by Marilyn Grote Officially, 1,979 Americans are still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, though 459 were at sea/over water losses: Vietnam - 1,487 (North, 528; South, 959); Laos - 417; Cambodia - 67; Peoples Republic of China territorial waters - 8. Keep in mind that these numbers do not include civilians.
May 2, 2001 - Department of Defense specialists have arrived in North Korea to begin operations to recover the remains of servicemen missing in action from the Korean War. The 28-person team, comprised primarily of personnel from the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii, will operate for approximately 30 days in an area about 60 miles north of Pyongyang. If remains are recovered during this operation, they will be airlifted via U.S. Air Force aircraft from Pyongyang, and repatriated at the end of this month.
May 9, 2001 - Descendants of a British soldier who died at a prisoner-of-war camp near York during the American Revolution are hoping they can persuade the current owners of the land to refrain from putting a housing development there. Ron Bissett, of Alberta, plans to be in York this weekend. He is hoping to talk to the land owners and the developer and to put a human face on the effort to preserve the POW camp, known as Camp Security.
May 13, 2001 - Day after day Nhem En peered at the prisoners through the lens of his box camera, barely giving a second glance at the ashen, hopeless faces he was recording for the bureaucracy of torture and death. Once photographed, the prisoners were taken to their cells inside S-21, the Khmer Rouge (news - web sites)'s most infamous torture center. Nhem En was just 15, and already chief photographer of S-21. Today, 21 years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, he lives in a village with his wife and six children, and dreams of opening his own photography shop. But for those seeking to punish the Khmer Rouge for their atrocities, Nhem En poses a quandary. Should he be prosecuted for being part of the system, or excused because he had no choice? Nhem En, now 41, says he is ready either way - to testify against his former bosses, or be judged alongside them. ``I would not be afraid to be judged,'' said Nhem En in an interview in Phnom Penh. ``My work was to take pictures only, and if I had refused I would have been killed.'' He may have his day in court. But when is anybody's guess.
May 15 2001 - This is being sent around as a 'heads up' on an important issue that will be here and gone before we know it. As you all might recall, not long ago, former Soviet bloc countries Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic wanted to join NATO. Those of us in the POW/MIA community thought it would be fitting that, as a condition of entry into a military alliance with this country, these former Soviet sister countries provide meaningful cooperation with American efforts to learn the truth about Soviet practices of taking American servicemen.
May 15, 2001 - For the First Time Outside of Washington D.C. the names of those killed in action will be displayed in a new permanent memorial at the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum. This memorial, an immense 10 x 40 foot sculpture entitled Above & Beyond, will be comprised of imprinted dog tags, one for each of the more than 58,000 service men and women who died in the Vietnam War.
May 17, 2001 - On May 17th, the National League of Families was informed that the remains of a Navy Seaman, listed as KIA/BNR on June 16, 1968, were recently identified and returned to his family for burial. The remains were jointly recovered October 6, 1993.
May 26, 2001 - Members of Rolling Thunder, the National Alliance of Families, Operation Just Cause and hundreds of family members and activists held a demonstration in front of the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington, DC. The demonstration, orchestrated by Dave Murray, had speakers Ted Sampley [Publisher: US Veteran Dispatch], Dolores Apodaca-Alfond [Chairperson: National Alliance of Families], Colonel Tom McKinney, Former POW Larry Stark, Colonel Nguyen Kim Ban [RVNAF], Lynn O'Shea [NYS Director, National Alliance of Families], Steve Golding [Exec. VP, Operation Just Cause], Danny "Greasy" Belcher [President, Rolling Thunder], and others lambasted the Embassy with impassioned speeches demanding the release of Americans being held and freedom for Vietnam. Afterwards, Rolling Thunder members pulled their motorcycles in front of the Embassy to let them know they were there.
May 27, 2001 - More than 300,000 motorcycles took part in Rolling Thunder XIV driving for more than 3 hours up Constitution Avenue, passed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, around the Washington Monument, passed the Korean War Memorial and ending at the Lincoln Memorial. There was light rain on and off in the morning and rain threatened until moments before the motorcycles left the Pentagon. At 12:00 noon the sun came out, the bikes rolled out and they continued rolling until just after 3:00 PM. As the last motorcycles pulled to a halt, the rain started. Providence was with us for once! The event culminated with speeches and music provided by Britt Small and then Paul Revere and the Raiders.
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