MIAs Identified from The Vietnam War

[thedrifter]

No. 1098-04
Nov 02, 2004
IMMEDIATE RELEASE




MIAs Identified from The Vietnam War
Six servicemen missing in action from the Vietnam War have been identified and are being buried as a group at Arlington National Cemetery Friday with full military honors.

They are Air Force Col. Theodore E. Kryszak of Buffalo, NY; Air Force Col. Harding E. Smith of Los Gatos, Calif.; Air Force Lt. Col. Russell D. Martin of Bloomfield, Iowa; Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Luther L. Rose of Howe, Texas, and Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Ervin Warren, of Philadelphia.

On June 23, 1966, the crew was aboard an AC-47 “Spooky” gunship flying a nighttime armed reconnaissance mission over southern Laos. At about 9:25 p.m., the aircraft radioed, “we have a hot fire,” and another radio transmission was heard to order “bail out.” Witnesses reported the aircraft was on fire, then crashed into a heavily wooded area 30 miles northeast of Tchepone, in Khannouan Province, Laos. No parachutes from the crew were observed and no emergency beepers were heard. An aerial search of the site found no evidence of survivors.

In cooperation with the Lao government, a joint team of U.S. and Lao specialists traveled to a suspected crash site in Khammouan Province in October 1994 where a villager took them to an area where personal effects, aircraft wreckage, crew-related materials and a crew member’s identification tag were found.

In May-June 1995, a joint U.S.-Lao team excavated the site where they recovered human remains as well as identification media of other aircrew members. The U.S. recovery team members were from the Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii (CILHI). CILHI scientists applied a wide array of forensic techniques to the recovered remains, including comparisons of dental charts and x-rays, as well as the use of mitochondrial DNA sequencing.

The DNA sequencing was done by the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, whose results aided the CILHI scientists in identifying the remains. More than 88,000 Americans are missing in action from all conflicts. Of these, 1,849 are from the Vietnam War. The CILHI is now part of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command.

For more information please call the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) at (703) 699-1169, or visit http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/.

Ellie

[MillRatUSMC]

I wonder if we'll ever find out what happen to L/CPL Bruce W. Staehli USMC missing in action

http://www.scopesys.com/cgi/bio2.cgi?bio=S059

SYNOPSIS: Bruce Staehli was a Marine in Vietnam when the fighting was
intense. His Marine brothers at Khe Sanh had fought the Vietnamese in one
of the bloodiest battles of the war earlier in the year, while the Marines
at Hue were fighting the enemy in the streets. By April, the Marines at Khe
Sanh had finished operation Pegasus and had embarked on a series of missions
called Scotland II to search and clear the area of enemy presence.

It was perhaps on such a mission that Bruce Staehli disappeared on April 30,
1968, near the city of Dong Ha, South Vietnam. Dong Ha is only a few miles
from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), and less than 30 miles northeast of Khe
Sanh. Staehli is the only missing man from the action that day, and there
is good reason to believe the enemy knows his fate. He may have been
captured.

When American prisoners were released 5 years later, the Staehli family was
shocked and disappointed that their son was not one of them. Experts say
there were hundreds expected to be released who were not.

Since the end of American involvement in Vietnam, thousands of reports of
Americans still held captive in Southeast Asia have been received by the
U.S. Government. Official policy states that there is not enough proof to
act, but that presumably, one or more American is held. Critics of that
policy, including individuals in government, say the proof is there, but
that no one is willing to pay the price of freedom for these captive
Americans.

Bring them all home, we pray for that day...

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo