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My first husband, Capt. Jerry Zimmer, was an F4B Phantom jet pilot, whose aircraft was shot down on August 29, 1969, approximately 20 miles South of Da Nang, Vietnam, after six months in country. Neither Jerry nor his navigator, 1st Lt. Al Graf, was able to eject, before the aircraft crashed into the Que Son Mountains. Initially Jerry and Al were classified as Killed in Action/No Body Recovered (KIA/NBR). Years later, both Marines were listed as MIA, along with other service members whose bodies were never recovered.
Jerry has been gone nearly a half century, and hope for recovering his remains had run out a long time ago. However, in recent years our family became involved with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), now merged with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), and learned that Jerry’s and Al’s remains might, in fact, be recoverable, so we are doing everything possible to support their efforts to make this happen and bring our guys home where they belong.
NOTE: BLOG POSTS ARE NOT UPDATED, SO INFORMATION MAY HAVE CHANGED OVER TIME.
Archive for the ‘FOCUS ON PEOPLE WHO HELP BRING MIAs HOME’ Category
REVIVAL OF U.S.-RUSSIA JOINT COMMISSION ON POW/MIAs?
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, 45, recently appointed a female to serve as the Russian co-chair of the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs. The commission is responsible for exchanging information on the whereabouts of U.S. and Russian MIAs from former war-time locations.
The National League of POW-MIA Families is cautiously optimistic about the potential revival of the U.S. – Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIAs (USRJC). Until earlier this month, the USRJC languished from a lack of leadership on the Russian side (although we had our deadbeats, too), but finally Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appointed Yekateria Priezzheva as the commission’s co-chair. Priezzheva does not appear to be a lightweight in Russian military circles. She currently heads the Education Department, Ministry of Defense in Russia and has a strong military background in security. Her focus these days appears to be grooming future Russian military officers from within student and adult ranks.
Exactly what Priezzheva’s appointment will mean to the commission in the bigger picture is yet to be seen, but there’s no lack of work to be done. In addition to Priezzheva, the Russians appointed 30 additional commissioners to assist in the effort. The goal of the commission has always been for the Americans and Russians to work together on accounting for personnel from World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and the Cold War, including Soviet military personnel unaccounted for in Afghanistan. Pouring through archives, all of which need to be redacted for security purposes and translated into English, is no easy job when you’re talking about decades of data. In the past, the Americans are said to have been more proactive in providing data on Russian losses in Afghanistanthan than they have on our losses, especially in Vietnam.
Whether the appointment was timed to coincide with the League’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., later in July, is anyone’s guess. But several heavy hitter organizations – VFW, American Legion, AMVETS, etc., recently appealed to President Medvedev requesting help, and their efforts may have caught his attention.
The U.S. has had some cooperation from Russia since the commission was formed in 1992 by then President H. W. Bush and his Russian counterpart, President Boris Yeltsin; however, families are concerned that time has taken a toll on memories and priorities, so the League is eager for access to possible eye witnesses who may have critical information about our losses, along with access to Russian military archives that are said to include detailed information about MIAs shot down or captured in North Vietnam.
No one knows if our MIA families will ever have closure in the form of remains, but some would find peace in knowing how/where their loved ones died. Did they end up in a North Vietnamese or Russian prison? Did they die in a hospital or when their aircraft went down? Even though my husband, Jerry, is still unaccounted-for, at least I now know where his aircraft went down. Knowing how your husband, son, brother, father or uncle spent his last moments alive means a lot to all MIA families.
I commend President Medvedev for appointing Ms Priezzheva to this important role. I am eager to see Russia breathe new life into the commission and truly show that our two nations share the same values – particularly as they apply to the men and women who died while serving in our respective military services.
But all the nice words will be meaningless if this commission continues to be nothing more than a ruse. Let’s hope President Medvedev doesn’t let that happen.
VIETNAM WAR: MIA REMAINS — GIFT OR GIMMICK?
This photo was taken during my visit to an excavation site outside of Saigon in March 2010 and does not pertain to the following blog; however, the photo does reflect the way in which JPAC locates most of our MIAs remains. When sites like the one in this photo are excavated, teams often find relevant material in addition to the remains, which can assist JPACs Central Identification Laboratory in the identification process. The anthropologist for this recovery mission was Kristen Baker, and the team leader Capt. Ernest Nordsman, USMC
A couple of days ago, I received an email from a Vietnamese who appears to live in the southern portion of the country. He indicated that he was a student and his parents gave him “60 remains of American soldiers,” along with a “card” listing their names and other information. His reason for contacting me was that the remains needed to “come home.” I conducted a little preliminary research but was unable to verify the authenticity of his information. Even with my limited knowledge, I know it takes more than dog tags and basic information to prove that someone is holding 60 sets of remains.
Anything is possible, and this individual’s email may be legitimate; however, I know from conversations with others that bogus leads in the past have kept JPAC investigators from responding to locals who truly have remains of an MIA. It appears that more Vietnamese citizens are coming forward with remains of unaccounted-for MIAs, and I hope this applies to the current situation. Many Vietnamese understand how to contact the correct local officials to ensure that remains are presented to JPAC, but they can also go to the JPAC website (http://www.jpac.pacom.mil/) and get the information for making email contact.
It is my understanding that our government does not pay for remains, but most Vietnamese are still eager to have them returned home, often because of superstitions; it is unlucky to have a wandering soul (MIAs) in a village. This is one of the reasons that Vietnamese want their own loved ones returned home, as well.
I encourage the person that contacted me to follow-up with JPAC, who will know how to determine the viability of his information. If proved accurate, I will try to meet that person during my next visit to Vietnam and thank him personally for possibly bringing closure to several families.
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