Posted on 11/11/2009 12:23:44 PM PST by fishhound
"The only concern I have is that one man walking on his own has found all the aircrafts," said Lenox, a retired financial manager from North Las Vegas whose never-remarried 92-year-old mother lives with him. "Why wasn't the federal government able to do something about it over the last 60 years? What was the problem? They knew these planes went down and knew approximately where they went down."
Great story.
The relationship between our government and the POW’s is a touchy one.
Today, Veteran’s Day, is a day to say thanks to a vet and to leave those other stories for another day.
Trust me. I feel the pain when it comes to the issue of the POWs.
***The agency’s 400-person staff spends $55 million per year to conduct expensive, high-tech and time-consuming investigations all over the globe. Its excavations result in the recovery of about 100 service members a year.***
For how many years has this been in effect @ $55 million a year???
Just another employment project or a real committment?
God Bless my father, David, Army Air Corps veteran of China/Burma/India during WWII and a veteran of the Korean War. America’s Greatest Generation gave all to defend this nation and to give us our freedom. Americans must never forget their bravery and courage. America owes a huge debt of gratitude to our military heroes and patriots past, present, and future.
My father, my hero, died four years ago in San Antonio, Texas.
Many politicians in office today and in this Administration have disgraced our patriots past and present by their words and deeds. I pray that God judges them in the end days accordingly. They are, IMO, not worthy to touch the boots of our heroes. They are contemptible and reprehensible and disgrace this nation and our forefathers.
I’d say “real commitment”.
It’s a BIG planet, and Americans have fought and died over almost every square inch of it.
WWII was just so big, that nobody really knew what or where.
Vietman was more constrained and gets most of the attention, since there are many more surviving families.
My dad flew the Hump two dozen times from India to China and back, after the fall of the Burma Road. He was a civilian pilot but wore a AAF uniform.
This terrain is really tough, too. Plus, it’s a monsoonal forest. Consider also the vastness of the Pacific and CBI theaters, combined. It’s great that this guy has taken the interest. He’s helped a lot of vet’s families.
I would say he is a Great American.
The comparison is nevertheless astounding;
What one man has accomplished vs. the bureaucrats and their unlimited resources.
He should be signed up and put in charge.
Remember that he’s scouting wrecks.
The current recovery teams are reviewing documents and flight plans, interviewing locals, and scouting wrecks. The, they spend MONTHS combing an area looking for remains and digging up whole swaths of Earth with hand trowels and paint brushes. These are the guys that are actually RETURNING bodies to their families.
We shouldn’t let one article diminish the hard-core recovery guys that are actually bringing American soldiers home.
http://www.jpac.pacom.mil/
It’s a real project. One of my former military colleagues spent a tour with JTF-POW/MIA, based in Hawaii. They have teams in the field on a regular basis, and (as the article indicates) their efforts have led to the recovery of hundreds of sets of remains.
However, much of their time/effort has been spent in Vietnam. The impression I got from my colleague was that they devoted little, if any, time to places like India and Burma, where many of these airmen disappeared.
I'm reminded of folks like Cong. Jack Murtha, who, though a vet himself, suggested c. 2006 that American troops leave Iraq before the job could be completed.
Also, along those lines, don't be surprised if the current administration resists all efforts to improve the procedures involved in screening military personnel of the Muslim faith after the Ft. Hood incident. To the best of my knowledge, no Obama official has even yet suggested the term "terrorism" when discussing it. Being too PC carries a heavy price!
Ping for Veterans on Veteran’s Day.
In southern NJ, they have been finding wrecks from planes that crashed from the Millville Army Air Corp airfield where they trained P-47 pilots. There is a musuem there now.The wrecks are in the Pinelands.
Also further south, Wildood NAS trained pilots for Hellcats,Wildcats,Corsairs and other fighter planes for the Pacific theater.
38 pilots lost their lives in training from 1943 to 1945.
Does anyone know how to access Navy reports of planes crashes for WW2? I am interested in those from the Wildwood NAS.
For anyone interested, The Bent Prop Project (www.bentprop.org) does the same thing that this guy does — researches then sends in teams to locate wreckage and send the info to JPAC. They’ve produced a great documentary called “The Last Flight Home”, about what they do and featuring some stories. Proceeds from sales of the DVD go toward funding their projects.
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Thanks justiceseeker93 and exit82. |
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Thanks for your ping— as always....
My pleasure.
Barack? Izzat you?
No......I’m just a cranky, bored & lonely old woman who has already been admonished for my thought provoking question.
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