thedrifter
06-07-03, 09:42 PM
I'm personally asking each and everyone of you to PLEASE take a few minutes out of your day to read this message and follow the link provided. Then read the two pages on the website Gunny has created. This is of utmost importance.
We all talk the talk...complaining about how our government has left behind American POW/MIA's, what should be being done, what hasn't been done...etc. Now it's time each of us can walk the walk and do something positive to help. For those who have the knowledge and time...please consider taking on one or more of the tasks asked on the web site. For others, letters, faxes and phone calls (not E-mails) will be needed. Please don't discard this message! Help in any way you can. Perhaps one day you will be able to tell your grand children that you played an important part of creating or rewriting a law that protected one or many future POWs. Again...I'm asking all of you to get behind this. Also, please forward this message to all contacts in your address books...mailing lists...etc. Post it on your web sites (banner attached). But most importantly, play an active part in doing whatever is listed that you feel you can do.
And for the record...Gunny was NOT a "small part" of the organization of Operation Just Cause....he WAS Operation Just Cause. If it weren't for him this organization would never have gotten off the ground. At last count (a couple of years ago) there were over two million members. So you see...we can do this but we need everyone's help.
My personal thank you to each and every one of you.
Subject: Operation Higgins
Hello,
My name is George Fallon... most folks just call me Gunny.
Several years ago, I was a small part of a group of people who started
Operation Just Cause, a non-funded, international POW support organization
that promotes awareness of the POW issue and seeks to reach a just
resolution of that issue through respectful but persistent petition of our
elected and appointed officials.
I have an important request of all of those who care about our uniformed
service members... those unselfish and remarkably courageous men and women
who safeguard our way of life.
Today, the Vietnam POW issue is not receiving much if any air time and many
in the opposition hope to see it fade away completely.
Why is this issue such an important one for this country?
Because, as long as we have enemies, we will have conflicts with them. Wars,
declared and undeclared, are a fact of living in an imperfect world.
Hostilities in Vietnam ended decades ago and a significant cross-section of
the world population believes all those who remain unaccounted for in SE
Asia are dead and their remains will never be recovered. I am not as easily
convinced as the members of that cross-section. I believe there are answers
yet to be learned about men like David Hrdlicka, Morgan Donahue, Frank
Gould, Sean Flynn and others as well as women like Eleanor Vietti, a
civilian physician not heard from since her
abduction in May 1962.
But the POW issue is important not only because of the men and women lost in
past wars.
It is important because there will be new POWs in the conflicts yet to come.
Today we have troops in Iraq. The combat is officially ended and the Iraqi
army is no longer a viable threat, but men are still being killed by
pro-Sadaam loyalists. The threat of terrorist attack against those service
members working to bring peace and democracy to Iraq is an ongoing reality.
They don't attack large forces but the numerous fundamentalist factions have
a history of kidnapping lone Westerners and holding them prisoner.
Unfortunately, due to a little known twist in the reality of armed conflict,
uniformed service members who are kidnapped, abducted, or otherwise taken
prisoner by terrorist factions, are not considered Prisoners of War, but
hostages or captives.
What's in a name? In this case, Everything.
Prisoners of War are entitled to certain special considerations under
international law. Parties to military conflict are required to provide
specifically defined care to captured troops and among other requirements,
to insure the safety of those prisoners.
In February 1988, a month and a half after taking command of UN Observer
Group Lebanon, US Marine LtCol Rich Higgins was captured by Hezbollah
terrorists.
At some unknown later date, he was murdered by his captors. During his time
in captivity he was interrogated and tortured, and at one point, his captors
announced to the world that they intended to try Colonel Higgins for war
crimes since he had served in Vietnam.
A year and a half after he was taken, his inert body was seen on television
screens around the world, hanging by the neck. More than two years later --
December 1991 - his remains were dumped on a Beirut street.
Although captured and held by armed enemies of the United States while on
military assignment with UN Forces, Colonel Higgins was never designated a
Prisoner of War. He was never afforded the protections that POWs are
guaranteed under international law. His captors have never been prosecuted
and the governments that supported and sheltered them have never been held
to account.
I'd like to ask each of you to take a moment to visit
http://operationhiggins.org. It won't take more than a few minutes to read
the two simple pages. See what you as a citizen can do prevent this from
happening again to another American Soldier, Sailor, Marine or Airman...
learn what you can do spare another family the grief that Colonel Higgins'
family and friends endured.
For the record, there is nothing partisan about this issue.
No political party is at fault.
No government agency is to blame.
The problem rests in the wording of the law, a law written before the
abduction and murder of Colnel Higgins could have been anticipated.
Times have changed and it is now time to amend the wording of the law.
Please give us the few minutes it will take to visit Operation Higgins. Then
decide for yourself if the life of a single American is worth a few minutes
of your attention.
On behalf of Rich's wife, LtCol Robbin Higgins (USMC Ret.) and myself,
Thank you,
Gunny
Sempers,
Roger
We all talk the talk...complaining about how our government has left behind American POW/MIA's, what should be being done, what hasn't been done...etc. Now it's time each of us can walk the walk and do something positive to help. For those who have the knowledge and time...please consider taking on one or more of the tasks asked on the web site. For others, letters, faxes and phone calls (not E-mails) will be needed. Please don't discard this message! Help in any way you can. Perhaps one day you will be able to tell your grand children that you played an important part of creating or rewriting a law that protected one or many future POWs. Again...I'm asking all of you to get behind this. Also, please forward this message to all contacts in your address books...mailing lists...etc. Post it on your web sites (banner attached). But most importantly, play an active part in doing whatever is listed that you feel you can do.
And for the record...Gunny was NOT a "small part" of the organization of Operation Just Cause....he WAS Operation Just Cause. If it weren't for him this organization would never have gotten off the ground. At last count (a couple of years ago) there were over two million members. So you see...we can do this but we need everyone's help.
My personal thank you to each and every one of you.
Subject: Operation Higgins
Hello,
My name is George Fallon... most folks just call me Gunny.
Several years ago, I was a small part of a group of people who started
Operation Just Cause, a non-funded, international POW support organization
that promotes awareness of the POW issue and seeks to reach a just
resolution of that issue through respectful but persistent petition of our
elected and appointed officials.
I have an important request of all of those who care about our uniformed
service members... those unselfish and remarkably courageous men and women
who safeguard our way of life.
Today, the Vietnam POW issue is not receiving much if any air time and many
in the opposition hope to see it fade away completely.
Why is this issue such an important one for this country?
Because, as long as we have enemies, we will have conflicts with them. Wars,
declared and undeclared, are a fact of living in an imperfect world.
Hostilities in Vietnam ended decades ago and a significant cross-section of
the world population believes all those who remain unaccounted for in SE
Asia are dead and their remains will never be recovered. I am not as easily
convinced as the members of that cross-section. I believe there are answers
yet to be learned about men like David Hrdlicka, Morgan Donahue, Frank
Gould, Sean Flynn and others as well as women like Eleanor Vietti, a
civilian physician not heard from since her
abduction in May 1962.
But the POW issue is important not only because of the men and women lost in
past wars.
It is important because there will be new POWs in the conflicts yet to come.
Today we have troops in Iraq. The combat is officially ended and the Iraqi
army is no longer a viable threat, but men are still being killed by
pro-Sadaam loyalists. The threat of terrorist attack against those service
members working to bring peace and democracy to Iraq is an ongoing reality.
They don't attack large forces but the numerous fundamentalist factions have
a history of kidnapping lone Westerners and holding them prisoner.
Unfortunately, due to a little known twist in the reality of armed conflict,
uniformed service members who are kidnapped, abducted, or otherwise taken
prisoner by terrorist factions, are not considered Prisoners of War, but
hostages or captives.
What's in a name? In this case, Everything.
Prisoners of War are entitled to certain special considerations under
international law. Parties to military conflict are required to provide
specifically defined care to captured troops and among other requirements,
to insure the safety of those prisoners.
In February 1988, a month and a half after taking command of UN Observer
Group Lebanon, US Marine LtCol Rich Higgins was captured by Hezbollah
terrorists.
At some unknown later date, he was murdered by his captors. During his time
in captivity he was interrogated and tortured, and at one point, his captors
announced to the world that they intended to try Colonel Higgins for war
crimes since he had served in Vietnam.
A year and a half after he was taken, his inert body was seen on television
screens around the world, hanging by the neck. More than two years later --
December 1991 - his remains were dumped on a Beirut street.
Although captured and held by armed enemies of the United States while on
military assignment with UN Forces, Colonel Higgins was never designated a
Prisoner of War. He was never afforded the protections that POWs are
guaranteed under international law. His captors have never been prosecuted
and the governments that supported and sheltered them have never been held
to account.
I'd like to ask each of you to take a moment to visit
http://operationhiggins.org. It won't take more than a few minutes to read
the two simple pages. See what you as a citizen can do prevent this from
happening again to another American Soldier, Sailor, Marine or Airman...
learn what you can do spare another family the grief that Colonel Higgins'
family and friends endured.
For the record, there is nothing partisan about this issue.
No political party is at fault.
No government agency is to blame.
The problem rests in the wording of the law, a law written before the
abduction and murder of Colnel Higgins could have been anticipated.
Times have changed and it is now time to amend the wording of the law.
Please give us the few minutes it will take to visit Operation Higgins. Then
decide for yourself if the life of a single American is worth a few minutes
of your attention.
On behalf of Rich's wife, LtCol Robbin Higgins (USMC Ret.) and myself,
Thank you,
Gunny
Sempers,
Roger