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19 September 2008:
POWMIA NATIONAL RECOGNITION DAY SEPT 19, 2008 TO: Letters to the Editor
FROM: Susie Geist Stephens
State & Region 1
National League of POW/MIA Families
President, GA Committee for POW/MIA’s
DATE: September 15,2008
TOPIC: National POW/MIA Recognition Day
September 19, 2008
CONTACT: 912-920-3504
902 Mill Ct.
Savannah, GA 31419
REMEMBER TO HONOR OUR WARTIME HEROES
Today, September 19th is POW/MIA National Recognition Day, the one day of the year our country sets aside to honor our
prisoners of wars and those still unaccounted for and missing in action. Our former POWs and the families of those MIA’s
are a very unique breed. America has many heroes, and these citizens continually remind us that freedom isn’t
free, and thus are part of those we honor this day.
On this day I will also honor one special person, SSG Stephen J. Geist, who was shot down on September 26, 1967.
He is one of the 1,752 MIA’s from the Vietnam War. Stephen’s proudest day the day he received his Green
Beret. Stephen’s letters home did not brag on a 100 ways to kill, but rather the thousands of ways he learned to preserve
life and aid others from his training. He spoke of the privilege to be associated with men who shared his dedication
and belief that freedom cannot merely be wished for, it must be earned from work.
Our former POWs endured months and years of isolation, torture, mental and physical abuse and not knowing if they would
ever see their loved ones again. The families of those POWs and MIAs must continue on and have endured years and decades
of “not knowing” and no “accountability” of their loved ones.
You and I as free citizens need to honor this day by saying thank you to the former POWs we know, the family members
of those still unaccounted for and by making sure that those still unaccounted for and those held prisoner and missing in
action are not forgotten. These individuals are heroes, and they and their families continue to pay a price for freedom.
DYING FOR FREEDOM ISN’T THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN…..BEING FORGOTTEN IS !
Susie G. Stephens
MIA, USA SF 1967 VN
912-920-3504
902 Mill Court
Savannah, GA 31419
POW/MIA Update: September 11, 2008
AMERICANS ACCOUNTED FOR: There are now 1,752 US personnel listed by the Defense POW/MIA Office (DPMO) as missing
and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. The remains of Captain Lorenza Conner, USAF, listed as MIA on October 27, 1967,
were repatriated Defember 4, 2007 and identified May 2, of this year, just recently announced. It was previously announced
that the remains of Col David H. Zook, USAF, listed as MIA October 4, 1967, were recovered June 18, 1992, identified on May
23, 2008, and also just recently announced. By DPMO. Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Manuel R. Denton, USN, listed as KIA/BNR
October 8, 1963, was buried as part of a group on August 7th at Arlington National Cemetery. The remains of WO 1st Class
Arthur F. Chaney, USA, and WO 2nd Class Bobby L. McKain, USAR, both listed as KIA/BNR in South Vietnam on May 3, 1968, were
turned over to US officials by a US citizen on June 11, 1985, identified on March 11th 2008, and recently released by DPMO
as identified. The remains of SGT Timothy J. Jacobsen, USA, listed as MIA April 16, 1971 in South Vietnam were recovered
June 7, 1995 and identified March 24, 2008, announced by DPMO as identified on July 28, 2008. The accounting for these
five US personnel brought to 831 the number of US personnel accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
90+% of the 1,752 still listed as missing and unaccounted-for were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Laos and Cambodia under
Vietnam’s wartime control.
PRESIDENT ADDRESSES VFW – AFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO POW/MIA ACCOUNTING: On August 20th, in Orlando, FL, President
Bush repeated his longstanding commitment to continue priority accounting efforts. As part of his address, after noting
passage of “a GI Bill for the 21st century,” he stated, “We also owe something to your brothers-in-arms
who never returned home. We will always cherish the memories of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. We will
never stop searching until we can account for every missing soldier, sailor, airman, Coast Guardsman, and Marine.”
Due to long-standing support and involvement, there obviously was applause from VFW members attending their national
convention. Resolutions considered and passed that pertain to the POW/MIA issue are available from the VFW or
from the League’s national office.
20-YEAR ASSESSMENT OF US-SRV COOPERATION & TECHNICAL TALKS TO BE HELD: Ambassador Charles Ray, Deputy Assistant
Secretary of Defense for POW/MIA Affairs, will host Vietnamese officials in Hawaii on September 17th for a one-day assessment
of the last 20 years of POW/MIA accounting cooperation. (As background, though bilateral negotiations started in earnest
in 1983, and the first joint excavation was conducted in North Vietnam in 1985, regularly scheduled field operations began
in 1988, increasing once the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA) was formed in 1992. JTF-FA evolved into the Joint
POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) in 2003, merging with the former Central Identification Laboratory (CIL) at that time.)
US participants will include JPAC Commander RADM Donna Crisp, new JPAC Deputy Commander COL John Sullivan, USMC, new Detachment
2 Commander LTC Todd Emoto, USA, plus several other senior DPMO and JPAC officials. The head of the Vietnam Office for
Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP) Ambassador Dao will lead Vietnam’s interagency delegation. The 20-year Assessment
Meeting will follow the twice yearly Technical Talks that will be hosted on September 16th by RADM Crisp, reviewing the recently
concluded 92nd Joint Field Activity (JFA), and planning for the 93rd and 94th JFA, the latter scheduled to include the first
ever use of a US Navy hydrographic survey vessel on accounting efforts.
UPDATE ON JPAC OPERATIONS: The 92nd Joint Field Activity (JFA) in Vietnam begun June 11th ended with the August
9th return of one Recovery Team (RT) that was extended for several days in an effort to complete excavation at one site.
A brief ceremony, attended by US Ambassador to Vietnam Michael Michalak, was held prior to the earlier redeployment of the
JPAC teams to honor five US personnel whose remains may be among those recovered and repatriated.
The 45-day work period included five RTs, one Phase Two Testing Team (P2T), one Investigation Team (IT), one Underwater
Investigation Team (UIT), one Research and Investigation Team (RIT) and one Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP)
unilateral recovery team in a restricted area where US personnel are not allowed. According to press reports, the “blood
chit” of Major Bobby M. Jones, USAF, was discovered at a site believed to be the location of the downed F4 in which
he was listed as MIA. While such information is not routinely available this quickly, Major Jones’ sister, League
Board Chairman Jo Anne Shirley, made public comments about these details as being a source of great relief to her family.
In Laos, working level POW/MIA talks recently took place in Vientiane. Led by Detachment III Commander LTC Brandt
Deck, USA Special Forces, the talks included officials from JPAC headquarters in Hawaii and DPMO in Washington, DC.
The 105th JFA in Laos extended over a 30-day period and concluded at the end of July. Five RTs operated in northern
Laos, in Houaphan and Xiengkhoang Provinces. In Europe, a JPAC anthropologist recently completed assisting the US Army
Mortuary Affairs Activity-Europe in the disinterment of US remains from the Ardennes American Cemetery, Neupre, Belgium.
These unknown remains were sent to JPAC’s laboratory in Hawaii for forensic analysis.
NATIONAL POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY – SEPTEMBER 19, 2008: This year’s official date will again be on the
third Friday in September, and the national ceremony will be held on that date. The 2008 poster was unveiled at
the League’s 39th Annual Meeting and distributed there in limited number, but is available to the general public by
calling 703-699-1131. A recording will inform the caller on information needed to prompt a shipment of posters.
A second way to order is to visit the DPMO web site at www.dtic.mil/dpmo and look at the link on the home page with instructions on how to order posters. There are still some 2007 posters
left, and the ordering requirement is the same. Per DPMO, the posters were again ordered in both the large and small
sizes.
COMBINED FEDERAL CAMPAIGN (CFC): The League has been certified as having successfully met the stringent criteria
for the 2008 campaign. Our official number is the same as last year, #10218, assigned by the US Office of Personnel
Management (OPM), Washington, DC. The League is the ONLY nonprofit organization representing American POW/MIAs, KIA/BNRs
and their families eligible for donations through CFC & United Way. Despite the reality of many competing charities
and much need, especially in a time of war, the League is proud of our eligibility, due to tough requirements that must be
met and is in urgent need of tax-deductible donations. The League is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization;
Federal Tax ID #23-7071242.
PLAN NOW TO ATTEND THE 40TH ANNUAL MEETING JULY 22-25, 2009: Next year’s annual meeting promises to be special
in many ways, including commemorating over 35 years since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, and over 40 years since the
League was formed May 28, 1970. Transitions are taking place, and there will be much to discuss and decide in
terms of the League’s and the issue’s future. Importantly, it will also be the first year of a new administration.
Any such political turmoil brings with it many changes in leadership and focus that, hopefully, will benefit the issue, but
require close attention and actions by all members. Please do your part and start planning now to participate, arriving
early if possible to call on Members of Congress and visit meaningful sites in Washington BEFORE the important sessions start
on Thursday, July 23rd. COIN Assist transportation is anticipated.
CHECK THE LEAGUE’S UPDATED WEB SITE
Ann Mills Griffiths Executive Director National League of POW/MIA Families 1005 North Glebe Road, Suite 170 Arlington,
VA 22201 (PH) 703-465-7432 (FX) 703-465-7433 www.pow-miafamilies.org
9 September 2008:
Missing WWII Soldier Is Identified
The
Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in
action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
He is Pvt.
James W. Turner, U.S. Army, of Altus, Okla. He will be buried on Sept. 11 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington,
D.C.
Representatives from the Army met with Turner’s next-of-kin
to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary
of the Army.
In November 1944, the 112th Infantry Regiment,
28th Infantry Division was attacking east through the Hürtgen Forest in an attempt to capture the German towns
of Vossenack and Schmidt. On Nov. 4, the Germans counterattacked in what would become one of the longest running battles
in U.S. history. Turner, a member of G Company, 112th Infantry Regiment, was reported missing in action near
Vossenack on Nov. 9.
In 2005, a German citizen who was searching for wartime
relics in the Hürtgen Forest, near Vossenack, found human remains and other items, including Turner’s military identification
tag. The remains and items were turned over to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) for further analysis.
Among
other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC also used dental comparisons in the
identification of Turner’s remains.
For
additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO web site
at www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.
www.POWMIALeague.org
www.pow-miafamilies.org
Click here for a story of WWII POW heroes!
Lost another one, but obviously well-respected by his peers:
I thought you would wish
to know of MSG Martin Frank's passing--see NAMPOW messages below. As a reminder, then Sergeant Frank was one of seven
4th Infantry Division infantrymen who became missing during a series of engagements in the Ia Drang Valley, SW of Pleiku,
RVN, on 12 July 1967. Sergeant Frank was wounded before he was captured. One of the seven, Specialist 4 James
F. Schiele might have perished during his engagement, and is currently listed as XX in the PMSEA. Another of the seven
men, Specialist 4 James L. Van Bendegom, apparently was captured but perished from wounds before reaching the B3 Front POW
camp. He is currently listed as KK in the PMSEA. The remaining five men, including MSG Frank, survived the war
and were repatriated at Hanoi during Operation Homecoming.
Here is a copy of his
obituary:
Obituary:
Frank, a Vietnam POW for five years, had a 'heart of gold'
Web Posted: 04/04/2008
11:03 PM CDT
Jerry
Needham
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Martin
Frank |
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Born:
July 11, 1941, in Montclair, N.J.
Died:
April 3, 2008, in San Antonio
Survived
by: Wife Betty Frank; children Virginia Johnson of Shreveport, La., Deborah Krester of Pittsburgh, Joseph
Frank of Albuquerque, and Shannon Frank of Lynn Haven, Fla.; two brothers, George Frank and Joseph Frank; and 11 grandchildren.
Services:
Visitation on Monday from 5 to 9 p.m. at Colonial Funeral Home, 625 Kitty Hawk Road, Universal City. Services at 1 p.m. Tuesday
at Colonial Funeral Home; burial to follow at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery with full military honors. A reception will
follow at American Legion Post 593 in Converse. |
| Express-News Staff Writer
Martin Frank spent more
than five years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp but never lost his sense of humor and his desire to help others.
Frank, 66, died Thursday
at the Audie Murphy VA Hospital from inoperable lung cancer diagnosed two years ago.
Frank was an infantryman
who was captured with several other soldiers on July 12, 1967, in South Vietnam. He spent 2,063 days as a prisoner before
he was released in 1973.
Among his decorations
and medals are a Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Legion of Merit.
"He was my personal hero,"
said Jack Putalavage, a retired Air Force master sergeant who knew Frank for the past 13 years.
"He has always been very
active in veterans affairs," he said. "He was always willing to put in time or money, whatever it took to improve the life
of veterans. He was just a caring person. He was crotchety and ornery at times, very opinionated but he had a heart of gold."
Betty Frank, his wife
of 28 years, said he liked to bowl and he loved watching ball games on television.
"He loved baseball," she
said. "He didn't care who was playing, as long as it was baseball."
A life member of the American
Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, he enjoyed socializing with fellow veterans, she said.
He attended a POW reunion
last July and met up with three of the soldiers who were captured and imprisoned with him, she said.
After retiring from the
Army in 1987, Frank owned two bars until around 2000, Betty Frank said.
"He had three children
before I met and married him and then he adopted my two," she said.
"He had a great sense
of humor," she said. "We were talking about his funeral here a while back and he was talking to a Catholic priest. I'm not
a Catholic but he was, and he told the priest that he wanted him to officiate at his funeral, that he just wanted to make
sure all his bases were covered.
"He could sound gruff,
but he had a heart made of gold," she said. "If you asked for something, and he could do it, he would be more than happy to."
Putalavage said Frank
didn't talk much about his time as a prisoner of war.
"He was a hero, but he
didn't put on any airs," he said. "He had a way of motivating people. He'd just come up with an idea and somehow he'd make
it happen."
Putalavage recalled how
Frank, when he owned the Ebb Tide Lounge on Harry Wurzbach in the late 1990s, raised hundreds of dollars for the American
Cancer Society by simply taking donations for promising to shave his head — getting rid of his long hair, ponytail
and beard.
DYING FOR FREEDOM
ISN'T THE WORST
THAT COULD HAPPEN....BEING
FORGOTTEN IS.
Susie Stephens-Harvey
GA State & Region 1
Coordinator
National League of POW/MIA Families
President, GA Committee for
POW/MIAs
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