H Res. 111 ~ To Establish in the House of Representatives a Select Committee on
POW and MIA Affairs.

Updated 9/5/2011

Support H. Res 111

To Establish in the House of Representatives a
Select Committee on POW and MIA Affairs.

This legislation needs your support!

We need answers!

"There are too many live sighting reports, specifically observations of several Caucasians in a collective farm by Romanians and the North Korean defectors' eyewitness of Americans in DPRK to dismiss that there are no American POW's in North Korea."Background Paper prepared, in 1996, by I.O. Lee, analyst Defense POW/MIA Office.

"As of now, I can come to no other conclusion,." Former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director James Schlesinger before the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, when asked directly if the United States left men behind in Southeast Asia.

The Defense POW/MIA Office has failed, miserably, in their responsibility. The comments in our "Reliable Sources" section confirm this.

It's time for Congress to take another look at the POW/MIA issue.

Help Us Pass H. Res. 111

90 Co-sponsors and Counting.... Is Your Congressman a
Co-Sponsor for H.Res 111

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Res 111 - "That there is established in the House of Representatives a select committee to be known as the Select Committee on POW and MIA Affairs."

"The select committee shall conduct a full investigation of all unresolved matters relating to any United States personnel unaccounted for from the Vietnam era, the Korean conflict, World War II, Cold War Missions, Persian Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom, or Operation Enduring Freedom, including MIA's and POW's missing and captured."

The Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs concluded in 1993 that; "There is evidence, moreover, that indicates the possibility of survival, at least for a small number, after Operation Homecoming...."

Much new information has surfaced regarding the mis-handling and suppression of POW/MIA information. A former analyst with the Defense POW/MIA Office, provided this information along with many other disturbing details requiring Congressional attention. Specifically, he detailed a report referred to, in house, as the "185 Report," This report discussed the possibility that as many as 185 American POWs were alive as late as 1976. During the same time frame the Joint Casualty Resolution Center (JCRC)concluded their own study. They found the possibility existed that as many as 57 American servicemen might be alive.

In the fall of 2008, we learned that investigators for the Senate Committee compiled a list of 59 names representing the "small number" the committee evidence "idicates he possibility of survival." Investigators also stated they represented the "minimum number" of POWs. Isn't it time we find out what happened to that "small number" and address the "unresolved matters" relating to our POW/MIAs.

In March 2006, memos written by a former Defense Intelligence analyst while serving as an investigator with the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs were discovered. These memos detailed the Vietnamese admission that some 19 servicemen listed as died while missing were in fact captured. These servicemen survived for varying lengths of time, one by Vietnamese admission survived three years. The committee never addressed this matter. In an interesting side note, 10 of the nineteen servicemen Vietnamese official acknowledged "survived into captivity" are among the 57 our own (JCRC)concluded might still be alive.

In February of 2005, the Joint Commission Support Directorate, the investigative arm of the U.S./Russian Joint POW/MIA Commission concluded; "Americans, including American servicemen, were imprisoned in the Soviet Union."

This is but the tip of the iceberg, requiring congressional attention. It is time to address the volumes of new information available on POW/MIA matters from World War II, Korea, Cold War, Vietnam and the Gulf. We ask you all to contact your congressional representatives and request that they co-sponsor H.Res 111. We've posted a list of all 435 congressional representatives on our web site, along their phone and fax numbers. You can even email your Congressional Representative directly from the site. There is a sample letter. Use it, as is, alter it to make it more personal, or write your own letter.

It's time for Congress to take another look at the POW/MIA issue.

Make sure you contact your congressional representative, asking them to co-sponsor H.Res 111.

Click here to see if your representative has signed on

The POW Status -- When Matt Maupin was buried among the honors bestowed was the awarding of his medals.  These medals included the Purple Heart and the POW Medal. 

Isn’t it ironic that a captured serviceman, returned under his country’s flag is now designated a POW, by our government.   Yet, our government denies that same individual a POW status when it is needed most, when he is in enemy hands.

We recognize this enemy, like the Viet Cong before them, does not adhere to the Geneva Conventions.   However, the designation of captured American service members as POW tells the world the value we place on our personnel and tells the enemy how we expect these men and women to be treated.  

The designation POW paints a picture.  It clearly states a service member is in enemy hands.   Missing/Captured is ambiguous.  There was no ambiguity to Maupin’s status; he was a POW under the Geneva Conventions. Had this been the Vietnam War, under the same circumstances, Maupin would have been designated a POW.  We’ve proven that, over and over again.

 The public understands the POW designation.  A Missing/Captured designation is a question mark. Clearly, in the case of Matt Maupin there is no question.  Yet, sadly our government refused to provide Maupin the moral protection a POW designation provides.

Contact List for Congressional Representatives

Text of H.Res 111

Sample Co-sponsor Letters

Seven Reasons We Need H.Res 111

Documents Supporting the Case for H.Res 111

Battling the Misinformation Campaign Against H.Res 111

National Alliance of Families For the Return of
America’s Missing Servicemen

World War II – Korea – Cold War – Vietnam – Gulf Wars

 


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