam, 42 from Cambodia and 3 from the PRC. These 63 Americans, were accounted for by US-only efforts in accessible areas, not due to cooperation by post-war governments in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia.
ACCOUNTING OPERATIONS/EVENTS CANCELLED FOR 2020; UNILATERAL SRV RECOVERIES HELPED REDUCE THE DELAYS CAUSED BY COVID 19: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Defense (DoD) banned all DoD travel in early 2020, and Joint Field Activities (JFAs) in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were canceled. During this hiatus, DPAA Deputy Director for Operations RDML Darius Banaji, USN, met virtually with the Cambodian POW/MIA Committee. US Ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy and Cambodian Deputy Chairman Sieng Lapresse participated, as did DPAA IndoPacific Regional Director Col Brian Peterson, USMC.
Also during this difficult time, Vietnam fielded three Unilateral Recovery Teams (URTs) that focused on several cases. Though DPAA has provided few details, some remains were reportedly recovered. DoD, DIA, State Department and other US agencies are still largely teleworking, but some are alternating schedules to try to ensure greater in-person coverage and productivity. DIA Headquarters personnel, including Stony Beach specialists, are working in shifts, as are DPAA scientists in the respective laboratories at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and Offutt AFB, Nebraska. In Vietnam, a large Joint Field Activity (JFA) will include 3 Recovery Teams (RTs), 1 underwater RT, a Research Investigation Team (RIT), plus 2 SRV URTs.
Field operations resumed in early February in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia. A DPAA “partnership” 70-day recovery, ending March 23rd, was undertaken at Koh Tong, Cambodia, with the University of Illinois-Chicago. US teams recently concluded the 142nd Joint Field Activity (JFA) in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam. Reportedly, there were three RTs and one joint Investigation Team (IT) that included DIA Stony Beach specialists. Two Vietnamese URTs were added to plus-up the pace and scope of long-delayed operations.
A Joint Field Activity in Laos was unfortunately canceled when US personnel were not permitted in-country due to further COVID pandemic-related restrictions. Thankfully, DIA’s Stony Beach Lao specialist, permanently in-country, was allowed to utilize the helicopter support previously arranged, so investigations occurred, though no further information is available as to what was accomplished. A JFA in Laos is now ongoing, following a required quarantine at the beginning. It consists of three Recovery Teams.
DPAA continues to conduct WWII, Korean War and Cold War field recoveries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific Region, most recently in Austria and Belgium, and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea. Planning is ongoing for a recovery in Germans, and investigations are planned to take place from May – September in Germany, Poland, Italy, Belgium and Panama, a later US Navy incident on which DPAA was requested to handle. The latest large-scale unilateral turnover of remains was the K55 repatriation that followed the Singapore Agreement reached in the summer of 2018 by former President Trump and DPRK President Kim Jong Un. Reportedly, DPAA’s Lab has made 74 IDs on the comingled remains, estimated to possibly be those of as many as 160-170 US personnel. Eighty remains believed to be those of indigenous personnel were turned over to the South Korean Government.
LEAGUE 51ST ANNUAL MEETING TO BE HELD SEPTEMBER 15-19, 2021: As previously announced, no annual meeting could be held in 2020, was rescheduled for June 23-27, 2021, and, after again re-scheduling, the 51st Annual Meeting will be held September 15-19, 2021. It is increasingly looking like DoD travel restrictions will be lifted, meaning COIN Assist travel for eligible next-of-kin will be available. Hilton Crystal City Hotel is now open on a limited basis, and we’re hoping for fewer restrictions and greater normalcy by September.
The Board of Directors Election for 2021-2023 was postponed and will be held prior to the 51st Annual Meeting, with results announced at that time. Applications to run for the Board can be accessed on the League website and will be sent in advance by USPS by the end of this month to all League family members.
DPAA-HOSTED FAMILY MEMBER UPDATES: Last year, DPAA cancelled Family Member Updates previously scheduled for March, April, May, August and September. DPAA-hosted Annual Government Briefings for Korean War/Cold War Families, previously planned for August, 2020, were also cancelled and are now scheduled for August, 2021. The next DPAA FMU will again be virtual and held May 22nd in Oklahoma City, OK. During all such FMUs, individual case reviews can be held virtually with US officials.
SUPPORT THE LEAGUE: You can support the League on Facebook by creating a fundraiser to celebrate meaningful occasions and events. Opportunities are nearly endless, ranging from appeals for donations to the League in lieu of birthday gifts or to honor a missing loved one on the anniversary of his loss and, if returned, his story commemorating his recovery, etc. If you would like to create a fundraiser to benefit the League, visit www.facebook.com/fund/powmiafamilies. 100% of the proceeds raised from your Facebook fundraiser will benefit the League!
You and your family, friends and colleagues can also support the League by shopping at Amazon Smile. It is simple and automatic, at no extra cost to you. Just visit https://smile.amazon.com/ch/23-7071242, and you will find the exact same prices, vast selection and convenient shopping to which you may be increasingly accustomed. The added bonus? The Amazon Smile Foundation automatically donates 0.5% of the cost of your eligible purchases to the League.
update_5-16-21.pdf
Donate today, 501(c)(3), Fed Tax ID #23-7071242, at www.pow-miafamilies.org
UPDATE: April 27, 2021
MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED-FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is 1,584. Though there finally was one US Navy officer recovered and identified, the Navy Casualty Office has still reportedly been unable to locate the PNOK. For this reason, DPAA is not releasing the name and unique circumstances involved. Until very recently, there had been no US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War since July 2020. Weeks ago, DPAA publicly stated that some identifications are pending and may be announced soon, but no number was given. DPAA laboratories and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) continue to focus efforts on identifying remains previously recovered, turned over unilaterally by foreign countries and/or buried in US cemeteries as unknowns and now disinterred.
Of the 1,584 still missing and unaccounted-for, 90% were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Cambodia or Laos under Vietnam’s wartime control: Vietnam-1,244 (VN-442, VS-802); Laos-285; Cambodia-48; PRC territorial waters-7. Since chartered in 1970, the League has sought the return of all POWs, the fullest possible accounting for the missing, and repatriation of all recoverable remains. The total accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is 999. A breakdown by country of these 999 Americans is: Vietnam – 674, Laos – 280, Cambodia – 42, and the PRC – 3. In addition, 63 US personnel were accounted for between 1973 and 1975, the formal end of the Vietnam War, for a grand total of 1,062. These 63 Americans, were accounted for by US-only efforts in accessible areas, not due to cooperation by post-war governments in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia. A total of 288 have been accounted for from Laos, 729 from Vietnam, 42 from Cambodia and 3 from the PRC. NO IDs have been announced since October, 2020.
ACCOUNTING OPERATIONS & EVENTS SCHEDULED FOR FY2021; UNILATERAL SRV RECOVERIES HELPED REDUCE THE PULL-BACK CAUSED BY COVID 19: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Defense (DoD) banned all DoD travel in early 2020 and resumption of full scale Joint Field Activities (JFAs) in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia was canceled. During this hiatus, DPAA Deputy Director for Operations RDML Darius Banaji, USN, met virtually with the Cambodian POW/MIA Committee. US Ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy and Cambodian Deputy Chairman Sieng Lapresse participated, as did DPAA IndoPacific Regional Director Col Brian Peterson, USMC.
Also during this difficult time, Vietnam fielded three Unilateral Recovery Teams (URTs) that reportedly focused on many cases. Though DPAA has provided few details, some remains were reportedly recovered. DoD, DIA, State Department and other US agencies are still largely teleworking, but some are alternating schedules to try to ensure greater in-person coverage and productivity. DIA Headquarters personnel, including Stony Beach specialists, are working in shifts, as are DPAA scientists in the respective laboratories at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and Offutt AFB, Nebraska.
Field operations resumed in early February in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia. A DPAA “partnership” recovery was undertaken more recently in Koh Tong, Cambodia, with the University of Illinois-Chicago, and is still ongoing. US teams recently concluded the 142nd Joint Field Activity (JFA) in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam. Reportedly, there were three Joint Recovery Teams (RTs), one joint Investigation Team (IT) that included DIA Stony Beach specialists and two Vietnamese Unilateral Recovery Teams (URTs) were added to plus-up the pace and scope of long-delayed operations.
Unfortunately, a Joint Field Activity in Laos was canceled when US personnel were not permitted in-country. No rationale was announced, but possible reasons include COVID pandemic-related restrictions or a negative Lao Government reaction to US sanctions levied due to Laos’ reluctance to accept Lao nationals being returned to country of origin for illegal activity in the US. Thankfully, DIA’s Stony Beach Lao specialist, permanently in-country, was allowed to utilize the helicopter support previously arranged, so investigations occurred, though no further information is available as to what was accomplished. Hopefully, next-of-kin of those whose cases were being investigated or recovered have been or will be notified of all case-related information as required by long-existing law. A JFA in Laos is scheduled for April 25 – June 21st (with 14-day quarantine at the beginning), consisting of three Recovery Teams. In Vietnam, a large JTF will include 3 RT’s, 1 underwater RT, a Research Investigation Team (RIT), plus 2 SRV Unilateral Recovery Teams (URTs).
DPAA continues to conduct WWII, Korean War and Cold War field recoveries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific Region, most recently in Austria (mid-April) and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea. The latest large-scale unilateral turnover of remains was the K55 repatriation that followed the Singapore Agreement reached in the summer of 2018 by former President Trump and DPRK President Kim Jong Un. Reportedly, DPAA’s Lab has made 74 IDs on the comingled remains, estimated to possibly be those of as many as 160-170 US personnel, plus 80 remains, believed to be those of indigenous personnel, were recently turned over to the South Korean Government.
DPAA & DIA SIGNED FORMAL MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU): On September 17, 2020, DPAA Director Kelly McKeague and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director LTG Bob Ashley, USA, signed an MOU to formalize integration of DIA’s Stony Beach Team of specialists into Vietnam War accounting operations. Formed in 1986, and deployed in 1987, before the accounting mission broadened to include efforts to account as fully as possible for personnel unrecovered from the Korean War, Cold War and World War II, Stony Beach’s sole mission was and is Vietnam War accounting, focused on Last Known Alive (LKA) cases of US personnel initially listed as POW/MIA.
LEAGUE 51ST ANNUAL MEETING TO BE HELD SEPTEMBER 15-19, 2021: As previously announced, no annual meeting could be held in 2020, was rescheduled for June 23-27, 2021, and, after again re-scheduling, the 51st Annual Meeting will be held September 15-19, 2021, IF DoD travel restrictions are lifted. Hilton Crystal City Hotel is now open on a limited basis, and we’re hoping for fewer restrictions and greater normalcy by September. The Board of Directors Election for 2021-2023 was postponed and will be held prior to the 51st Annual Meeting, with results announced at that time. Applications to run for the Board can be accessed on the League website and will be sent in advance by USPS.
DPAA-HOSTED FAMILY MEMBER UPDATES: Last year, DPAA cancelled Family Member Updates previously scheduled for March, April, May, August and September. DPAA-hosted Annual Government Briefings for Korean War/Cold War Families, previously planned for August, 2020, were also cancelled and are now scheduled for August, 2021. The next DPAA FMU will again be virtual and held May 22nd in Oklahoma City, OK. During all such FMUs, individual case reviews can be held virtually with US officials.
SUPPORT THE LEAGUE: You can support the League on Facebook by creating a fundraiser to celebrate meaningful occasions and events. Opportunities are nearly endless, ranging from appeals for donations to the League in lieu of birthday gifts or to honor a missing loved one on the anniversary of his loss and, if returned, his story commemorating his recovery, etc. If you would like to create a fundraiser to benefit the League, visit www.facebook.com/fund/powmiafamilies. 100% of the proceeds raised from your Facebook fundraiser will benefit the League! You and your family, friends and colleagues can also support the League by shopping at Amazon Smile. It is simple and automatic, at no extra cost to you. Just visit https://smile.amazon.com/ch/23-7071242 and you will find the exact same prices, vast selection and convenient shopping to which you may be increasingly accustomed. The added bonus? The Amazon Smile Foundation automatically donates 0.5% of the cost of your eligible purchases to the League. Donate today, 501(c)(3), Fed Tax ID #23-7071242, at www.pow-miafamilies.org
update_4-27-21.pdf
MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED-FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is 1,584. Though there finally was one US Navy officer recovered and identified, the Navy Casualty Office has still reportedly been unable to locate the PNOK. For this reason, DPAA is not releasing the name and unique circumstances involved. Until very recently, there had been no US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War since July 2020. Weeks ago, DPAA publicly stated that some identifications are pending and may be announced soon, but no number was given. DPAA laboratories and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) continue to focus efforts on identifying remains previously recovered, turned over unilaterally by foreign countries and/or buried in US cemeteries as unknowns and now disinterred.
Of the 1,584 still missing and unaccounted-for, 90% were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Cambodia or Laos under Vietnam’s wartime control: Vietnam-1,244 (VN-442, VS-802); Laos-285; Cambodia-48; PRC territorial waters-7. Since chartered in 1970, the League has sought the return of all POWs, the fullest possible accounting for the missing, and repatriation of all recoverable remains. The total accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is 999. A breakdown by country of these 999 Americans is: Vietnam – 674, Laos – 280, Cambodia – 42, and the PRC – 3. In addition, 63 US personnel were accounted for between 1973 and 1975, the formal end of the Vietnam War, for a grand total of 1,062. These 63 Americans, were accounted for by US-only efforts in accessible areas, not due to cooperation by post-war governments in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia. A total of 288 have been accounted for from Laos, 729 from Vietnam, 42 from Cambodia and 3 from the PRC. NO IDs have been announced since October, 2020.
ACCOUNTING OPERATIONS & EVENTS SCHEDULED FOR FY2021; UNILATERAL SRV RECOVERIES HELPED REDUCE THE PULL-BACK CAUSED BY COVID 19: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Defense (DoD) banned all DoD travel in early 2020 and resumption of full scale Joint Field Activities (JFAs) in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia was canceled. During this hiatus, DPAA Deputy Director for Operations RDML Darius Banaji, USN, met virtually with the Cambodian POW/MIA Committee. US Ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy and Cambodian Deputy Chairman Sieng Lapresse participated, as did DPAA IndoPacific Regional Director Col Brian Peterson, USMC.
Also during this difficult time, Vietnam fielded three Unilateral Recovery Teams (URTs) that reportedly focused on many cases. Though DPAA has provided few details, some remains were reportedly recovered. DoD, DIA, State Department and other US agencies are still largely teleworking, but some are alternating schedules to try to ensure greater in-person coverage and productivity. DIA Headquarters personnel, including Stony Beach specialists, are working in shifts, as are DPAA scientists in the respective laboratories at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and Offutt AFB, Nebraska.
Field operations resumed in early February in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia. A DPAA “partnership” recovery was undertaken more recently in Koh Tong, Cambodia, with the University of Illinois-Chicago, and is still ongoing. US teams recently concluded the 142nd Joint Field Activity (JFA) in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam. Reportedly, there were three Joint Recovery Teams (RTs), one joint Investigation Team (IT) that included DIA Stony Beach specialists and two Vietnamese Unilateral Recovery Teams (URTs) were added to plus-up the pace and scope of long-delayed operations.
Unfortunately, a Joint Field Activity in Laos was canceled when US personnel were not permitted in-country. No rationale was announced, but possible reasons include COVID pandemic-related restrictions or a negative Lao Government reaction to US sanctions levied due to Laos’ reluctance to accept Lao nationals being returned to country of origin for illegal activity in the US. Thankfully, DIA’s Stony Beach Lao specialist, permanently in-country, was allowed to utilize the helicopter support previously arranged, so investigations occurred, though no further information is available as to what was accomplished. Hopefully, next-of-kin of those whose cases were being investigated or recovered have been or will be notified of all case-related information as required by long-existing law. A JFA in Laos is scheduled for April 25 – June 21st (with 14-day quarantine at the beginning), consisting of three Recovery Teams. In Vietnam, a large JTF will include 3 RT’s, 1 underwater RT, a Research Investigation Team (RIT), plus 2 SRV Unilateral Recovery Teams (URTs).
DPAA continues to conduct WWII, Korean War and Cold War field recoveries in Europe and the Asia-Pacific Region, most recently in Austria (mid-April) and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea. The latest large-scale unilateral turnover of remains was the K55 repatriation that followed the Singapore Agreement reached in the summer of 2018 by former President Trump and DPRK President Kim Jong Un. Reportedly, DPAA’s Lab has made 74 IDs on the comingled remains, estimated to possibly be those of as many as 160-170 US personnel, plus 80 remains, believed to be those of indigenous personnel, were recently turned over to the South Korean Government.
DPAA & DIA SIGNED FORMAL MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU): On September 17, 2020, DPAA Director Kelly McKeague and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director LTG Bob Ashley, USA, signed an MOU to formalize integration of DIA’s Stony Beach Team of specialists into Vietnam War accounting operations. Formed in 1986, and deployed in 1987, before the accounting mission broadened to include efforts to account as fully as possible for personnel unrecovered from the Korean War, Cold War and World War II, Stony Beach’s sole mission was and is Vietnam War accounting, focused on Last Known Alive (LKA) cases of US personnel initially listed as POW/MIA.
LEAGUE 51ST ANNUAL MEETING TO BE HELD SEPTEMBER 15-19, 2021: As previously announced, no annual meeting could be held in 2020, was rescheduled for June 23-27, 2021, and, after again re-scheduling, the 51st Annual Meeting will be held September 15-19, 2021, IF DoD travel restrictions are lifted. Hilton Crystal City Hotel is now open on a limited basis, and we’re hoping for fewer restrictions and greater normalcy by September. The Board of Directors Election for 2021-2023 was postponed and will be held prior to the 51st Annual Meeting, with results announced at that time. Applications to run for the Board can be accessed on the League website and will be sent in advance by USPS.
DPAA-HOSTED FAMILY MEMBER UPDATES: Last year, DPAA cancelled Family Member Updates previously scheduled for March, April, May, August and September. DPAA-hosted Annual Government Briefings for Korean War/Cold War Families, previously planned for August, 2020, were also cancelled and are now scheduled for August, 2021. The next DPAA FMU will again be virtual and held May 22nd in Oklahoma City, OK. During all such FMUs, individual case reviews can be held virtually with US officials.
SUPPORT THE LEAGUE: You can support the League on Facebook by creating a fundraiser to celebrate meaningful occasions and events. Opportunities are nearly endless, ranging from appeals for donations to the League in lieu of birthday gifts or to honor a missing loved one on the anniversary of his loss and, if returned, his story commemorating his recovery, etc. If you would like to create a fundraiser to benefit the League, visit www.facebook.com/fund/powmiafamilies. 100% of the proceeds raised from your Facebook fundraiser will benefit the League! You and your family, friends and colleagues can also support the League by shopping at Amazon Smile. It is simple and automatic, at no extra cost to you. Just visit https://smile.amazon.com/ch/23-7071242 and you will find the exact same prices, vast selection and convenient shopping to which you may be increasingly accustomed. The added bonus? The Amazon Smile Foundation automatically donates 0.5% of the cost of your eligible purchases to the League. Donate today, 501(c)(3), Fed Tax ID #23-7071242, at www.pow-miafamilies.org
update_4-27-21.pdf
UPDATE: March 22, 2021
update_3-22-21.pdf
AMERICANS STILL MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and otherwise unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is now 1,584. Though there finally has been one US Navy officer recovered and identified, the Navy Casualty Office has been unable to reach the PNOK. For this reason, DPAA is unable to release the name and unique circumstances involved. Until very recently, there had been no US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War since July 2020. DPAA announced that some identifications are pending and may be announced soon but no number was given. DPAA laboratories and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) continue to focus efforts on identifying remains previously recovered, turned over unilaterally by foreign countries and/or buried in US cemeteries as unknowns at home and abroad. US teams are also conducting WWII, Korean War and Cold War field recoveries. The most recent large-scale unilateral turnover of remains was the K55 repatriation that followed the Singapore Agreement reached in the summer of 2018 by former President Trump and DPRK President Kim Jong Un. The latest count of possible US remains included in the K55 repatriation was just announced by DPAA as 72. Also, 80 remains were recently returned to South Korea.
ACCOUNTING OPERATIONS & EVENTS SCHEDULED FOR FY2021; UNILATERAL SRV RECOVERIES HELPED COVER THE PULL-BACK CAUSED BY COVID 19: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Defense (DoD) banned all DoD travel in early 2020 and resumption of full scale Joint Field Activities (JFAs) in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia was canceled. Field operations resumed in Cambodia in early February in Ratanakiri Province, and a combination of three Joint Recovery Teams, one Joint Investigation Team, including DIA’s Stony Beach Specialist, are now working in several sites in Vietnam. Two unilateral Vietnamese Recovery Teams are being added to plus-up the pace and scope of the long-delayed operations. Further complicating the field work is that each counterpart country has its own restrictions imposed due to the COVID virus.
Earlier this year, DPAA Deputy Director for Operations RDML Darius Banaji, USN, met virtually with the Cambodian POW/MIA Committee. US Ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy and Cambodian Deputy Chairman Sieng Lapresse participated, as did DPAA IndoPacific Regional Director Col Brian Peterson, USMC. During this time, Vietnam fielded three Unilateral Recovery Teams (URTs), focused on a reported 78 cases. Some remains were recovered, though DPAA provided no details during the January 28th conference call update. Field operations in Laos have not yet resumed. DoD, DIA, State Department and other US agencies are still largely teleworking, but some are now alternating schedules to try to ensure greater in-person coverage and productivity. DIA Headquarters personnel, including Stony Beach specialists, are working in shifts, as are DPAA scientists in the respective laboratories at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and Offutt AFB, Nebraska.
DPAA & DIA SIGNED FORMAL MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU): On September 17, 2020, DPAA Director Kelly McKeague and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director LTG Bob Ashley, USA, signed an MOU to formalize integration of DIA’s Stony Beach Team of specialists into Vietnam War accounting operations. Formed in 1986, before the accounting mission broadened to include efforts to recover and identify personnel unaccounted-for from the Korean War, Cold War and World War II, Stony Beach’s sole mission was and is Vietnam War accounting, with focused priority on Last Known Alive (LKA) cases of US personnel initially listed as POW/MIA.
LEAGUE 51ST ANNUAL MEETING RESCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER 15-19, 2021: As previously announced, the 51st Annual Meeting did not take place June 24-28, 2020, was rescheduled for June 23-27 and is now again rescheduled. September 15-19, 2021, will hold only IF DoD travel restrictions are lifted. Hilton Crystal City Hotel is open on a limited basis, and we’re hoping for fewer restrictions and greater normalcy by September. Last year, DPAA cancelled Family Member Updates previously scheduled for March, April, May, August and September. The DPAA-hosted Annual Government Briefings for Korean War/Cold War Families, previously planned for August, were also cancelled A virtual ZOOM Family Member Update was held November 7th in Little Rock, AR. An FMU scheduled for January 23rd was cancelled and will be rescheduled, plus a virtual FMU was held February 20th in Los Angeles and Hawaii. In all such FMUs, individual case reviews can be scheduled with US officials involved. The next FMU will again be virtual and held April 17th, in Albuquerque, NM.
POW/MIA FLAG IN US CAPITOL ROTUNDA: With unanimous bipartisan support in the 100th Congress, the League's POW/MIA Flag was installed in the US Capitol Rotunda on March 9, 1989. Since that date, it has been displayed "as a powerful symbol of America’s determination to account for US personnel still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War." The 101st Congress also passed bipartisan legislation recognizing our POW/MIA flag and designating it "the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia."
Chairman's Comment: Media coverage of the lawless intrusion at the US Capitol on January 6th clearly showed our POW/MIA flag on display. It is important for all to understand that the accounting mission our POW/MIA flag represents is bipartisan-supported and has been since the League was formed on May 28, 1970.
WHITE HOUSE IN VIOLATION OF PUBLIC LAW 116-67, MANDATING THE POW/MIA FLAG BE DISPLAYED YEAR-ROUND: Despite President Trump’s decision to sign bipartisan-supported legislation in the House and Senate into law on November 7, 2019, the White House is now in violation of the mandate and intention of the “National POW/MIA Flag Act.” By law, the League-originated POW/MIA flag was, and is, directed to be visibly displayed whenever the US flag is posted on Federal properties, including the White House, the US Capitol, all US Senate and House Buildings, the World War II Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial and the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial, every national cemetery, buildings containing the official offices of the Secretaries of State, Defense and Veterans Affairs, the Director of the Selective Service system, all major military installations, as directed by the Secretary of Defense, all VA medical centers, and all offices of the US Postal Service.
Flag Day is one of the six days each year when previously existing laws required that our POW/MIA flag be flown, in addition to Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, National POW/MIA Recognition Day and Veterans Day. On Flag Day, June 14, 2020, the POW/MIA Flag was removed from atop the White House and placed on a separate flag pole, under the US flag, but scarcely visible in a small cluster of trees outside the circular drive around the South Lawn and at some distance from the White House and Old Executive Office Building. Strangely, this occurred only six months after President Trump had signed into law the separate bills passed by the House and Senate requiring visible display of the POW/MIA flag on “all days on which the flag of the United States is displayed,” including “at the White House.” Apparently, some uninformed staff, looking for a less visible alternative to its customary position on top of the White House, made the decision to find an alternative and did so without any consideration of implications to the accounting mission or consulting the League or DPAA.
Chairman’s Comment: The League is grateful for the tremendous support of the 100th and 101st Congresses and the meaningful signals to senior US and foreign officials whose cooperation and responsiveness are absolutely necessary. It also signals worldwide that America stands behind and with those who serve – past, present and future – and, if captured or missing, all reasonable efforts will be made to recover and bring home as many as possible of our UNRETURNED veterans. On June 14th, within minutes of each other, DPAA and the League were notified of the POW/MIA flag removal from the top of the White House, but given no reason, nor any indication as to who had made the decision to construct a new flagpole on the edge of the South Lawn and remove the POW/MIA flag from atop the White House, especially on Flag Day, June 14th, when and where it had proudly flown for decades. Even more strange, the POW/MIA flag was not in its rightful position on September 18, 2020, National POW/MIA Recognition Day. The way this was handled was truly bizarre and, to date, DPAA Director McKeague and League Chairman/CEO Ann Mills-Griffiths have not been provided the rationale. The League informed White House officials that removing the POW/MIA flag from atop the White House sends conflicting signals domestically and internationally to foreign governments which figure prominently in US efforts to achieve the fullest possible accounting, in particular for Vietnam War POW/MIAs. It was also noted that such an action could be viewed as reducing priority and seriousness of US efforts and intentions, including with the DPRK, as accounting for Americans lost during the Korean War was Point #4 of the 2018 Singapore Agreement.
SUPPORT THE LEAGUE: You can support the League on Facebook by creating a fundraiser to celebrate meaningful occasions and events. Opportunities are nearly endless, ranging from appeals for donations to the League in lieu of birthday gifts or to honor your missing loved one on the anniversary of his loss, and, if returned, his story commemorating his recovery, etc. If you would like to create a fundraiser to benefit the League, visit www.facebook.com/fund/powmiafamilies. 100% of the proceeds raised from your Facebook fundraiser will benefit the League! You and your family, friends and colleagues can also support the League by shopping at Amazon Smile. It is simple and automatic, at no extra cost to you.
You and your family, friends and colleagues can also support the League by shopping at Amazon Smile. It is simple and automatic, at no extra cost to you. Just visit https://smile.amazon.com/ch/23-7071242, and you will find the exact same prices, vast selection and convenient shopping to which you may be increasingly accustomed. The added bonus? The Amazon Smile Foundation automatically donates 0.5% of the cost of your eligible purchases to the League. Donate today, 501(C)3, Fed Tax ID #23-7071242, at www.pow-miafamilies.org
update_3-22-21.pdf
AMERICANS STILL MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and otherwise unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is now 1,584. Though there finally has been one US Navy officer recovered and identified, the Navy Casualty Office has been unable to reach the PNOK. For this reason, DPAA is unable to release the name and unique circumstances involved. Until very recently, there had been no US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War since July 2020. DPAA announced that some identifications are pending and may be announced soon but no number was given. DPAA laboratories and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) continue to focus efforts on identifying remains previously recovered, turned over unilaterally by foreign countries and/or buried in US cemeteries as unknowns at home and abroad. US teams are also conducting WWII, Korean War and Cold War field recoveries. The most recent large-scale unilateral turnover of remains was the K55 repatriation that followed the Singapore Agreement reached in the summer of 2018 by former President Trump and DPRK President Kim Jong Un. The latest count of possible US remains included in the K55 repatriation was just announced by DPAA as 72. Also, 80 remains were recently returned to South Korea.
ACCOUNTING OPERATIONS & EVENTS SCHEDULED FOR FY2021; UNILATERAL SRV RECOVERIES HELPED COVER THE PULL-BACK CAUSED BY COVID 19: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Defense (DoD) banned all DoD travel in early 2020 and resumption of full scale Joint Field Activities (JFAs) in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia was canceled. Field operations resumed in Cambodia in early February in Ratanakiri Province, and a combination of three Joint Recovery Teams, one Joint Investigation Team, including DIA’s Stony Beach Specialist, are now working in several sites in Vietnam. Two unilateral Vietnamese Recovery Teams are being added to plus-up the pace and scope of the long-delayed operations. Further complicating the field work is that each counterpart country has its own restrictions imposed due to the COVID virus.
Earlier this year, DPAA Deputy Director for Operations RDML Darius Banaji, USN, met virtually with the Cambodian POW/MIA Committee. US Ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy and Cambodian Deputy Chairman Sieng Lapresse participated, as did DPAA IndoPacific Regional Director Col Brian Peterson, USMC. During this time, Vietnam fielded three Unilateral Recovery Teams (URTs), focused on a reported 78 cases. Some remains were recovered, though DPAA provided no details during the January 28th conference call update. Field operations in Laos have not yet resumed. DoD, DIA, State Department and other US agencies are still largely teleworking, but some are now alternating schedules to try to ensure greater in-person coverage and productivity. DIA Headquarters personnel, including Stony Beach specialists, are working in shifts, as are DPAA scientists in the respective laboratories at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and Offutt AFB, Nebraska.
DPAA & DIA SIGNED FORMAL MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU): On September 17, 2020, DPAA Director Kelly McKeague and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director LTG Bob Ashley, USA, signed an MOU to formalize integration of DIA’s Stony Beach Team of specialists into Vietnam War accounting operations. Formed in 1986, before the accounting mission broadened to include efforts to recover and identify personnel unaccounted-for from the Korean War, Cold War and World War II, Stony Beach’s sole mission was and is Vietnam War accounting, with focused priority on Last Known Alive (LKA) cases of US personnel initially listed as POW/MIA.
LEAGUE 51ST ANNUAL MEETING RESCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER 15-19, 2021: As previously announced, the 51st Annual Meeting did not take place June 24-28, 2020, was rescheduled for June 23-27 and is now again rescheduled. September 15-19, 2021, will hold only IF DoD travel restrictions are lifted. Hilton Crystal City Hotel is open on a limited basis, and we’re hoping for fewer restrictions and greater normalcy by September. Last year, DPAA cancelled Family Member Updates previously scheduled for March, April, May, August and September. The DPAA-hosted Annual Government Briefings for Korean War/Cold War Families, previously planned for August, were also cancelled A virtual ZOOM Family Member Update was held November 7th in Little Rock, AR. An FMU scheduled for January 23rd was cancelled and will be rescheduled, plus a virtual FMU was held February 20th in Los Angeles and Hawaii. In all such FMUs, individual case reviews can be scheduled with US officials involved. The next FMU will again be virtual and held April 17th, in Albuquerque, NM.
POW/MIA FLAG IN US CAPITOL ROTUNDA: With unanimous bipartisan support in the 100th Congress, the League's POW/MIA Flag was installed in the US Capitol Rotunda on March 9, 1989. Since that date, it has been displayed "as a powerful symbol of America’s determination to account for US personnel still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War." The 101st Congress also passed bipartisan legislation recognizing our POW/MIA flag and designating it "the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia."
Chairman's Comment: Media coverage of the lawless intrusion at the US Capitol on January 6th clearly showed our POW/MIA flag on display. It is important for all to understand that the accounting mission our POW/MIA flag represents is bipartisan-supported and has been since the League was formed on May 28, 1970.
WHITE HOUSE IN VIOLATION OF PUBLIC LAW 116-67, MANDATING THE POW/MIA FLAG BE DISPLAYED YEAR-ROUND: Despite President Trump’s decision to sign bipartisan-supported legislation in the House and Senate into law on November 7, 2019, the White House is now in violation of the mandate and intention of the “National POW/MIA Flag Act.” By law, the League-originated POW/MIA flag was, and is, directed to be visibly displayed whenever the US flag is posted on Federal properties, including the White House, the US Capitol, all US Senate and House Buildings, the World War II Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial and the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial, every national cemetery, buildings containing the official offices of the Secretaries of State, Defense and Veterans Affairs, the Director of the Selective Service system, all major military installations, as directed by the Secretary of Defense, all VA medical centers, and all offices of the US Postal Service.
Flag Day is one of the six days each year when previously existing laws required that our POW/MIA flag be flown, in addition to Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, National POW/MIA Recognition Day and Veterans Day. On Flag Day, June 14, 2020, the POW/MIA Flag was removed from atop the White House and placed on a separate flag pole, under the US flag, but scarcely visible in a small cluster of trees outside the circular drive around the South Lawn and at some distance from the White House and Old Executive Office Building. Strangely, this occurred only six months after President Trump had signed into law the separate bills passed by the House and Senate requiring visible display of the POW/MIA flag on “all days on which the flag of the United States is displayed,” including “at the White House.” Apparently, some uninformed staff, looking for a less visible alternative to its customary position on top of the White House, made the decision to find an alternative and did so without any consideration of implications to the accounting mission or consulting the League or DPAA.
Chairman’s Comment: The League is grateful for the tremendous support of the 100th and 101st Congresses and the meaningful signals to senior US and foreign officials whose cooperation and responsiveness are absolutely necessary. It also signals worldwide that America stands behind and with those who serve – past, present and future – and, if captured or missing, all reasonable efforts will be made to recover and bring home as many as possible of our UNRETURNED veterans. On June 14th, within minutes of each other, DPAA and the League were notified of the POW/MIA flag removal from the top of the White House, but given no reason, nor any indication as to who had made the decision to construct a new flagpole on the edge of the South Lawn and remove the POW/MIA flag from atop the White House, especially on Flag Day, June 14th, when and where it had proudly flown for decades. Even more strange, the POW/MIA flag was not in its rightful position on September 18, 2020, National POW/MIA Recognition Day. The way this was handled was truly bizarre and, to date, DPAA Director McKeague and League Chairman/CEO Ann Mills-Griffiths have not been provided the rationale. The League informed White House officials that removing the POW/MIA flag from atop the White House sends conflicting signals domestically and internationally to foreign governments which figure prominently in US efforts to achieve the fullest possible accounting, in particular for Vietnam War POW/MIAs. It was also noted that such an action could be viewed as reducing priority and seriousness of US efforts and intentions, including with the DPRK, as accounting for Americans lost during the Korean War was Point #4 of the 2018 Singapore Agreement.
SUPPORT THE LEAGUE: You can support the League on Facebook by creating a fundraiser to celebrate meaningful occasions and events. Opportunities are nearly endless, ranging from appeals for donations to the League in lieu of birthday gifts or to honor your missing loved one on the anniversary of his loss, and, if returned, his story commemorating his recovery, etc. If you would like to create a fundraiser to benefit the League, visit www.facebook.com/fund/powmiafamilies. 100% of the proceeds raised from your Facebook fundraiser will benefit the League! You and your family, friends and colleagues can also support the League by shopping at Amazon Smile. It is simple and automatic, at no extra cost to you.
You and your family, friends and colleagues can also support the League by shopping at Amazon Smile. It is simple and automatic, at no extra cost to you. Just visit https://smile.amazon.com/ch/23-7071242, and you will find the exact same prices, vast selection and convenient shopping to which you may be increasingly accustomed. The added bonus? The Amazon Smile Foundation automatically donates 0.5% of the cost of your eligible purchases to the League. Donate today, 501(C)3, Fed Tax ID #23-7071242, at www.pow-miafamilies.org
UPDATE: February 15, 2021
THE LEAGUE OFFICE IS TELEWORKING UNTIL RESTRICTIONS ARE EASED
AMERICANS STILL MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and otherwise unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is STILL 1,585. There have been no US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War since July 2020. DPAA announced that some identifications are pending and may be announced soon; no number was given.
DPAA laboratories and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) continue to focus efforts on identifying remains previously recovered, turned over unilaterally by foreign counterparts and/or buried in US cemeteries at home and abroad. US teams are also conducting WWII, Korean War and Cold War field recoveries. The most recent large-scale unilateral turnover of remains was the “K55” repatriation that followed the Singapore Agreement reached in the summer of 2018 by former President Trump and DPRK President Kim Jong Un. The latest count of possible US remains included in the K55 repatriation was just announced by DPAA as 72. Also, 80 remains were recently returned to South Korea.
ACCOUNTING OPERATIONS/EVENTS SCHEDULED FOR FY2021; UNILATERAL SRV RECOVERIES HELPED COVER THE PULL-BACK CAUSED BY COVID 19: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Defense (DoD) banned all DoD travel in early 2020 and resumption of full scale Joint Field Activities (JFAs) in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia is planned, but not yet approved. In addition, each counterpart country has varying restrictions imposed due to the COVID virus. Recently, DPAA Deputy Director for Operations RDML Darius Banaji, USN, met virtually with the Cambodian POW/MIA Committee. US Ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy and Cambodian Deputy Chairman Sieng Lapresse participated, as did DPAA IndoPacific Regional Director Col Brian Peterson, USMC. During this time, Vietnam fielded Unilateral Recovery Teams (URTs) three times encompassing 10 sites, focused on a reported 78 cases. Some remains were recovered, though DPAA provided no details at their conference call update on January 28th.
Importantly, three JFAs are tentatively scheduled in February in Vietnam, plus one underwater recovery, also three teams in Laos, and one in Cambodia. DoD, DIA, State Department and other US agencies were largely teleworking, but are now alternating schedules to try to ensure greater in-person coverage and productivity. DIA Headquarters personnel, including Stony Beach specialists, are working in shifts, as are DPAA scientists in the respective laboratories.
DPAA & DIA SIGNED FORMAL MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU): On September 17, 2020, DPAA Director Kelly McKeague and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director LTG Bob Ashley, USA, signed an MOU to formalize integration of DIA’s Stony Beach Team of specialists into Vietnam War accounting operations. Formed in 1986, before the accounting mission broadened to include efforts to recover and identify personnel unaccounted-for from the Korean War, Cold War and World War II, Stony Beach’s sole mission was and is Vietnam War accounting, with focused priority on Last Known Alive (LKA) cases of US personnel initially listed as POW/MIA.
LEAGUE 51ST ANNUAL MEETING RESCHEDULED FOR JUNE 23-27, 2021: As previously announced, the 51st Annual Meeting did not take place June 24-28, 2020, and has been rescheduled for June 23-27, 2021. The Hilton Crystal City Hotel is open on a limited basis, and we’re hoping for fewer restrictions and greater normalcy by mid-2021. DPAA cancelled Family Member Updates previously scheduled for March, April, May, August and September. The DPAA-hosted Annual Government Briefings for Korean War/Cold War Families, previously planned for August, were also cancelled A virtual ZOOM Family Member Update was held November 7th in Little Rock, AR. An FMU scheduled for January 23rd was cancelled and will be rescheduled, plus a virtual FMU is scheduled for February 20th in Los Angeles and Hawaii. In all such FMUs, individual case reviews can be scheduled with US officials involved.
POW/MIA FLAG IN US CAPITOL ROTUNDA: With unanimous bipartisan support in the 100th Congress, the League's POW/MIA Flag was installed in the US Capitol Rotunda on March 9, 1989. Since that date, it has been displayed "as a powerful symbol of America’s determination to account for US personnel still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War." The 101st Congress also passed bipartisan legislation recognizing our POW/MIA flag and designating it "the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia."
Chairman's Comment: Media coverage of the lawless intrusion at the US Capitol on January 6th clearly showed our POW/MIA flag on display. It is important for all to understand that the accounting mission our POW/MIA flag represents is bipartisan-supported and has been since the League was formed on May 28, 1970.
WHITE HOUSE IN VIOLATION OF PUBLIC LAW 116-67, MANDATING THE POW/MIA FLAG BE DISPLAYED YEAR-ROUND: Despite President Trump’s decision to sign bipartisan-supported legislation in the House and Senate into law on November 7, 2019, the White House is now in violation of the mandate and intention of the “National POW/MIA Flag Act.” By law, the League-originated POW/MIA flag was, and is, directed to be visibly displayed whenever the US flag is posted on Federal properties, including the White House, the US Capitol, all US Senate and House Buildings, the World War II Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial and the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial, every national cemetery, buildings containing the official offices of the Secretaries of State, Defense and Veterans Affairs, the Director of the Selective Service system, all major military installations, as directed by the Secretary of Defense, all VA medical centers, and all offices of the US Postal Service.
Flag Day is one of the six days each year when previously existing laws required that our POW/MIA flag be flown, in addition to Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, National POW/MIA Recognition Day and Veterans Day. On Flag Day, June 14, 2020, the POW/MIA Flag was removed from atop the White House and placed on a separate flag pole, under the US flag, but scarcely visible in a small cluster of trees outside the circular drive around the South Lawn and at some distance from the White House and Old Executive Office Building. Strangely, this occurred only six months after President Trump had signed into law the separate bills passed by the House and Senate requiring visible display of the POW/MIA flag on “all days on which the flag of the United States is displayed,” including “at the White House.” Apparently, some uninformed staff, looking for a less visible alternative to its customary position on top of the White House, made the decision to find an alternative and did so without any consideration of implications to the accounting mission or consulting the League or DPAA.
Chairman’s Comment: The League is grateful for this tremendous support in passing the law, which is a meaningful signal to senior US and counterpart officials whose cooperation and responsiveness are absolutely necessary. It also signals worldwide that America stands behind and with those who serve – past, present and future – and, if captured or missing, all reasonable efforts will be made to recover and bring home as many as possible of our UNRETURNED Veterans. When this occurred, DPAA and the League were notified within minutes of each other, but given no reason, nor any indication as to who had made the decision to construct a new flagpole on the edge of the South Lawn and remove the POW/MIA flag from atop the White House, especially on Flag Day, June 14th, when and where it had proudly flown for decades. Even more strange, the POW/MIA flag was not in its rightful position on September 18, 2020, National POW/MIA Recognition Day. The way this was handled was truly bizarre and, to date, DPAA Director McKeague and League Chairman/CEO Ann Mills-Griffiths have not been provided the rationale. The League informed White House officials that removal of the POW/MIA flag from atop the White House would send conflicting signals domestically and internationally to counterpart governments which figure prominently in US efforts to achieve the fullest possible accounting, in particular for Vietnam War POW/MIAs. It was also noted that such an action could be viewed as reducing priority and seriousness of US efforts and intentions, including with the DPRK, as accounting for Americans lost during the Korean War was Point #4 of the 2018 Singapore Agreement.
SUPPORT THE LEAGUE: You can support the League on Facebook by creating a fundraiser to celebrate meaningful occasions and events. Opportunities are nearly endless, ranging from appeals for donations to the League in lieu of birthday gifts or to honor your missing loved one on the anniversary of his loss, and, if returned, his story commemorating his recovery, etc. If you would like to create a fundraiser to benefit the League, visit www.facebook.com/fund/powmiafamilies. 100% of the proceeds raised from your Facebook fundraiser will benefit the League!
You and your family, friends and colleagues can also support the League by shopping at Amazon Smile. It is simple and automatic, at no extra cost to you. Just visit https://smile.amazon.com/ch/23-7071242 and you will find the exact same prices, vast selection and convenient shopping to which you may be increasingly accustomed. The added bonus? The Amazon Smile Foundation automatically donates 0.5% of the cost of your eligible purchases to the League.
Donate today, 501(C)3, Fed Tax ID #23-7071242, at www.pow-miafamilies.org
THE LEAGUE OFFICE IS TELEWORKING UNTIL RESTRICTIONS ARE EASED
AMERICANS STILL MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED FOR FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and otherwise unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is STILL 1,585. There have been no US personnel accounted for from the Vietnam War since July 2020. DPAA announced that some identifications are pending and may be announced soon; no number was given.
DPAA laboratories and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) continue to focus efforts on identifying remains previously recovered, turned over unilaterally by foreign counterparts and/or buried in US cemeteries at home and abroad. US teams are also conducting WWII, Korean War and Cold War field recoveries. The most recent large-scale unilateral turnover of remains was the “K55” repatriation that followed the Singapore Agreement reached in the summer of 2018 by former President Trump and DPRK President Kim Jong Un. The latest count of possible US remains included in the K55 repatriation was just announced by DPAA as 72. Also, 80 remains were recently returned to South Korea.
ACCOUNTING OPERATIONS/EVENTS SCHEDULED FOR FY2021; UNILATERAL SRV RECOVERIES HELPED COVER THE PULL-BACK CAUSED BY COVID 19: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Defense (DoD) banned all DoD travel in early 2020 and resumption of full scale Joint Field Activities (JFAs) in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia is planned, but not yet approved. In addition, each counterpart country has varying restrictions imposed due to the COVID virus. Recently, DPAA Deputy Director for Operations RDML Darius Banaji, USN, met virtually with the Cambodian POW/MIA Committee. US Ambassador to Cambodia Patrick Murphy and Cambodian Deputy Chairman Sieng Lapresse participated, as did DPAA IndoPacific Regional Director Col Brian Peterson, USMC. During this time, Vietnam fielded Unilateral Recovery Teams (URTs) three times encompassing 10 sites, focused on a reported 78 cases. Some remains were recovered, though DPAA provided no details at their conference call update on January 28th.
Importantly, three JFAs are tentatively scheduled in February in Vietnam, plus one underwater recovery, also three teams in Laos, and one in Cambodia. DoD, DIA, State Department and other US agencies were largely teleworking, but are now alternating schedules to try to ensure greater in-person coverage and productivity. DIA Headquarters personnel, including Stony Beach specialists, are working in shifts, as are DPAA scientists in the respective laboratories.
DPAA & DIA SIGNED FORMAL MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU): On September 17, 2020, DPAA Director Kelly McKeague and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director LTG Bob Ashley, USA, signed an MOU to formalize integration of DIA’s Stony Beach Team of specialists into Vietnam War accounting operations. Formed in 1986, before the accounting mission broadened to include efforts to recover and identify personnel unaccounted-for from the Korean War, Cold War and World War II, Stony Beach’s sole mission was and is Vietnam War accounting, with focused priority on Last Known Alive (LKA) cases of US personnel initially listed as POW/MIA.
LEAGUE 51ST ANNUAL MEETING RESCHEDULED FOR JUNE 23-27, 2021: As previously announced, the 51st Annual Meeting did not take place June 24-28, 2020, and has been rescheduled for June 23-27, 2021. The Hilton Crystal City Hotel is open on a limited basis, and we’re hoping for fewer restrictions and greater normalcy by mid-2021. DPAA cancelled Family Member Updates previously scheduled for March, April, May, August and September. The DPAA-hosted Annual Government Briefings for Korean War/Cold War Families, previously planned for August, were also cancelled A virtual ZOOM Family Member Update was held November 7th in Little Rock, AR. An FMU scheduled for January 23rd was cancelled and will be rescheduled, plus a virtual FMU is scheduled for February 20th in Los Angeles and Hawaii. In all such FMUs, individual case reviews can be scheduled with US officials involved.
POW/MIA FLAG IN US CAPITOL ROTUNDA: With unanimous bipartisan support in the 100th Congress, the League's POW/MIA Flag was installed in the US Capitol Rotunda on March 9, 1989. Since that date, it has been displayed "as a powerful symbol of America’s determination to account for US personnel still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War." The 101st Congress also passed bipartisan legislation recognizing our POW/MIA flag and designating it "the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia."
Chairman's Comment: Media coverage of the lawless intrusion at the US Capitol on January 6th clearly showed our POW/MIA flag on display. It is important for all to understand that the accounting mission our POW/MIA flag represents is bipartisan-supported and has been since the League was formed on May 28, 1970.
WHITE HOUSE IN VIOLATION OF PUBLIC LAW 116-67, MANDATING THE POW/MIA FLAG BE DISPLAYED YEAR-ROUND: Despite President Trump’s decision to sign bipartisan-supported legislation in the House and Senate into law on November 7, 2019, the White House is now in violation of the mandate and intention of the “National POW/MIA Flag Act.” By law, the League-originated POW/MIA flag was, and is, directed to be visibly displayed whenever the US flag is posted on Federal properties, including the White House, the US Capitol, all US Senate and House Buildings, the World War II Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial and the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial, every national cemetery, buildings containing the official offices of the Secretaries of State, Defense and Veterans Affairs, the Director of the Selective Service system, all major military installations, as directed by the Secretary of Defense, all VA medical centers, and all offices of the US Postal Service.
Flag Day is one of the six days each year when previously existing laws required that our POW/MIA flag be flown, in addition to Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, National POW/MIA Recognition Day and Veterans Day. On Flag Day, June 14, 2020, the POW/MIA Flag was removed from atop the White House and placed on a separate flag pole, under the US flag, but scarcely visible in a small cluster of trees outside the circular drive around the South Lawn and at some distance from the White House and Old Executive Office Building. Strangely, this occurred only six months after President Trump had signed into law the separate bills passed by the House and Senate requiring visible display of the POW/MIA flag on “all days on which the flag of the United States is displayed,” including “at the White House.” Apparently, some uninformed staff, looking for a less visible alternative to its customary position on top of the White House, made the decision to find an alternative and did so without any consideration of implications to the accounting mission or consulting the League or DPAA.
Chairman’s Comment: The League is grateful for this tremendous support in passing the law, which is a meaningful signal to senior US and counterpart officials whose cooperation and responsiveness are absolutely necessary. It also signals worldwide that America stands behind and with those who serve – past, present and future – and, if captured or missing, all reasonable efforts will be made to recover and bring home as many as possible of our UNRETURNED Veterans. When this occurred, DPAA and the League were notified within minutes of each other, but given no reason, nor any indication as to who had made the decision to construct a new flagpole on the edge of the South Lawn and remove the POW/MIA flag from atop the White House, especially on Flag Day, June 14th, when and where it had proudly flown for decades. Even more strange, the POW/MIA flag was not in its rightful position on September 18, 2020, National POW/MIA Recognition Day. The way this was handled was truly bizarre and, to date, DPAA Director McKeague and League Chairman/CEO Ann Mills-Griffiths have not been provided the rationale. The League informed White House officials that removal of the POW/MIA flag from atop the White House would send conflicting signals domestically and internationally to counterpart governments which figure prominently in US efforts to achieve the fullest possible accounting, in particular for Vietnam War POW/MIAs. It was also noted that such an action could be viewed as reducing priority and seriousness of US efforts and intentions, including with the DPRK, as accounting for Americans lost during the Korean War was Point #4 of the 2018 Singapore Agreement.
SUPPORT THE LEAGUE: You can support the League on Facebook by creating a fundraiser to celebrate meaningful occasions and events. Opportunities are nearly endless, ranging from appeals for donations to the League in lieu of birthday gifts or to honor your missing loved one on the anniversary of his loss, and, if returned, his story commemorating his recovery, etc. If you would like to create a fundraiser to benefit the League, visit www.facebook.com/fund/powmiafamilies. 100% of the proceeds raised from your Facebook fundraiser will benefit the League!
You and your family, friends and colleagues can also support the League by shopping at Amazon Smile. It is simple and automatic, at no extra cost to you. Just visit https://smile.amazon.com/ch/23-7071242 and you will find the exact same prices, vast selection and convenient shopping to which you may be increasingly accustomed. The added bonus? The Amazon Smile Foundation automatically donates 0.5% of the cost of your eligible purchases to the League.
Donate today, 501(C)3, Fed Tax ID #23-7071242, at www.pow-miafamilies.org
UPDATE: January 7, 2021
THE LEAGUE OFFICE IS TELEWORKING UNTIL RESTRICTIONS ARE EASED.
POW/MIA FLAG IN US CAPITOL ROTUNDA: With unanimous bipartisan support in the 100th Congress, the League's POW/MIA Flag was installed in the US Capitol Rotunda on March 9, 1989. Since that date, it has been displayed "as a powerful symbol of America’s determination to account for US personnel still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War." The 101st Congress also passed bipartisan legislation recognizing our POW/MIA flag and designating it "the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia."
Chairman's Comment: Media coverage of the lawless intrusion at the US Capitol on January 6th clearly showed our POW/MIA flag on display. It is important for all to understand that the accounting mission our POW/MIA flag represents is bipartisan-supported and has been since the League was formed on May 28, 1970.
WHITE HOUSE IN VIOLATION OF PUBLIC LAW 116-67, MANDATING THE POW/MIA FLAG BE DISPLAYED YEAR-ROUND: Despite President Trump’s decision to sign bipartisan-supported legislation in the House and Senate into law on November 7, 2019, the White House is now in violation of the mandate and intention of the “National POW/MIA Flag Act.” The League-originated POW/MIA flag was directed to be visibly displayed whenever the US flag is posted on Federal properties, including the White House, the US Capitol, all US Senate and House Buildings, the World War II Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial and the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial, every national cemetery, buildings containing the official offices of the Secretaries of State, Defense and Veterans Affairs, the Director of the Selective Service system, all major military installations, as directed by the Secretary of Defense, all VA medical centers, and all offices of the US Postal Service.
Flag Day is one of the six days each year when previously existing laws required that our POW/MIA flag be flown, in addition to Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, National POW/MIA Recognition Day and Veterans Day. On Flag Day, June 14, 2020, the POW/MIA Flag was removed from atop the White House and placed on a separate flag pole, under the US flag, but scarcely visible in a small cluster of trees outside the circular drive around the South Lawn and at some distance from the White House and Old Executive Office Building. Strangely, this occurred only six months after President Trump had signed into law the separate bills passed by the House and Senate requiring visible display of the POW/MIA flag on “all days on which the flag of the United States is displayed,” including “at the White House.” Apparently, some uninformed staff, looking for a less visible alternative to its customary position on top of the White House, made the decision to find an alternative and did so without any consideration of implications to the accounting mission and without consulting the League or DPAA, until after removing the POW/MIA flag from its customary position of honor, the most visible location in Washington, DC.
Chairman’s Comment: The League is grateful for this tremendous support, which is a meaningful signal to senior counterpart officials whose cooperation and responsiveness are absolutely necessary. It also signals worldwide that America stands behind and with those who serve – past, present and future – and, if captured or missing, all possible efforts will be made to recover and bring home our UNRETURNED Veterans.
When this occurred, DPAA and the League were notified within minutes of each other, but given no reason, nor any indication as to who had made the decision to construct a new flagpole on the edge of the South Lawn and remove the POW/MIA flag from atop the White House, especially on Flag Day, June 14th, when and where it had proudly flown for decades. Even more strange, the POW/MIA flag was not in its rightful position on September 18, 2020, National POW/MIA Recognition Day. The way this was handled was truly bizarre and, to date, DPAA Director McKeague and League Chairman/CEO Ann Mills-Griffiths have not been provided the rationale. The League informed White House officials that removal of the POW/MIA flag from atop the White House would send conflicting signals domestically and internationally to counterpart governments which figure prominently in US efforts to achieve the fullest possible accounting, in particular for Vietnam War POW/MIAs. It was also noted that such an action could be viewed as reducing priority and seriousness of US efforts and intentions, including with the DPRK, as accounting for Americans lost during the Korean War was Point #4 of the 2018 Singapore Agreement.
AMERICANS ACCOUNTED FOR: The number missing (POW/MIA) and otherwise unaccounted-for (KIA/BNR) from the Vietnam War is STILL 1,585. A September 24, 2020, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) release stated that Air Force Maj. Paul A. Avolese was lost in a mid-air collision on July 7, 1967, and he was presumed dead on July 24, 1967. There was no mention when remains were recovered or by whom, but interment services are pending. In a July 14, 2020 release, DPAA announced that 1st Lt. Alva R. Krogman, USAF, KIA/BNR, was accounted for on July 7, 2020. Lt. Krogman was flying on a visual reconnaissance mission over Savannakhet Province, Laos, on January 17, 1967, when his aircraft was hit and went down. Search and Rescue (SAR) operations were initiated immediately, but were shut down within a few hours after one of the SAR aircraft was also shot down. In February, 2020, a US team of unexploded ordnance removal specialists initially recovered remains while clearing the site in preparation for an April joint recovery mission. This was only the second identification of a previously missing/unaccounted-for Vietnam War Veteran to be announced since July 26, 2019.
ACCOUNTING OPERATIONS/EVENTS CANCELED; UNILATERAL SRV RECOVERIES CONTINUED: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Defense (DoD) banned all DoD travel, initially until May 15, 2020, then extended until June 30th and travel is still limited, but DoD has begun the process of incrementally lifting restrictions. The DPAA pulled teams from the field, returned them to the US and cancelled all field operations until further notice; however, Vietnam agreed to conduct unilateral recoveries in several provinces. Reportedly, there have been three such periods, with multiple recovery teams, and one reported repatriation ceremony, plus another period of unilateral SRV recoveries involving three teams was fielded more recently in northern provinces.
DPAA & DIA SIGN FORMAL MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU): On September 17, 2020, DPAA Director Kelly McKeague and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Director LTG Bob Ashley, USA, signed an MOU to formally solidify integration of DIA’s Stony Beach Team of specialists into Vietnam War accounting operations. Formed in 1986, before the accounting mission broadened to include efforts to recover and identify personnel unaccounted-for from the Korean War, Cold War and World War II, Stony Beach’s sole mission was and is Vietnam War accounting, with focused priority on Last Known Alive (LKA) cases of US personnel initially listed as POW/MIA.
LEAGUE 51ST ANNUAL MEETING RESCHEDULED FOR JUNE 23-27, 2021: As previously announced, the 51st Annual Meeting did not take place June 24-28th this year, and has been rescheduled for June 23-27, 2021. The Hilton Crystal City Hotel is open on a limited basis, and we’re hoping for fewer restrictions and greater normalcy by mid-2021. DPAA cancelled Family Member Updates previously scheduled for March, April, May, August and September. The DPAA-hosted Annual Government Briefings for Korean War/Cold War Families, previously planned for August, were also cancelled A virtual ZOOM Family Member Update was recently held in Little Rock, AR. Due to the seriousness and unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic, DoD travel restrictions have been applied worldwide. In addition, DoD, DIA, State Department and other US agencies were largely teleworking, but are now alternating schedules to try to ensure greater in-person coverage.
SUPPORT THE LEAGUE: You can support the League on Facebook by creating a fundraiser to celebrate meaningful occasions and events. Opportunities are nearly endless, ranging from appeals for donations to the League in lieu of birthday gifts or to honor your missing loved one on the anniversary of his loss, and, if returned, his story commemorating his recovery, etc. If you would like to create a fundraiser to benefit the League, visit www.facebook.com/fund/powmiafamilies. 100% of the proceeds raised from your Facebook fundraiser will benefit the League!
You and your family, friends and colleagues can also support the League by shopping at Amazon Smile. It is simple and automatic, at no extra cost to you. Just visit https://smile.amazon.com/ch/23-7071242 and you will find the exact same prices, vast selection and convenient shopping to which you may be increasingly accustomed. The added bonus? The Amazon Smile Foundation automatically donates 0.5% of the cost of your eligible purchases to the League.
Donate today, 501(C)3, Fed Tax ID #23-7071242, at www.pow-miafamilies.org
Update_1-7-21.pdf