Friends Working to Free Scott Speicher
Operation Free Spike.com
Posted on 11/05/2004 9:22:40 AM PST by cgk
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- First Coast News has learned a body has been found in Iraq and DNA testing is underway.
Multiple sources tell First Coast News Captain Scott Speicher's family has been notified.
They will not disclose the details of why they believe these are his remains only to say they have reason to feel confident these are his remains.
Test results are expected within weeks.
When I sat down with Buddy Harris, who was Speicher's best friend and is now married to Speicher's widow, he told me the family would never give up until they found what happened to him and brought him home.
They may be well on their way to learning the answer and putting this mystery and this man to rest.
From the deck of the USS Saratoga in the Red Sea., a husband and father of two from Jacksonville prepares to fight for the first time. 33 year old Lt. Commander Michael Scott Speicher, also known as "Spike", is ready for take off.
It's 1 a.m. January 17th, Speicher is part of the first mission flown over Iraq during the first Gulf War.
Within hours his squadron is in the heat of battle. The mission is deemed a success.
But when Speicher's unit returns He is the only one who is not accounted for.
From the first moments, fellow pilots and squadron mates believe the highly skilled Speicher ejected and survived.
But within hours the Pentagon announces Speicher is dead, killed in action in a mid-air explosion. There would be no recovery mission.
In 1993, U.S. Intelligence finds an American plane in better condition than expected in a remote desert in Iraq.
The plane's identification numbers confirm it is Speicher's plane.
The cockpit canopy was found some distance from the wreckage, raising the theory that Speicher ejected, survived and was captured.
First Coast News has learned the human remains, thought to be Speichers, were not found at the crash site.
The remains being tested were found in another part of Iraq.
After the initial discovery of the crash site, in an unprecedented move, the Pentagon changed Speicher's status from Killed in Action, to Missing in Action, and then later, Missing Captured.
The president even included Speicher and the fact that he was still in Iraq in a speech he gave to the nation.
Shortly into the second Gulf War, the initials M.S.S were found in a Baghdad prison.
Sources are now telling First Coast News they have information that indicates Speicher was captured after the crash and held as a prisoner for some time before he died.
However, DNA tests performed on the materials used to make the markings failed to confirm those initials found in a cell were made by Michael Scott Speicher.
His friends and family were not discouraged saying they knew the wall had been painted over several times and other things found in other prison cells supported their theory that Scott had been held at that prison.
We were the only local news station in country to sit down and talk with Buddy Harris, Speicher's best friend and now husband to Joanne Speicher Harris.
Buddy told us then that the family would never stop asking the question of what happened to Scott. And they were prepared no matter the answer.
"I cannot foresee a situation where we would just give up and go away.
I won't do it and I know my family backs me on his 100 percent in not giving up."
The family went through this once before.
Several years ago, then President of Iraq Saddam Hussein sent a pound of flesh to the United States claiming it was the remains of Scott Speicher.
The pilot's children at that time provided their DNA so the remains could be tested.
That test proved the remains were not their fathers.
The family has been through a roller coaster of emotions over the years.
They have learned to be very cautious about any new information they receive.
We expect they are taking the same approach with this latest news.
This remains a very big development.
If the tests indicate the remains are the missing the navy pilot Scott Spiechers', they will finally have an answer to the question they've asked for more than a decade.
We contacted the family's attorney, Cindy Laquidara, Thursday night for reaction to this new discovery. She had no comment for us at this time.
Now just two and-a-half months shy of the fourteenth anniversary of Speicher's disappearance, the answer may finally come in the form of DNA.
An American hero... A First Coast son... may finally return home after a very long mission.
© 2004 First Coast News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, rewritten, or redistributed.
May God bless you, Spike, and welcome you home.
Friends Working to Free Scott Speicher
Operation Free Spike.com
Thank you for posting this. Keeping this family in my prayers. And my absolute respect for their stalwartness.
The horror this must've put his children through. He will have his own reckoning, and it will be more than a pound of flesh.
That's some best friend.
This is so sad but I am glad he is finally coming home and the family will know for sure.
This man's story was but one of many reasons for me to dislike Clinton.
I hope the family finally gets the answer they have been waiting for. It's so strange to think that Scott and I share the same last name.....well, not anymore....it's my maiden name.
Ping...
Michael Speicher ping...
Semper Fi
ping
I have to be honest with you . . . the stories that floated around about Speicher having possibly ejected from his aircraft that night really stank of "conspiracy" crap. Not because they were obviously untrue, but because a layperson like me couldn't possibly take them seriously while knowing that his widow had already re-married.
Thanks for the ping!
God Bless him.
Thanks Tonk.
Ping to follow.
If the remains do end up to be his, I wonder if they will be able to determine a cause/time/location of death. If it turns out that he died as a result of something other than what would be incurred in a plane crash the US should formally charge Saddam with his death. If he was held for a period of time and was murdered, that further justifies the war in my eyes.
Bullshit like that can NOT be allowed to happen to our military. Further points out what an ass Clinton was for turning tail and running in Somalia instead of dropping the hammer there.
2. Speicher's widow has since re-married.
Nothing untoward was intended here. I'm simply pointing out that these two statements directly contradict each other. Why has Speicher's wife been referred to as a "widow" if there was any chance in creation that he was still alive?
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