As a reminder, July
4th, 2011 will be
a time for most
Chapters and our
members-at-large to
celebrate our day of independence, won in
1776 and maintained for all these years by
veterans. Without the veterans who have
fought to maintain the freedom won many
years ago, the United States might not
now be the only power that has freed
many nations from dictatorships and fostered
elections and rule by the people—
and is still at work doing so today.
It is indeed a time to again celebrate
and be proud as a nation. The Korean War
veterans will again assemble in
Washington, D.C. and celebrate the
remembrance of the Armistice signed on
July 27, 1953 to end the Korean War. This
armistice allowed the South Korean government
to continue its great change
toward a democracy that was started after
the end of World War II.
We now realize that the armed forces of
the many UN nations stopped communism
from taking over Asia. A victory was won;
all you have to do is look at the miracle of
South Korea to prove that point.
Remember, also, that communists never
attacked another nation. Communist
aggression was stopped where it started,
when it attacked South Korea.
On April 29, 2011, I attended a meeting
in Washington, D.C. with a joint group to
talk about the possibility of resuming the
search for POWs and MIAs in the North
Korean area. As you know, politically we
have not been in North Korea for a few
years. Many of our MIAs and POWs are
known to be buried at battle sites and
North Korean Prisoner of War locations. I
met, along with some other Veteran
Service Organizations, with present
administration personnel and suggested
that we consider looking for our missing
Korean MIAs and POWs as a humanitarian
project, rather than playing politics that
keeps us from searching in North Korea.
Before we were Congressionally chartered,
we would not have been invited to
attend such a meeting and give our opinion. This problem will not have a quick
fix, but it is at least a first step toward
arranging a way to start our searching in
which political posturing and propaganda
are not parts of this humanitarian project.
It was suggested that it is becoming
more important now, as our war veterans
grow older and their families are becoming
extinct, that we resume looking for
these veterans who are still in North
Korea. We will remain available for meetings
or to answer any questions that arise
as the administration looks into forming a
plan to return to North Korea to search for
our personnel.
In May, I attended the Florida State
Department Meeting, which was very successful.
The meeting engendered many
memories among all who attended. Also,
the Korean War Monument was visited
during the visit for Memorial Day ceremonies
at the National Cemetery in
Washington, D.C., where wreaths were
presented in honor of our fallen buddies,
MIAs and POWs.
I will be in Korea in June to represent
the Korean War Veterans Association, Inc.
at many functions there. A Board of
Directors meeting in conjunction with the
Gathering in Washington, D.C. will be
held. Ceremonies will take place on July
27, 2011 at the Korean War Monument
area and Korean Bench at the National
Cemetery. Wreaths will be laid at the
Korean War Monument and the Tomb of
the Unknowns during this visit.
I have received information from my
contact in Congressman Sam Johnson’s
office that a rough draft has been formulated
to present to Congress to allow those
veterans who have met the requirements for being awarded the Korea Defense
Service Medal to be considered war veterans.
This will mean the service veterans
who have served in Korea will not count
against our IRS Tax Exempt status of
maintaining a ratio of 90% war veterans,
so donations given to the KWVA will
remain deductible for the donors income
tax. If this is accomplished, the KWVA
can recruit service veterans, who served in
Korea after January 31, 1955 until the
present time, and not worry about how
many are recruited.
I received a phone call from one of our
members who asked me if I knew that the
Vietnam Unknown Soldier who was
buried at the Tomb of the Unknown was
later identified and removed. The caller
asked if another Vietnam unknown was
buried in his place. I told him I did not
know, but would check it out. Here is the
answer.
The remains of the unknown Vietnam
soldier were interred on May 28, 1984.
Later investigations revealed that he was
Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie, who
was shot down near An Loc, Vietnam in
1972. His remains were exhumed on May
14, 1998. The crypt that held the Vietnam
Unknown was replaced with no remains in
it and the dates of the conflict were
replaced with “Honoring and Keeping
Faith with America’s Missing
Servicemen.” Why?
With improvements in DNA testing, it
is possible, though unlikely, that every
unknown soldier killed in the Vietnam
War will eventually be identified. As Paul
Harvey would have said, “That’s the rest
of the story.”
William F. Mac Swain
National President, KWVA/US