National Alliance of Families
for the Return of America's Missing Servicemen
World War II - Korea - Cold War - Vietnam - Gulf Wars
Roger Hall 301/587-5055
CALL TO ACTION
 H. Res 111, New and Improved - On Feb. 3rd Congressman Peter T. King (R-NY) once again introduced his resolution calling for the formation in the House of Representatives of a Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. The resolution's introduction was specifically timed to insure the number assigned would once again be 111. The new H. Res 111 contains one important change. It now includes Afghanistan and Iraq.
Unlike past years, when Congressman King would introduce his resolution, his would be the only name on the resolution. This year, 54; no, that's not a typo, 54 Members of Congress joined Congressman King as original co-sponsors.
This is very important as it tells us our efforts last year, while unable to pass the old H. Res. 111, brought awareness and knowledge of the POW/MIA issue to many congressional offices. That awareness and knowledge has carried over to the new H. Res. 111 with an amazing 54 original co-sponsors.
So, it's back to work! We need more co-sponsors and we need your help to get them. We've set up a web page at www.nationalalliance.org/legis/index.htm that contains all the information you need to get your congressional representative to sign on the H. Res. 111. There are sample letters, including one to use if your representative was previous co-sponsor. Not sure if your representative was a co-sponsor in the last Congress? You can check that on the web site. The other letter is for representatives who did not previously co-sponsor. You may download the sample letter, use them, change them or write your own letter.
We've added a new feature to the list of congressional representatives. Now, you can even email your representative directly from our web site. We have provided you with a hot link so you can email them on the spot.
Call, write, fax or email your congressional representative now! Ask that they co-sponsor H. Res 111.
We've got a great head start, with 54 original cosponsors. Let's keep the momentum going.
Please DO NOT give up! And, remember if your Congressional Representative is not a cosponsor, keep working on them!
Not sure if your Congressional Representative is a cosponsor, visit www.nationalalliance.org/legis/110congress.htm If your Representative is highlighted in red, he/she is a cosponsor.
Why We Need H. Res 111 - Much new information has surfaced since the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA published its final report on January 13, 1993. Here is a small sampling:
In 1996, a Background Paper prepared by I.O. Lee, an analyst with the Defense POW/MIA Office (DPMO) stated, "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."
Another 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 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."
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. 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.
Then in September of 2008, a memorandum, again written by the same investigator for the Senate committee, based on a consensus of the investigators, stated; "Today, Defense Department files contain evidence that at least 59 Americans were -- or may have been -- taken prisoner and their precise fate is still unclear. This includes the 20-30 not officially acknowledged by Vietnam in 1973. This represents the minimum number of possible live POWs today…. U.S. field teams in Vietnam since 1989 have uncovered evidence that more Americans were in fact taken captive than officially recorded."
This is but the tip of the iceberg. 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.
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Help us Pass H.Res 111
Co Sponsors are Needed for this Legislation.
The following organizations support passage of H. Res 111
The Korea-Cold War Families of the Missing, World War II Families for Return of the Missing,
Coalition of Families of Korean and Cold War POW/MIAs, the Military Order of the Purple Heart,
the POW Network, the Colorado POW/MIA Coalition, VietNow National, Northeast POW/MIA Network,
Tri-County Council Vietnam Era Vet, Help Free Our POW/MIA's Now, Lima Area MIA/POW,
Solutions Results, Inc: T/A POW FOIA Litigation Acct's, Chained Eagles of Ohio,
Vietnam and All Veterans of Florida Inc., State Coalition, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign War, Rolling Thunder Inc. National,
National Vietnam and Gulf War Veterans Coalition Task Force Omega, and the National Alliance of Families.
Help us Pass H.Res 111
Title: Establishing a Select Committee on
POW and MIA Affairs.
H.Res. 111 – To establish, in the House of Representatives a Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. Introduced January 30, 2007 by Congressman Peter King (R-NY), H.Res 111 calls for a select committee to "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, or Gulf War, including MIA's and POW's."
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...."
Isn’t it time we find out what happened to that "small number" and address the "unresolved matters" relating to our POW/MIAs
Since the last congressional hearings were held in 1996, 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 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 in captivity 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.
It's time for Congress to take another look at the
POW/MIA issue.
Why We Need H. Res 111
What the Documents Have to Say:
1. Report from the Escape and Evasion Section of the 6004th Air Intelligence Service Squadron, Oct. 19. 1955 - "Ashley and four crew members, (Turner, Olsen, Shaddick, and Ishida) were known to be alive in Communist hands as of the close of the Korean conflict, Jul 53." What happened to these men?
2. Memo From John T. Berbrich, Defense Intelligence Agency dated 23, May 1973, to Commander Chuck Trowbridge - "Dr. Shields called on 21 May..... he viewed both situations as we did and that it appeared that he should not be adamant in denying that there are no U.S. PWs in SEA (Southeast Asia.) I agreed, adding that the Cambodian situation is also less than clear and conclusive."
3. "I am not certain that we have fully clarified everything. I know that quite a few documents were destroyed. However, one document, probably sensational, is still in storage. I have a copy of it. It's content is as follows: at the end of the 1960s the KGB (external foreign intelligence) was given the task of "delivering informed Americans to the USSR for intelligence gathering purposes." General Dmitri Volkogonov, Chairman Russian side of the U.S./Russian Joint Commission on POW/MIAs. Would General Volkogonov made such a statement without.... evidence?
4. Testimony of Avraham Shifrin before the Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate, February 1, 1973 - "First I must ask you to excuse my English, because I cannot speak like you. I learned my English in concentration camps and my first teachers were kidnaped American officers."
5. Dispatch No. 947 to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic from American Embassy Moscow April 5, 1954 (note: on the document April is crossed out and May is handwritten in) - "The United States Government has recently received reports which support earlier indications that
American prisoners of war who had seen action in Korea have been transported to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and that they are now in Soviet custody."
6. Joint Casualty Resolution Center Message Traffic 282114Z Jan 92 - "The fact is an anthropologist with many years of experience rendered a professional opinion that based on the condition of Lt. Mc Kinnie’s (sic) remains, he was alive subsequent to Operation Homecoming...."
7. "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.
This information may be accessed from our website. Follow the link.
Documents Supporting the
Case for H. Res 111
Latest Major Action: 1/30/2007 Referred to House committee.
Status: Referred to the House Committee on Rules.
Sample Letter –
Dear Representative
Please co-sponsor H.Res. 111, introduced by Congressman Peter King of New York. H.Res. 111 calls for the formation of a Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. According to the legislation; "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, or Gulf War, including MIA's and POW's."
We are aware of past investigations and hearings conducted in both the House and Senate. Those investigations left many unresolved matters.
Since the last congressional hearings were held in 1996, 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 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.
Please add your name as a co-sponsor for H.Res 111, as introduced by Congressman King.
Very truly yours,
Please share this information on House Resolution 111. People have been working Capitol Hill since the end of February. We only have 19 co-sponsors so far. We need at least 50 before Congressman King will push it with the Rules Committee.
Have everyone call their own congressmen to co-sponsor House Resolution 111. (and other congressmaen from your state)
They should call their congressman, the toll free number is: 1-866/727-4894, ask them to co-sponsor H. Res. 111, get the name of the person who handles matters before the Rules Committee then write a letter - there is a sample letter at the end of the following documents to make it easier or save you some time. Wait a week and do a follow up phone call to ask if they have co-sponsored H. Res. 111 yet.
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