Though I didn't know this solider as I read his name,
I know what he gave, and that's why I came.
He lies at rest 'neath this carved granite stone.
Our Heavenly Father has called him Home. With his blood, he
purchased my precious liberty;
With his life defended my right to be free.
He did not question his country's call;
He answered, and he gave his all. As I place these blossoms,
fragile and sweet,
Let me always remember that a soldier's feet
Took him where duty led the way,
And I honor him with love and tears today. Thank you, brave
warrior, for what you've done.
So much depended on so many--and this one.
Then, let our remembrance of you never cease.
Welcome home, brother...may you rest in peace.
Kathy L. Sheridan - Memorial Day, 2001
This page is dedicated to all the missing men whose so courageously fought for our country.
My adopted POW/MIA are:
Charles Elbert Finney
Steven Ray Armistead
Elbert Wayne Bush
Charles Franklin Wallace
Walter Joseph Taylor, Jr.
Franklin Zollicoffer
Charles Finney
Steven Armistead
Elbert Wayne Bush
Name: Charles Elbert Finney
Rank/Branch: O3/US Marine Corps
Unit: VMA 533, Marine Air Group 12, 1st Marine Air Wing
Date of Birth: 05 August 1944
Home City of Record: Saltville MS
Date of Loss: 17 March 1969
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 161900N 1063300E (XD530190)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A6A
Refno: 1409
REMAINS RETURNED 03/15/00
Other Personnel In Incident: Steven R. Armistead (missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 June 1990 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence
with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK 1998.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: The Grumman A6 Intruder is a two-man all weather, low-altitude, carrier based attack plane, with versions adapted as aerial tanker and
electronic warfare platform. The A6A primarily flew close-air-support, all
weather and night attacks on enemy troop concentrations, and night
interdiction missions. Its advanced navigation and attack system, known as DIANE (Digital Integrated Attack navigation Equipment) allowed small precision targets, such as bridges, barracks and fuel depots to be located
and attacked in all weather conditions, day or night. The planes were
credited with some of the most difficult single-plane strikes in the war,
including the destruction of the Hai Duong bridge between Hanoi and Haiphong
by a single A6. Their missions were tough, but their crews among the most
talented and most courageous to serve the United States.
1LT Steven R. Armistead was the pilot and Capt. Charles E. Finney was the
bombardier/navigator on board an A6A Intruder aircraft sent on a night
mission over Laos on March 17, 1969. The mission was in support of air
activity being conducted by the 7th Air Force.
When the aircraft had completed its target strike, it was hit by enemy fire
and went down near the city of Muong Nong, located southwest of the
demilitarized zone (DMZ), in Savannakhet Province, Laos. Air searches proved
unsuccessful, and both men were listed as Missing In Action.
The Defense Intelligence Agency further expanded Armistead's and Finney's
classifications to include an enemy knowledge ranking of 2. Category 2
indicates "suspect knowledge" and includes personnel who may have
been
involved in loss incidents with individuals reported in Category 1
(confirmed knowledge), or who were lost in areas or under conditions that
they may reasonably be expected to be known by the enemy; who were connected
with an incident which was discussed but not identified by names in enemy
news media; or identified (by elimination, but not 100% positively) through
analysis of all-source intelligence.
Finney and Armistead are among nearly 600 Americans lost in the country of
Laos during the Vietnam War. Although the numbers of men actually termed
"prisoner of war" are quite low, this can be explained in
understanding the
blanket of security surrounding the "secret war" the U.S. waged in
Laos. To
protect the public perception that we "were not in Laos," details of
many
loss incidents were "rearranged" to show a loss or casualty in South
Vietnam. Only a handful of publicly-exposed cases were ever acknowledged
POW, even though scores of pilots and ground personnel were known to have
been alive and well at last contact (thus increasing the chance they were
captured alive).
The Lao communist faction, the Pathet Lao, stated on several occasions they
held "tens of tens" of American prisoners, but the Pathet Lao were
not
included in the Paris Peace agreements ending American involvement in the
war. Consequently, no American POWs held in Laos were negotiated for. Not one American held in Laos has ever been released. They were abandoned to the
enemy.
Reports continue to be received that Americans are alive today, being held
captive. Whether Armistead and Finney are among them is not known. What is
certain, however, is that they deserve better than the abandonment they
received at the hands of the country they so proudly served.
Charles Finney attended the military academy at West Point, and had been
named first, to the Marine Corps Honor Guard, and later to the Silent Drill
Team. He was promoted to the rank of Captain during the period he was maintained missing.
Steven R. Armistead was promoted to the rank of Major during the period he was missing.
No. 125-00
(703)697-5131(media)
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 14, 2000
(703)697-5737(public/industry)
VIETNAM WAR REMAINS IDENTIFIED
Two servicemen missing in action from the Vietnam War have been accounted
for and are being returned to their families for burial in the United
States.
They are identified as Navy Cmdr. James W. Hall, Los Angeles; and Marine Maj. Charles E. Finney, Saltillo, Miss.
On Oct. 28, 1972, Hall took off from the carrier USS America in his A-7C Corsair on a surface-to-air missile suppression mission. Over the
target area in Nghe An province, North Vietnam, Hall was heard to radio to
his wingman, "Two SAMs (surface-to-air missiles) lifting at 12
o'clock." No
other radio messages were heard. The first missile missed his wingman, but
the second struck Hall's aircraft. No parachute was observed, and no
emergency radio beepers were heard.
In 1989, Vietnam repatriated to the United States 15 boxes allegedly
containing the remains of U.S. servicemen. One was believed to be Hall, but
forensic science at the time could not confirm an identification. His case
was placed in a hold status pending the receipt of new evidence or the
development of new forensic techniques that would assist in the
identification.
Joint U.S.-Vietnamese teams, led by the Joint Task Force-Full
Accounting, conducted investigations and excavations at suspected crash
sites in 1993 and 1994. They found no remains, but did recover several
pilot-related items. Mitochondrial DNA testing assisted in confirming the
identity of the remains recovered in 1989.
On March 17, 1969, Finney was flying in an A-6A aircraft on a night
armed reconnaissance mission over Laos. Crewmen from other aircraft in the
area observed an explosion in the vicinity of the target, then a second
explosion nearby which was believed to be that of Finney's aircraft. There
were no parachutes sighted and no emergency beepers were heard. Search and rescue efforts were terminated several days later when no signs of survivors
were found.
In 1995 and 1999, joint U.S.-Lao teams interviewed local villagers
in the area of the crash, then conducted an excavation in Savannakhet
province. A local worker turned over a military identification tag relating
to Finney's fellow crewmember. The team also recovered numerous pieces of
aircraft wreckage, personal effects and possible human remains. This
evidence aided in the final identification.
With the accounting of Hall and Finney, 2,029 servicemen remain
missing in action from the Vietnam War. Another 554 have been identified
and returned to their families since the end of the war. Analysis of the
remains and other evidence by the U.S. Army Central Identification
Laboratory Hawaii confirmed the identification of these two men.
Name: Steven Ray Armistead
Rank/Branch: O2/US Marine Corps
Unit: VMA 533, Marine Air Group 12
Date of Birth: 15 June 1944
Home City of Record: Los Angeles CA
Date of Loss: 17 March 1969
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 161900N 1063300E (XD530190)
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A6A
Refno: 1409
Other Personnel In Incident: Charles E. Finney (missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 June 1990 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence
with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: The Grumman A6 Intruder is a two-man all weather, low-altitude, carrier based attack plane, with versions adapted as aerial tanker and
electronic warfare platform. The A6A primarily flew close-air-support, all
weather and night attacks on enemy troop concentrations, and night
interdiction missions. Its advanced navigation and attack system, known as
DIANE (Digital Integrated Attack navigation Equipment) allowed small
precision targets, such as bridges, barracks and fuel depots to be located
and attacked in all weather conditions, day or night. The planes were
credited with some of the most difficult single-plane strikes in the war,
including the destruction of the Hai Duong bridge between Hanoi and Haiphong
by a single A6. Their missions were tough, but their crews among the most
talented and most courageous to serve the United States.
1LT Steven R. Armistead was the pilot and Capt. Charles E. Finney was the
bombardier/navigator on board an A6A Intruder aircraft sent on a night
mission over Laos on March 17, 1969. The mission was in support of air
activity being conducted by the 7th Air Force.
When the aircraft had completed its target strike, it was hit by enemy fire
and went down near the city of Muong Nong, located southwest of the
demilitarized zone (DMZ), in Savannakhet Province, Laos. Air searches proved
unsuccessful, and both men were listed as Missing In Action.
The Defense Intelligence Agency further expanded Armistead's
classifications to include an enemy knowledge ranking of 2. Category 2
indicates "suspect knowledge" and includes personnel who may have
been
involved in loss incidents with individuals reported in Category 1
(confirmed knowledge), or who were lost in areas or under conditions that
they may reasonably be expected to be known by the enemy; who were connected
with an incident which was discussed but not identified by names in enemy
news media; or identified (by elimination, but not 100% positively) through
analysis of all-source intelligence.
Armistead are among nearly 600 Americans lost in the country of
Laos during the Vietnam War. Although the numbers of men actually termed
"prisoner of war" are quite low, this can be explained in
understanding the
blanket of security surrounding the "secret war" the U.S. waged in
Laos. To
protect the public perception that we "were not in Laos," details of
many
loss incidents were "rearranged" to show a loss or casualty in South
Vietnam. Only a handful of publicly-exposed cases were ever acknowledged
POW, even though scores of pilots and ground personnel were known to have
been alive and well at last contact (thus increasing the chance they were
captured alive).
The Lao communist faction, the Pathet Lao, stated on several occasions they
held "tens of tens" of American prisoners, but the Pathet Lao were
not
included in the Paris Peace agreements ending American involvement in the
war. Consequently, no American POWs held in Laos were negotiated for. Not
one American held in Laos has ever been released. They were abandoned to the
enemy.
Steven R. Armistead was promoted to the rank of Major during the period he was missing.
These comments came from Mark- who served with Steve and Chuck:
"The loss of Steve and Chuck is something that will probably be forever etched in my mind. I was sitting in the Operations area on the night they were shot down. Major Pete Busch came in and said "Murph, I've got some bad news". He then told me that Steve and Chuck had been shot down somewhere in Laos and that there had not been any communication from them. The only word they had gotten was from another crew that was in the area and they said that Steve and Chuck were on a low level bombing run and had taken a hit from anti aircraft fire and almost immediately, they saw the impact explosion of their plane on the ground. There probably would not have been time between the "hit" and the explosion on impact for either Steve or Chuck to eject. Still, to this day, I hold on to the hope that they did, in fact, eject successfully."
Name: Elbert Wayne Bush
Rank/Branch: Sergeant First Class/US Army
Unit: AGC Army Advisory Group Headquarters MACV
Date of Birth: 31 October 1946 (Starksville, MS)
Home of Record: Jackson, MS
Date of Loss: 08 January 1973
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 16421N 1070956E (YD324528)
Staus in 1973: Missing In Action
Category: 1
Aircaft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1H "Iroquois"
Other Personnel in Incident: Manuel A. Lauterio; William L.
Deane; Richard A. Knutson; William S. Stinson; Mickey A. Wilson (all
missing)
Remains Recovered 27 August 1996; Identified 4 October 1999
REMARKS:
By early
1967, the Bell UH1 Iroquois was already the standard Army assault helicopter,
and was used in nearly every "in-country" mission. Better known by
its nickname "Huey," the troop carriers were referred to as
"slicks" and the gunships were called "Hogs." It proved
itself to be a sturdy, versatile aircraft which was called on to carry out a
wide variety of missions including search and rescue, close air support,
insertion and extraction, fire support, and resupply to name a few. It usually
carried a crew of four.
On 8 January 1973, WO1 Mickey A. Wilson, aircraft commander;
WO1 Richard A. Knutson, pilot; SP5 Manuel A. Lauterio, crew chief; and SP5
William S. Stinson, gunner; comprised the crew of a UH1H helicopter (serial
#69-15619). This aircrew flew missions in support of the Senior American
Advisor to the Vietnamese Airborne Division in Quang Tri and Thua Thien
Provinces and frequently flew missions between the provincial capitals of Hue
and Quang Tri. All four crewmen were assigned to the 62nd Aviation Company, 1st
Aviation Battalion, 11th Combat Aviation Group. Also on board the Huey were
passengers Maj. William L. Dean and then SSgt. Elbert W. Bush who were assigned
to Army Advisory Group, Headquarter, Military Assistance Command - Vietnam.
At 1430 hours, the aircraft departed one Landing Zone (LZ)
enroute to others in the area on a support mission. For unknown reasons, the
crew did so without making the usual radio contact with the 2nd Battalion
Technical Operations Center. When no radio contact was received by 1500 hours,
the operations center queried all LZs on the aircraft's briefed route to
ascertain its whereabouts. The center was informed that the helicopter failed
to land at two of the designated LZs. Likewise, no one at those LZs established
radio contact with the missing aircraft.
The Huey's intended route would have taken it northwest
toward Quang Tri City, then to a point southwest of the city where it would
turn west to a LZ located just south of the Thach Han River. Even though there
was no radio contact with the Huey, it was observed by American ground forces
as it flew northwest toward Quang Tri City, then instead of turning to the west
as briefed, the witnesses saw the helicopter cross the Thach Han River into
enemy held territory. While it was northwest of the river, it was seen to
circle with its door guns blazing. Enemy automatic weapons fire was heard by
ground personnel who also reported the helicopter took a direct hit in the tail
boom by a missile, reportedly an SA7, forcing it to land in hostile territory.
The Huey disappeared in a hotly contested area covered with double canopy
jungle and laced with numerous rivers and streams approximately 1 mile
northwest of the Thach Han River, 3 miles southwest of Quang Tri City, the same
distance southwest of Highway 1 and 8 miles south-southeast of Dong Ha, Quang
Tri Province, South Vietnam.
Aerial search and rescue (SAR) efforts were initiated
immediately and continued through 9 January. These searches failed to locate
any trace of either the damaged aircraft or its crew and passengers in the
dense jungle below. At the time formal SAR operations were terminated, Mickey
Wilson, Richard Knutson, Manuel Lauterio, William Stinson, William Deane and
Elbert Bush were all listed Missing in Action.
Almost immediately US intelligence began receiving reports
indicating that of the six men aboard the UH1H, four were seen alive on the
ground. The families of the men assumed their loved ones would be released with
the other POWs, and some families were even so informed. Unfortunately none
were.
In early 1973, 591 American Prisoners of War were released
by the communists during Operation Homecoming. All returnees were debriefed by
US intelligence to include any information each possessed about other Americans
who were known or believed to be prisoners and who were not released from
captivity. According to an Air Force air crewman released from one of the camps
in Hanoi, he reported he had direct contact and a conversation with Richard
Knutson while in captivity. Less substantial information was received from a
released Navy pilot who provided hearsay information about William Deane also
being held captive. None of the returned POWs was able to provide any
information about Mickey Wilson, Manuel Lauterio, William Stinson or Elbert
Bush.
No further information about the fate of the crew and
passengers aboard the Huey was forthcoming until 8 February 1994. At that time
the remains of Richard Knutson were returned without explanation to US control.
These remains were identified by the Central Identification Laboratory in
Hawaii (CIL-HI) as belonging to WO Knutson on 28 November 1995. For the
remainder of the crew, unanswered questions existed until 27 August 1996 when
bone fragments recovered during a joint American/Vietnamese excavation of their
aircraft's crash site were identified by CIL-HI as belonging to William Deane,
Mickey Wilson, Manuel Lauterio, William Stinson and Elbert Bush.
The fate of all six men aboard the UH1H, serial #69-15619,
has been resolved and their families have the comfort of knowing where each
man's mortal remains lie. For other Americans who remain unaccounted for in
Indochina, their fates continue to be unknown.
Since the end of the Vietnam War well over 21,000 reports of
American prisoners, missing and otherwise unaccounted for have been received by
our government. Many of these reports document LIVE American Prisoners of War
remaining captive throughout Southeast Asia TODAY.
Pilots and aircrews in Vietnam were called upon to fly in
many dangerous circumstances, and they were prepared to be wounded, killed or
captured. It probably never occurred to them that they could be abandoned by
the country they so proudly served.
Name: Charles Franklin Wallace
Unit: VMA 121 MAG 15
Date of Birth: 27 May 1929
Home City of Record: ELLISVILLE MS
Date of Loss: 28 August 1967
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 0 0
Status (in 1973): Killed In Action/Body Not Recovered
Category: 5
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A4E
Other Personnel in Incident:
Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the
following: raw
data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence
with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews and CACCF = Combined
Action Combat Casualty File.
CACCF/CRASH/PILOT/16 YRS UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
No further information available at this time.
Name: Walter Joseph Taylor, Jr.
Rank/Branch: E3/US Army
Unit: Company B, 158th Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne
Division
Date of Birth: 30 October 1947
Home City of Record: Moss Point MS
Date of Loss: 06 December 1970
Country of Loss: South Vietnam/Over Water
Loss Coordinates: 160903N 1081308E (BZ013850)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 4
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1M
Refno: 1682
Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data
from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 1998.
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: On December 6, 1970, PFC Joseph Taylor was serving
as a door
gunner on a UH1M helicopter when it crashed into the South
China Sea near
the Da Nang Harbor. The aircraft failed to recover from a
very steep dive
being maneuvered. (Note: The UH1M, was not a particularly
common version of
the Huey used in Vietnam. The M model was essentially the
same as a UH1C,
with the addition of a more powerful engine.)
PFC Taylor was last seen by the aircraft commander about one
minute prior to
the crash of the aircraft. Upon impact with the water the
helicopter
exploded and burned. Rescue teams recovered the pilot and
aircraft commander
and several days later, the body of the crew chief. Navy
divers also
recovered a portion of the aircraft, but no trace of Taylor
was found.
It was the opinion of the U.S. Army that Taylor died on
December 6, 1970.
Because his body was not recovered, Taylor is listed among
the nearly 2500
Americans missing from the Vietnam war.
For others who are missing, determination of death is not
possible. Some of
the missing were last seen being led away by enemy troops. A
few wrote home
from POW camps, but were not released at the end of the war.
Others were in
radio contact with search and rescue teams and advised them
of their
imminent capture. Some simply disappeared.
Since the war ended, thousands of reports have accumulated
indicating that hundreds of Americans are still alive, captives in Southeast
Asia. While
Taylor is probably not one of them, one can imagine him
willingly flying one
more mission to help bring them home.
Name: Franklin Zollicoffer
Rank/Branch: E4/US Army
Unit: U.S. Army Installation - Pleiku
Date of Birth: 22 November 1950 (Attala County, MS)
Home City of Record: Kosciusko MS
Date of Loss: 24 April 1972
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 143918N 1074711E (ZB001219)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 1833
Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data
from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA
families,
published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK
in 1998.
Other Personnel in Incident: Robert W. Brownlee; George W.
Carter; James E.
Hunsicker; Johnny M. Jones; Kenneth J. Yonan; Wade L. Ellen
(all missing);
Charles M. Lea; Rickey V. Vogel (helicopter crew, rescued);
Julius G.
Warmath; John P. Keller; Walter H. Ward (helicopter
passengers, rescued);
Charles W. Gordon, Cao Ky Chi (evaded capture near Dak To)
REMARKS: KIA ON ISLE - 5 RCV - NT SUBJ - J
SYNOPSIS: On the evening of April 23, 1972, Capt. Kenneth J.
Yonan accompanied his ARVN counterpart to a water tower located on
the
northwestern edge of the Tanh Canh base camp compound near
Dak To, Kontum
Province, South Vietnam. Yonan was an advisor assigned to
Advisory Team 22,
MACV, and was assisting the ARVN 42nd Regiment based there.
At about 0530 hours on April 24, Capt. Yonan was still in
the water tower
when Viet Cong attacked the camp perimeter. Although tanks
fired at and hit
the water tower, two other advisors spoke to Capt. Yonan
after the firing
and Yonan reported that he was not hit and planned to join
the other
advisors when it was safe to do so. Radio contact was
maintained with Yonan
until 0730 hours. The other U.S. advisors began escape and
evasion
operations from the beleaguered compound.
Team 22 Advisors Maj. George W. Carter, Maj. Julius G.
Warmath, and Capt.
John P. Keller, were extracted by helicopter. The aircraft
was a UH1H from
the 52nd Aviation Battalion, 17th Aviation Group, (serial
#69-15715) and was
flown by Lt. James E. Hunsicker. WO Wade L. Ellen was the
co-pilot of the
chopper, and SP4 Charles M. Lea, and SP5 Rickey V. Vogel
were crewmen. Other
persons extracted included 1Lt. Johnny M. Jones, from the
52nd Aviation
Battalion; SP4 Franklin Zollicoffer, from the U.S. Army
Installation at
Pleiku, and Sgt. Walter H. Ward, unit not specified.
The helicopter departed to the northwest from Dak To, but
was apparently hit
by enemy fire, as it crashed and burned on a small island in
the Dak Poko
River about 500 meters from the end of the dock to the
runway. Because of
the rolling terrain, personnel at the airfield did not see
the aircraft
impact. A pilot flying over the wreckage reported that the
helicopter was
burning, but they could see no survivors. It was later
discovered that five
people did survive the crash - Warmath, Keller, Vogel, Ward
and Lea.
According to their statements, Hunsicker, Ellen,
Zollicoffer, Jones and
Carter were all dead.
Two other Team 22, MACV Advisors, LtCol. Robert W. Brownlee
and Capt.
Charles W. Gordon, and their ARVN interpreter, Sgt. Cao Ky
Chi, were in a
bunker near the airstrip approximately 4 kilometers to the
west of the base
camp when they were forced to withdraw under heavy enemy
attack. They
proceeded south of the compound across the Dak Poko River,
but LtCol.
Brownlee became separated from the others as they were
advancing up a hill.
Sgt. Chi and Capt. Gordon called out to him, but received no
response. From
the top of the hill, Sgt. Chi heard the enemy call out to
someone in
Vietnamese to halt and raise their hands. Sgt. Chi believed
the Viet Cong
were speaking to LtCol. Brownlee. Gordon and Chi evaded
capture and
eventually made their way to safety.
A Vietnamese who was captured and subsequently released
reported that he had
talked to another prisoner who had witnessed
LtCol.Brownlee's death. He was told that LtCol. Brownlee had killed himself with his own
pistol when
communist soldiers told him to raise his hands in an attempt
to capture him.
Additional hearsay reports of his suicide were reported by
another ARVN.
Yonan never caught up with the others. For three days,
helicopter searches
were made of the area with no success. Ground search,
because of the hostile
threat in the area, was not practical.
In April 1988, the Vietnamese "discovered" the
remains of Capt. Kenneth J. Yonan and returned them to the U.S. in a spirit of
stepped-up cooperation on
the POW/MIA issue. For nearly 20 years, this 1969 West Point
graduate was a
prisoner of war - alive or dead. His family now knows with
certainty that he
is dead, but may never learn how - or when - he died.
In addition to the reports regarding Brownlee's death, a
South Vietnamese soldier reported that he observed the capture of one
"big" American from the
camp. Another report described the capture of a U.S. Captain
stationed at
the camp.
Since the war ended, reports and refugee testimony have
convinced many
authorities that not only do the Vietnamese possess several
hundred sets of
Americans' remains, more startlingly, they also control
hundreds of living
American prisoners.
Some Biographical and loss information on POW's
provided by Operation Just Cause have been supplied by Chuck and Mary Schantag
of POWNET. Please check with http://www.asde.com/~pownet regularly for updates.
ARMISTICE DAY* MEMORIAL DAY* VETERANS DAY All days for Aall veterans
With the percentage of the population who wore a uniform rapidly declining,
appreciation for the sacrifices made by veterans is correspondingly
diminishing. This year observe Memorial Day as it was intended and not
just another day off from work. Be aware that we owe an eternal debt
of gratitude to the millions of Americans who served and sacrificed.
That they date back to the Revolution.
*It is the veteran, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.
*It is the veteran, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
*It is the veteran, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom
to demonstrate.
* It is the veteran, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trail.
* and It is the veteran who salutes the flag, serves under the flag, and
who's coffin is draped by the flag, who allow protesters to burn the flag.
