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http://www.mantecabulletin.com/main.asp?SectionID=28&SubSectionID=58&ArticleID=58898&TM=199

8/14/2008 2:32:00 AM Email this article • Print this article Veterans endorse Congressman McNerney Jerry McNerney on Wednesday announced endorsements from Tracy resident Dave Norris, past State Commander of the California Veterans of Foreign Wars, and other prominent Northern California veterans and veterans' advocates.

"I am honored to receive Dave's endorsement," McNerney said. "Dave's been a fighter for veterans his whole life and is committed to making sure our veterans receive the benefits they earned through their service and sacrifice. As a veteran himself and a leader in both the California and national VFW, I'm pleased to have Dave on board. Together we'll continue the fight for expanded veterans' services in our region and better treatment of veterans nationwide."

Dave Norris, a decorated Vietnam veteran from Tracy and member of VFW Post 52 in Stockton, is the immediate past President of the California VFW, having served a one-year term from 2007 to 2008. He also served as a National Chaplain in 2003, in addition to two terms as California chaplain.

These achievements capped Norris' career of service in leadership positions through both the California and national VFW. He was honored as All-American Post Commander in 1996-1997 and two years later was named All-American District Commander, also serving as District Commander Captain that year. Norris served on several different VFW National Committees, including POW/MIA, National Security and Foreign Affairs, as well as Youth Development.

"There is no stronger supporter of our veterans than Jerry McNerney. His dedication comes from a deep sense of doing what is right," Norris said.

"I am proud to stand with him today, as I know he will continue his good work to honor, protect, and defend those that stood and sacrificed so much for each of us. Service to our veterans knows no political party," Norris continued, a Republican who endorses the strongest candidate on veterans' issues, regardless of party affiliation.

The formal endorsement event, held Wednesday at Manteca's Veterans' Memorial, was attended by veterans and their supporters from across the area.

Other prominent veterans and veterans' advocates endorsing Jerry McNerney Wednesday include:

• Tino Adame, commander, American Legion Karl Ross Post 16, Stockton

• Eugene Cota, veteran, Pleasanton

• Bill Evans, veteran, Pleasanton

• David Hamm, veteran, Pleasanton

• Tom Liggett, former commander, American Legion McFall Grisham Post 249, Manteca

• Cary Martin, Service Officer, American Legion Karl Ross Post 16, Stockton

• Lucie Marx Titus, President, MG William F. Dean Chapter, Association of the Army

• Jerry Wiggen, veteran, Manteca.

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Prison Ship?


http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/16467240/detail.html

Group Says Locally Based Ship Used As Prison
 

POSTED: 7:03 pm PDT June 2, 2008 (dated article)
UPDATED: 9:48 am PDT June 3, 2008


SAN DIEGO -- A British human rights organization claims a San Diego-based U.S. Navy ship has been used to secretly detain and interrogate terrorism suspects.

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The group Reprieve claims that the USS Peleliu, along with as many as 17 other U.S. Navy ships, were used as floating prisons.

The group also alleges that high-profile detainees, including American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh, were imprisoned on the ships.Reprieve claims that the United States has used ships stationed off the Somali coast and the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia to detain suspects.

"The U.S. administration chooses ships to try to keep their misconduct as far as possible from the prying eyes of the media and lawyers," Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith said.The U.S. Navy said that ships have been used to hold a small number of prisoners for short periods, but it denied that vessels were used as long-term floating prisons."We do not operate detention facilities on board Navy ships," said Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.

"Department of Defense detention facilities are in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay."Reprieve said it had based its assessment on evidence from the U.S. military and the Council of Europe, and testimony from a former detainee at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.It declined to publish details on its research Monday, saying it plans to issue a report on the use of prison ships later this year.

Reprieve has been representing several prisoners at Guantanamo.Stafford Smith said the organization believes about 26,000 people are being held by the U.S. in secret prisons -- a figure that includes land-based detention centers.Reprieve identified the USS Ashland, USS Bataan and USS Peleliu as among ships that have been used as prisons. Gordon said Reprieve's claims were "inaccurate and misleading.

"However, Gordon acknowledged that Lindh, who was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 by U.S. forces, was held on board both the USS Bataan and the USS Peleliu until early 2002. He said there were fewer than 10 such detainees.He said that Lindh -- who in 2002 pleaded guilty to offenses of supplying services to the now-defunct Taliban government -- and others had been detained there to allow U.S. officials secure access for interviews away from the battlefield.Gordon did not say exactly how long they were detained aboard Navy ships, saying only that they were held for "weeks rather than months."

British lawmaker Andrew Tyrie said he has appealed to Britain's Information Commissioner to force the government to release minutes of military talks that could shed light on the allegations.The Foreign Office has previously said that during a meeting with U.S officials, the Americans told the British they were not detaining prisoners on board ships off the coast of Diego Garcia, a remote British outpost that hosts a U.S. military base.

Explore More:  Find out more about Criminal Sentencing and Punishment, Prisons, U.S. Armed Forces Activities and U.S. Navy Activities

 

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http://www.theveteransvoice.com/VetsVoiceVisitsMCRD.html  Vets' Voice Visits MMDRC San Diego

By, Clairice Still

Recently, Marnie Mowles (who volunteers and honors veterans for us) and I were favored with an invitation to visit the USMC Recruiting Depot in San Diego, CA to take part in their Educator's Workshop. This week long program is designed to, "educate the educators" about the Marine Corp and dispel misguided images of recruiters being predators on campus. It also introduces educators, counselors and others who work with young adults to the life of a recruit, and just what it means to become a Marine. You soon find out it means a whole lot, and it ain't for sissies either!

On the first morning, as we lined up in formation, we were given the option of chickening out, or getting the full induction treatment, yellow footprints, yelling and all. Everyone was a good sport and went for the recruiting special.

We boarded the bus and our DI explained that recruits are brought in from the airport when it is dark, and are told to put their head down and be silent as they go to their destination. Then, upon arrival at the depot they are ordered to, "GET OFF MY BUS" and onto the famous yellow footprints with heels together and feet set at a 45 degree angle…and so the transformation begins for the recruits, as it did for the educators, with this event etched in their memory. The recruits go from boys to Marines, the educators, from skeptics to believers.

After our frantic introduction to the yellow footprints there was a Q & A session with General Salinas, a petite Marine,with a quick wit , who fielded questions on the many benefits of being a Marine. She shared her own story of how joining the Marines had changed her life and given her a purpose and direction that she lacked in her youth. She emphasized the common goals of educators and the Marine Corps: that of turning young men and women into capable, responsible citizens who have confidence in their own ability; equipped with the skills and discipline needed to work as a team and be productive members of society.

Over the next few days we were given a full tour of the depot and visited Camp Pendleton. We got a glimpse of all the challenges the recruits are faced with over their 12 weeks in boot camp, from the obstacle course to the swimming pool and rifle range. We saw firsthand just what causes a teenager who is not aware of where his waist is, and what a belt is for, to become a young man, whose own parents have a hard time recognizing him.

The most convincing testimony came from the recruits themselves. To hear these young men tell their stories of how they made the choice to join, how much it meant to them and how good they felt about what they were accomplishing was very inspiring. For many, being a Marine includes going to college, although instead of debt when they left the service, they have life experience, which is of great value in the real world.

We were given the opportunity to sit down to lunch with a recruit, Justin R. Robinette, from Circle, Montana, who was 3 weeks away from graduation. We were the first outside contact that he had since entering. He was clearly enjoying the meal, and the change of pace we represented. When we asked him why he'd joined the Marines, we weren't the least bit surprised to hear the 2 fold explanation: to get out of Montana, and to "one up" his brother who had been in the Navy. He said he didn't think boot camp was as bad as he had expected, but he was looking forward to going home on leave!

Another young man I interviewed and shared a meal with was C.C. Mantooth, of TX. He was 25, and had a wonderful demeanor about him. He decided to join because his girlfriend did. She was at Parris Island boot camp for women, and they planned to meet up when they were on leave. He had the option of going to college, but after thinking it over decided the Marines would be the best choice. He wanted the opportunity to travel that he wouldn't have otherwise. He had been raised by his grandparents, and they were proud of him. It was clearly evident that he was happy with his choice and gratified to soon be wearing the title of Marine.

I felt such pride watching these young men and women, as did the teachers. To see the obvious pride they were developing as a result of persevering and overcoming the obstacles of boot camp. They were earning something that they will take with them throughout their life- self-respect. The knowledge that they can overcome and handle whatever life throws their way. After all, they made it through the Crucible…

I watched as it dawned on many of the teachers that the Marine Corp may be an excellent option for some. I asked Adam Smith, a youth group leader from Jordan, Utah what affect the workshop had on him. He said before, he wouldn't have considered military service favorably at all because of his political views, but that now he wouldn't discourage anyone who was thinking of joining. Stephanie Trebesch, a teacher from Washington, said she had always thought of Marines as being sort of "Neanderthal like," and she was surprised to find that they were intelligent and well spoken. Another said that she was a "bleeding heart liberal," but that she had changed her mind about the military service and its value. Many said if they were younger, they'd join!

If you know of any teachers or counselors who you think would benefit from the Educator's Workshop, contact your local recruiter for more information. It is an eye-opening experience that I highly recommend for any who may question the worth of military service.

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Woman Walks 2,700 Miles To Thank Troops

"Through the course of our lives, we are fortunate enough to receive a multitude of amazing gifts; gifts which, though through another's' hard won sacrifice, we freely call our own. The majority of the time we fail to express our gratitude to these selfless heroes, and it is for that reason that generations of men and women serving our armed forces go unnoticed. Yet these men and women have given life, limb and all the creature comforts of home to ensure that liberty and all its freedoms should never fail for You . . . for Me." "My name is Keela Carr and I AM an American; a proud daughter of my fore fathers; a grateful recipient of the precious gift of freedom. "

Keela Carr began her Journey of 1,000 Thanks in Barstow, California on Memorial Day, and is scheduled to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, Virginia on August 8, 2008.

A Journey of 1,000 Thanks spans thousands of miles

Mountain Statesman

On Memorial Day, Keela Carr began a journey. A journey that would take her across the United States on foot in an effort to give thanks to those who have defended her freedom to do so. The goal of her journey was to give 1,000 thanks to 1,000 United States service men and women for the sacrifices and efforts they have given to keep this nation safe and free.

Starting in Barstow, California, this 35-year-old personal trainer from Central Florida, has crossed 12 states thus far in her quest to reach Arlington, Virginia.

Keela is scheduled to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington on August 8, 2008. Her journey has taken her through California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia. Through blisters, rain, nearly unbearable heat, and the occasional critter, (she stepped on a copperhead while traveling through Kansas, and met a very friendly squirrel at the Grand Canyon) Keela has pressed on with what has become a monumental journey of gratitude brought forth through the love of her country. Fourteen pairs of shoes and hundreds of socks later, she is now approaching the last leg of her journey to Arlington.

A life changing visit to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, DC, helped to inspire her patriotic trek to give thanks to those who serve.

Throughout her long walk, she has been privileged to meet with and thank veterans from all of the branches of the armed services. West Virginia has become one of her more difficult states to walk across. With the absence of a shoulder alongside the road in many areas, she finds herself walking through the weeds and grass in order to remain safe. She left the Mountain Statesman office Monday heading toward Route 50 East and the remainder of her journey.

This is a truly inspirational effort on the part of one woman who has been blessed with the freedoms and liberties afforded her through the efforts of veterans across the United States. Inspired by the commitment these men and women have made over the years, Keela is happy to dedicate this time in her life in showing her appreciation.

Miss Carr snapped pictures and took video along the way and documented her journey on AThousandThanks.us.

She stayed at hotels during the beginning of her walk, but said she began making connections with strangers who heard about her mission. Many of them took her into their homes and fed her.

 

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http://travelvideo.tv/news/more.php?id=15263_0_1_0_M

 

Two Events, One Rockin’ Weekend in Winter Park & The Fraser Valley in Colorado - Enjoy the Salute to American Veterans Rally and Festival Aug 11, 08 | 5:16 pm

August 11, 2008, Winter Park, Colo., … Two huge events are rockin’ Winter Park & The Fraser Valley the weekend of August 15 – 17! The Salute to American Veterans Rally and Festival and 103.5 The Fox HawgFest return to Winter Park & The Fraser Valley for one spectacular summer weekend.

The Salute to American Veterans Rally and Festival remembrance ceremony will be held at Hideaway Park on August 15 – 17 to honor past veterans as well as active duty soldiers with a military parade, military guest speakers, live music and flyovers. This event is free to the public. The Veterans Rally in 2007 was attended by more than 10,000 visitors, and nearly 1,000 motorcycles participated in the POW/MIA ride from Granby to Winter Park. There will be numerous exhibitors, displays and non-profit organizations in attendance, including The Traveling Vietnam Wall, a moving tribute to our nation’s fallen brothers and sisters. The Wall will be displayed at the Fra ser Valley Sports Complex during the event weekend. Check out the Veterans Rally website at www.theveteransrally.org for lodging information.

AEG Live and 103.5 The Fox are proud to present HawgFest 2008 on August 16 and 17. Saturday’s lineup includes performances by Tesla, Warrant, Lynch Mob and The Groove Hawgs on Saturday, August 16. Sunday’s lineup includes performances by Ted Nugent, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, War and a second show by The Groove Hawgs, plus many other special guests at Winter Park Ski Area. One-day passes are $35, two-day passes are $60; one-day VIP tickets are $45 and two-day VIP tickets are $85. Purchase tickets at www.ticketmaster.com or through Winter Park Central Reservations at 1-800-979-0332. Winter Park Resort is also offering a Hawgfest lodging and ticket package, which includes two nights of lodging and one day of general admission to Hawgfest for $196. Call 1-800-979-0332 to book this great deal!

For more information on Winter Park & The Fraser Valley, visit www.playwinterpark.com or call the Winter Park-Fraser Valley Chamber of Commerce at 1-800-903-7275.

 

 

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http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20080814/NEWS/750084613/1079/AE&parentprofile=-1

Fraser Valley Veteran's Rally salutes servicemen and women

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ENLARGE The traveling replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall is on display at the Fraser Valley Sports Complex in Fraser on Thursday. The display, which is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day, is part of the Salute to American Veterans Rally taking place in Fraser and Winter Park this weekend. Byron Hetzler/Sky-Hi Daily News Patriotism and recognizing the sacrifices of U.S. servicemen and women are the main goals of the 16th Annual Salute to American Veteran’s Rally & Festival taking place in Winter Park and Fraser this weekend.

Its scheduled events, featured live musical performances and patriotic displays are all free to the public, who are encouraged to attend to show their support for America’s veterans.

The rally and festival, which kicks off Thursday and runs through Sunday, includes a main street military parade in downtown Winter Park, followed by the arrival of the 21st Annual POW/MIA motorcycle ride on Saturday.

The Fraser Valley Sports Complex will be the site for the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall as well as other displays and ceremonies throughout the weekend.

Musical performances by top entertainers including Molly Hatchet, The Inman Brothers Band, Bad Company featuring lead singer Brain Howe and Brethren Fast will take place at Hideaway Park in downtown Winter Park.

The schedule of events for the rally includes:

Friday morning — 9-11 a.m., vendors set up and remain open all day; 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Vietnam Memorial Wall on display in Fraser; 8 a.m., Veterans Poker Run registration at the Vietnam Memorial Wall; 9 a.m. -6 p.m., official rally merchandise on sale at Hideaway Park and the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Fraser

Friday afternoon/evening — 3 p.m., Veterans Poker Run’s last bike in; 4 p.m., Veterans Poker Run Awards at Hideaway Park; 5:30 p.m., Opening Ceremony and Stories From The Wall; 7 p.m., Blessing of the Bikes at The Wall; 9 p.m., “Brethen Fast” live at the Winter Park Pub; all day, CNN “Warrior One” on display

Saturday morning — 7 to 10 a.m., POW/MIA Recognition Ride registration at the Inn at SilverCreek in Granby; 7-10 a.m., Pancake Breakfast at the Inn at SilverCreek in Granby; 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Official Rally merchandise on sale at Hideaway Park and the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Fraser; 9 a.m., vendor area opens; 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Vietnam Memorial Wall on display in Fraser; 9 a.m., Veterans Parade assembly at Winter Park; 10 a.m., Official Rally Beer Garden opens at Hideaway Park; 10:15 a.m., POW/MIA Ride leaves the Inn at SilverCreek in Granby; 10:45 a.m., POW/MIA Ride arrives in Winter Park; 11 a.m., Veterans Parade in downtown Winter Park

Saturday afternoon/evening — Noon, POW/MIA Remembrance Ceremony at Hideaway Park (includes guest speakers, numerous flyovers, dedications and a performance by the U.S. Army’s “Harmony in Motion” singing group); 1:30-3 p.m., “Street Survivor” live in Hideaway Park; 1:30-3:30 p.m., S.L. Motorcycle Stunt Team; 1:45, 4 & 6:30 p.m., Free Range Regulators gunfight re-enactments; 3:30-5 p.m., “Brian Howe” live at Hideaway Park; 4 p.m., Ride of Honor and Wall Touching Ceremony at The Wall; 4 p.m., U.S. Army’s “Harmony in Motion” singing group with Colorado Highlanders Pipes & Drums; 4 p.m., High Country Stampede Jr. Rodeo & Western Barbecue at Fraser’s John Work Arena; 5:30-7:30 p.m., “Shark with Spankin’ Whitey” live in Hideaway Park; 7 p.m., High Country Stampede Rodeo’s Main Performance; 9 p.m., “Brethren Fast” live at the Winter Park Pub; 9 p.m., Candlelight Ceremony at The Wall in Fraser

Sunday morning — 9 a.m.-5 p.m., vendor area opens; 8 a.m.-1 p.m., Vietnam Memorial Wall on display in Fraser; 9 a.m., “Harmony in Motion” U.S. Army singing group at Hideaway Park; 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Tattoo Competition sign up at Winter Park Pub; 10 a.m.-11 a.m., “Slopeside” live in Hideaway Park; 10 a.m., Official Rally Beer Garden opens in Hideaway Park; 10 a.m., Sunday Memorial Service at The Wall in Fraser; 11 a.m., Wall Touching Ceremony and Ride of Honor at The Wall in Fraser; 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., “The Inman Brothers” live in Hideaway Park; 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., S.L. Motorcycle Stunt Team; 11:45 a.m., Blessing of the Bikes at The Wall in Fraser

Sunday afternoon — 11:45 a.m., 1:45 p.m. & 4:15 p.m., Free Range Regulators gunfight re-enactments; 1 p.m., Closing Ceremonies at The Wall in Fraser; 1:30 to 3 p.m., “Molly Hatchet” live in Hideaway Park; 2 p.m., 13th annual Tattoo Competition at Winter Park Pub; 3:30-5 p.m., “Brethren Fast” live in Hideaway Park; 5:30 p.m., Tattoo Competition Award Ceremony at Winter Park Pub. For more information on the American Veteran’s Rally & Festival, call the Winter Park/Fraser Valley Chamber of Commerce at 726-4118.

 

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HAWGFEST CANCELED; VETERANS
Sky Hi Daily News - Granby,CO,USA
Today's postponed events such as the Veterans Parade and POW/MIA Remembrance Ceremony have been postponed until tomorrow. Tomorrow, the Veterans Parade will ...

Due to rain, snow and lightning...

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http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/aug/11/rob-samouce-new-2008-legislation-affects-hoas/

Rob Samouce: New 2008 legislation affects HOAs By ROB SAMOUCE (Contact) 9:52 p.m., Monday, August 11, 2008  sophistication NAPLES — It was a busy legislative session in Tallahassee this year when it came to new laws affecting both homeowners’ associations (HOAs) and condominium associations. The new laws concerning HOAs become effective July 1, 2008.

In the last few months we discussed some of the new condominium laws. This month we will review some of the new HOA laws. Next month we will look at the remaining new important laws affecting condominium associations, particularly the laws contained in House Bill 601 that the governor signed on July 1, 2008, which also have a July 1, 2008 effective date.

The major new bills for HOAs are House Bill 1105, Senate Bill 1986 and Senate Bill 1378.

House Bill 1105 provides as follows:

Notice of Intent to Apply for Receivership: A new form is to be used by an owner wishing to apply to the circuit court for appointment of a receiver if an association fails to fill vacancies on the board sufficient to constitute a quorum. The form is to be sent to all owners by certified mail or personal delivery and posted in a conspicuous place within the homeowners’ association. The notice basically says that the petition for a receiver will not be filed if the sufficient vacancies are filled within 30 days and lets the owners know that if a receiver is appointed the receiver shall have all the powers of the board, be entitled to receive a salary, and be reimbursed for all costs and attorney’s fees from association funds. The receiver shall serve until the association fills vacancies on the board to constitute a quorum and the court relieves the receiver of the appointment. Once the receiver is appointed by the court, the receiver shall notify all owners by mail or delivery within 10 days after appointment.

Senate Bill 1986 provides as follows:

Notice of Contest of Lien: An owner can now force an association to bring legal action on a lien filed on the owner’s unit for the owner’s failure to pay association assessments. Once a notice of contest of lien is filed by the owner, the association must file suit within 90 days or loses its right to and the lien becomes void.

Collecting Rent: During the pendency of a foreclosure action if the parcel is rented, the association can have a receiver appointed to collect the rent for the association. If after a foreclosure judgment has been entered, the owner remains in the unit, the court may require the parcel owner to pay a reasonable rent for the parcel.

First Mortgagee Assessment Liability: If the first mortgage holder obtains title by foreclosure or deed in lieu of foreclosure, it will be liable to the association for the lesser of either the parcels unpaid common expenses and regular periodic or special assessments that accrued or came due during the 12-month immediately preceding the acquisition of title or 1 percent of the original mortgage debt.

Additional 45-Day Notice to Foreclose Lien: In addition to the previously required 45-day notice to owner to pay up prior to recording a lien against a parcel, the association must now also provide an additional 45-day notice after the first 45-day notice before it can file an action to foreclose on the lien.

Qualifying Offer: There are new procedures and new form a parcel owner must use in order to serve and file a qualifying offer with the court that can stay the foreclosure action for up to 60 days. The offer gives the owner up to 60 days in most cases to make full payment without incurring additional attorney’s fees and costs in the foreclosure proceeding.

Senate Bill 1378 provides as follows:

Display of United States, Florida and Military Flags: A homeowner’s right to fly certain flags has expanded. Now a homeowner may display either portability on the home or on a flag pole no higher than 20 feet an official United States flag, and/or an official State of Florida flag or a United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard or POW-MIA flag.

Rob Samouce, a principal attorney in the Naples law firm of Samouce, Murrell, & Gal, P.A., concentrates his practice in the areas of community associations including condominium, cooperative and homeowners associations, real estate transactions, closings and related mortgage law, general business law, estate planning, construction defect litigation and general civil litigation.

 

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http://www2.highlandstoday.com/content/2008/aug/11/pow-mia-recognition-day/

Highlands Today > News

POW-MIA Recognition Day ADVERTISEMENT

Suzanne Krueger

Published: August 11, 2008

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter regarding Prisoners of War-Missing in Action Recognition Day. We should honor the men and women who served and sacrificed to keep our America free, and to salute the families of the missing who continue to keep the candle of hope alive today.

There are too many of our people who are missing and unaccounted for from the wars which our nation has been involved in, going back as far as World War II. They are our military and civilians who are our mothers, fathers, sons and daughters.

A lot of these wars ended a long time ago but we still should pause and remember their sacrifices. I cannot imagine how I would feel if I lost my husband or family member for this length of time, days, months and yes, even decades. They deserve an answer.

I would be remiss if I did not remind everyone to thank every veteran and give them your appreciation and gratitude for their sacrifices and for our freedom.

Let us today and every day try and remain strong in our love for our great America that so many fought and are still fighting and sacrificing their lives for.

May God bless our former POW-MIAs and keep our military wherever they may be safe, and may God always continue to bless the United States of America and keep her free.

Just pause and remember the many blessings that are bestowed upon us daily. Remember freedom is not free, it is a gift. Cherish it while you can.

In closing I wish to invite everyone to the POW-MIA remembrance on Wednesday, Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. in the Circle in Sebring.

Come out and join us and let us recommit ourselves to remaining strong in our devotion to the principles for which so many courageously fought and sacrificed and are still doing today.

Suzanne Krueger, Patriotic Instructor

Ladies Auxiliary VFW Post 3880

Lake Placid 

 

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http://www.gainesville.com/article/20080816/NEWS/734747583/-1/opinion&title=Soldiers_remain_unaccounted_for

Soldiers remain unaccounted for

By Amy Reinink Sun staff writer

Published: Saturday, August 16, 2008 at 6:01 a.m. Last Modified: Sunday, August 17, 2008 at 12:57 a.m. After Sonny Shaddick’s plane fell out of the sky, the old castle of a house became a time capsule.

BRANDON KRUSE/The Gainesville Sun JoAnn Shaw’s brother, Bill Reed, a United States Air Force pilot (pictured above), was shot down while serving his second term during the Vietnam War in 1970. Shaw has been searching for her missing brother ever since, and currently serves as the Florida coordinator for the National League of POW/MIA.His parents draped sheets over the couches and the grand piano. They stopped filling its grand rooms with guests. They filled the massive swimming pool in the backyard with dirt.

Air Force 2nd Lt. John Philip “Sonny” Shaddick III was shot down in his B-29 over North Korea on Jan. 29, 1953, on the first mission he ever flew. His family believes he hid in the bush for five months before being captured and brought to a POW camp that May.

“My grandmother said it was when the bottom of our world fell out,” said Shaddick’s nephew, Gainesville attorney Ed Tilton IV. “It was the collapse of my family.”

Tilton’s Uncle Sonny is one of an estimated 88,000 service members from conflicts stretching back to World War II who are still unaccounted for, according to a Pentagon database still being updated with new names and information today.

Four of them are from Alachua County, and many more have relatives who have moved to Alachua County since their loved ones went missing.

The Tiltons are among the many families to see firsthand how not having remains to mourn over can warp an already devastating grieving process, blocking healing and closure and replacing them with a question that may never be answered.

Searching for remains

Some of the service members on the Pentagon’s list of prisoners of war or those missing in action are believed to have died in captivity. Others were in planes that crashed over water. Others simply went missing in battle.

The common bond is that their remains have never been recovered.

For family members, uncertainty riddles every step of the process that aims to eventually bring a service member home.

Technological advances and newly discovered remains from crash sites around the world let government researchers identify 75 to 100 service members each year, said Larry Greer, a spokesman for the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, the Pentagon’s POW/MIA office. This means that after years of no news, the DPMO or another of the several governmental agencies that work to account for the missing may contact a family member to ask for a DNA sample.

The DPMO’s first goal is to bring home live American service members. It tracks reports of live sightings of POWs around the world, but has never succeeded in bringing home a live service member, Greer said.

That leaves surviving families with a series of choices about exactly how much hope they will hold out: Redecorate the service member’s room, or leave it in case he comes home? Wait for remains to be found, or hold a memorial service without them? Stay on top of the case, pushing for updates and news, or assume it’s progressed as far as it ever will and move on?

JoAnn Shaw of Ocala, the Florida coordinator for the National League of Families, said she’s seen a wide variety of responses from families she’s worked with, from anger at the government for not doing more to resolve a case, to a desire to consider the case closed, with or without answers.

She saw the same variety of responses within her own family after her brother Bill Reed’s F-4D phantom jet crashed over Laos in July 1970, while he was serving as an aircraft commander in Vietnam.

Shaw, now 75, concluded long ago her brother could not have survived the crash, which was said to have occurred when his aircraft was flying about 400 mph. She has kept in near-constant contact with a variety of governmental agencies to try to bring home his remains.

Shaw’s mother, on the other hand, kept Bill’s room exactly as he left it until she died, refusing to believe he was gone.

“My oldest brother basically went ballistic, just wanting answers right away,” Shaw said. “My other brother’s response was, ‘He’s dead. Put it behind you.’ My mother’s response was a certainty that he was going to come home. There are so many different facets of dealing with this — loneliness, emptiness, bitterness, anger. You can meet 10 families in the same situation, and get a different attitude from each one.”

After years of Shaw and other family members working with U.S. officials, and those U.S. officials negotiating with officials abroad, the U.S. government gained access to crash sites throughout Vietnam and Laos, including Bill’s.

Four separate excavations found fragments of Bill’s aircraft, decaying flight suits, an air crewman’s remains and a small piece of dental work originally believed to be Bill’s. Shaw was later informed that the piece of dental work may not actually be her brother’s, but she still has the pea-sized fragment, along with a thick blue binder showing cross-sections of artifacts found at the site.

In 1998, Shaw organized a memorial service she said was moving, but ultimately unsatisfying.

“When you bury someone, you can look at them,” Shaw said. “It’s different when you don’t have a body. There’s finality in words, but not in what you see. When I walked away from Bill’s grave site, I didn’t feel any sense of closure.”

The family of Jimmy Ray Garbett of Lake City, who has been listed as missing since his UH1D helicopter was shot down over Vietnam in 1969, opted for no memorial service at all.

Van Garbett, Jimmy Ray’s younger brother, said the absence of remains haunted his parents for years. At one point, the Army offered to mail back Jimmy Ray’s dog tags. His parents declined.

“Mom and Dad really couldn’t accept that,” said Van Garbett, 48, who still lives in Lake City.

Lake City’s veterans’ memorial, which bears Jimmy Ray’s name, is the sole marker devoted to him. On Memorial Day a few years back, Van Garbett visited to pay his respects.

“You just know there’s no closure there, like it’s not personal,” he said. “It’s like you’re visiting a spirit.”

Putting past to rest

Even a family who decides to put the past in the past by putting a case to rest can find that the past comes back and finds them.

Army Sgt. Elmer “Clyde” Wear’s 11 siblings learned in December 1950 that their brother, a star athlete at Archer High School, had been taken prisoner in North Korea while serving in the Korean War. He was 20.

In late 1952, they learned he was believed to have died in captivity. They waited for news about his remains.

“We were taught that you can’t do anything about things like this, so we basically went on with our lives,” said Maxine Frazer, 75, the youngest of Wear’s three surviving siblings. “We just thought they’d be able to bring him back eventually. The years kept passing, and I guess we gave up, really.”

Family members made a few attempts in the 1990s to find information about their brother’s case. A stack of records in the Gainesville home of Ernestine Weeks, the oldest surviving sibling at age 89, includes a series of correspondences between another sister, Ellen Porter, and Department of Defense officials.

“I am again requesting records on my brother so I can place a memorial in our family plot,” Porter wrote in 1996. “I just need to know a date of death. PLEASE.”

In another letter from 1996, Porter, who died in 2006, wrote: “May I have the courtesy of a reply?”

Greer said communication between family members and the agencies that search for their loved ones has improved over the years. Family members now have the right to access their lost service member’s entire case file, including classified documents redacted for certain sensitive information, Greer said.

Greer acknowledged that with several separate agencies working on POW/MIA issues, the system can be hard to navigate.

“Occasionally, it’s sad to say, a family is trying to reach the wrong agency of the government, and this is why they’re not getting answers,” Greer said. “It’s our hope that the more we talk to veterans organizations and the more we talk to family groups, the less that will happen.”

After years of no news, Frazer got a call a few months ago from a Department of Defense official: Would she be willing to submit DNA for a test relating to her brother’s remains?

Greer said the request could have been connected to the discovery of a new set of remains. He said it’s equally likely the request was part of a broad sweep by the DPMO to get the DNA of family members from the Korean and Vietnam wars on file.

Frazer, who now lives in West Point, Ga., said the representative who contacted her didn’t indicate which one was the case, and said she hasn’t heard anything about the test since she took it.

Even after all these years, Frazer said the presence of her brother’s remains would give her, Weeks and their other surviving sibling, Alene Baxley, 82, of Inverness, a peace that time hasn’t provided.

“It’s just like something’s not been finished,” Frazer said. “Something’s not completed.”

That yearning for closure led the sisters to plan a memorial ceremony for their brother in 2000, 50 years after he was last seen alive.

They held the service at Archer’s Laurel Hill Cemetery to coincide with the Archer High School class of 1950 reunion in May.

Five decades after his presumed death, Wear is still a local legend among his classmates and his many descendants in the area.

At the memorial service, both those groups told stories about Wear, like the one about another Alachua County high school agreeing to play Archer High’s football team only if Clyde and his equally athletic older brother, Gene, didn’t show up. Or how Clyde was a “math whiz” once wrongly accused of cheating because he knew answers to equations so quickly, and how he always played the lead in the high school play.

Among the friends in attendance was Gloria Short, Clyde’s high school sweetheart, who waited years to marry largely because no one stood up to Clyde’s memory.

When Short, 77, who now lives in Jacksonville, did eventually marry on New Year’s Eve in 1960, she told her husband about the kind of a person her former beau was.

“I told him there was one fellow in my life, and told him we were in love with each other, and had he survived, things would have been all different for my future — for our future,” Short said.

Short wasn’t sure her husband would want to attend the service in Archer. He told her he wouldn’t miss it.

Near the end of the service, the master of ceremonies asked if anyone in the audience wanted to say something about Clyde. Short’s husband stood.

He walked up to a large photograph of Clyde propped up on an easel. Then, he saluted him.

“I don’t think there was a dry eye in there,” Short said. “It sounds funny to say this, but I truly hadn’t had closure up until then.”

As much peace as Wear’s friends found at the memorial service, Clyde’s surviving siblings said it’s hard to get over the feeling that their own time for closure is running out.

“We’ve got an empty grave with nothing in it,” Ernestine Weeks said. “It would just be a good feeling to know while I’m still here that no part of him is still over there.”

Acting on clues

Tilton, the Gainesville attorney whose Uncle Sonny has been missing since 1953, said his grandmother pursued the mysteries surrounding the case until the day she died in 1983.

Among the family’s best leads: Postcards that arrived around Christmas every year following the crash that stated in Chinese: “The lieutenant is fine and well.”

The search for the source of those postcards sent Tilton’s grandmother to San Francisco to retain a reliable translator, and then to China, where her Visa was revoked for going off the government’s approved path, Tilton said.

After his grandmother’s death, Tilton said his mother fought to find information about the case with the same determination.

After his mother died in 1996, Tilton said, “We basically closed up shop.”

“It’s one of those things that’s a part of the family heritage, but something that is definitely in the past,” Tilton said.

In 1992, the family moved to the Alachua County area, leaving behind the grand, high-ceilinged castle of a house in Coral Gables that had become a shrine to Sonny’s memory. The postcards had stopped coming years before. Tilton said his family never learned who sent them.

 

 

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http://www.gatorsports.com/article/20080816/NEWS/897148265&title=Mission_to_find_lost_soldiers_tough

Mission to find lost soldiers tough

By Amy Reinink Sun staff writer

Published: Saturday, August 16, 2008 at 6:01 a.m. Last Modified: Sunday, August 17, 2008 at 12:45 a.m. Tracking the whereabouts of soldiers last seen alive several decades ago may not seem like the kind of task that yields much new information, or the kind of issue likely to be fraught with controversy about new public policies.

To assume either of those statements is true is to fundamentally misunderstand the mission of the agencies working to account for missing service members, and the plight of those service members’ families.

The 75 to 100 missing service members’ remains identified each year come despite difficulties negotiating with host countries that may or may not be sympathetic to the United States government’s cause.

The U.S. government abandoned its field work in North Korea in 2005, for example.

The way the United States government pursues cases and the way it disseminates information about case files sharply divide POW/MIA families, some who feel the government is fighting for these families’ best interests and others who believe more should be done to find the 88,000 service members still unaccounted for.

Identifying remains

The process of recovering and identifying the missing usually begins when the United States becomes aware of a new site, said Larry Greer, a spokesman for the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, the Pentagon’s POW/MIA office. A U.S. embassy will get a phone call after human remains are found during a construction project, or during mining or other industrial work, Greer said.

Possible recovery sites span the globe, from more than 100 potential crash sites in the South Pacific to mass burial grounds of prisoners of war in Central Europe.

Greer said between his office and the other agencies working to account for missing service members, there are more than 600 researchers, analysts and forensic anthropologists dedicated to the cause of finding remains, bringing them home, identifying them and returning them to surviving family members.

The DPMO prioritizes which sites it sends researchers to excavate first based on a host of criteria, starting with whether the impending construction of a new mall or superhighway gives the dig a deadline, Greer said.

“In a way, we’re like a large city in its efforts to solve detective cases,” Greer said. “We juggle criteria every day in terms of what we need to pursue next. In our case, you can add on the fact that we’re dealing with the requirements of a host nation. We can’t just go in and do what want.”

The U.S. government halted its POW/MIA recovery efforts in North Korea because, “The leadership didn’t feel like our team members would be safe behind what are essentially enemy lines,” Greer said.

Politically charged decisions like those mean debates about the policies surrounding the search for the missing can divide even the most dedicated family members.

For JoAnn Shaw of Ocala, the Florida coordinator of the National League of POW/MIA Families, the best path to finding information about missing service members is working closely with the governmental agencies responsible for tracking their cases.

For Lynn O’Shea, director of research for the National Alliance of POW/MIA Families, that’s a path that leads to roadblocks and frustration.

O’Shea, who said the National Alliance formed 18 years ago when “disgruntled” National League members branched off into their own group, said her group now focuses on pushing governmental agencies to do more to investigate information about live prisoners of war and to disclose more information to family members about their loved ones’ cases.

O’Shea said she can cite countless cases in which Department of Defense officials don’t hand over all the information they could, saying she or other researchers later found the same information in places like the Library of Congress and the National Archives.

“It seems like the Department of Defense has copied what you hear about with large law firms, where if you’re looking for one document, they send you 400,000 documents, so the one you need is hidden in plain sight,” O’Shea said.

Greer said the agencies responsible for tracking missing service members release every piece of information they can to family members. He said the DPMO actively reaches out to families, funding trips to Washington for annual meetings or hosting informational meetings in service members’ hometowns.

“We offer, on an open-ended basis, the opportunity for family members to sit down with us and review their service members’ case files with our analysts,” Greer said. “We will, at their request, mail an entire copy of the case file, even if it contains classified documents.”

O’Shea said the National Alliance’s pet issue currently is the passage of House Resolution 111, which would establish a House select committee on POW/MIA affairs to investigate all unresolved matters relating to missing service members.

O’Shea said there are mountains of evidence that could benefit from Congressional oversight and investigation, including evidence she said proves that the United States knowingly left behind prisoners of war in past conflicts.

The National League of POW/MIA Families opposes the resolution, saying past committees have failed to produce results that merit a new committee now. “The current focus should be on motivating foreign governments to provide answers, not on again whip-lashing ourselves,” wrote the group’s executive director in its last newsletter.

But Shaw said the biggest difference between her group and the Alliance lies not in goals but in tactics.

“Our government has been lambasted by family members for not doing enough,” Shaw said. “I’ve been to these labs, and I can tell you that the government has done more than the average person could possibly know about. When I saw the work that goes into every case, and when they saw that I was hard-nosed and tough, but sincere about what I was doing and willing to listen, I gained access to all of those agencies. I became friends with the people working on my brother’s case.”

Shaw said she understands the frustrations of families who want answers, and acknowledged that it’s important to view any new information with a critical eye.

“If I got a piece of information from the JPAC (Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command) lab, I’d check with the Department of Defense and the State Department, too,” Shaw said. “If the stories I got were all consistent, I went quiet. If they weren’t consistent, that’s when I’d start asking questions.”

Shaw said ultimately, the only way to gain access to information is to work with government researchers, not against them.

“I just go in with a much different attitude,” Shaw said. “I go in seeking help, and being willing to listen. I make sure to never go to anyone with anger as my first response, feeling like my case was the only case they had to deal with.”

Rough circumstances

Uncooperative host countries aren’t the only obstacle to positive identification of remains.

In some cases, it’s known only that the service member crashed over water, making identifying a recovery site nearly impossible. In other cases, nothing is known about the circumstances surrounding the service member’s disappearance at all.

Even once remains are found, there are sometimes no living family members to test for a DNA match, Greer said.

But technological advances have removed this as a case-ending barrier, Greer said.

At the JPAC laboratory in Hawaii, where the remains of what’s believed to be hundreds of American service members await identification, forensic scientists try to identify remains using dental records and other means.

If they determine a DNA match is needed, they send a bone sample to another government lab in Rockville, Md.

Usually, that means contacting someone in the service member’s maternal bloodline to get a sample of mitochondrial DNA, which survives in bones and teeth.

That’s how 80 percent of identifications are done now, Greer said. It’s a technology that’s only been available to the lab since 1994, Greer said.

Even if there are no surviving relatives in the maternal bloodline, pathologists can find DNA samples on a soldier’s hairbrush, eyeglasses or baseball cap, Greer said.

Once, Greer said, the lab was able to identify a service member using DNA extracted from the saliva he used to lick the envelope of a love letter sent back home.

For family members, getting to that point can be a long, arduous journey.

Shaw said outreach to those family members is one of the most important parts of her job. She tells families about how forensic anthropologists excavated her brother’s crash site four times, and how they identified the backseat air crewman using DNA.

Shaw shows slide shows of the archaeological digs that found that information, and explains how this is typical of the efforts government researchers spend on each case.

Over the years, Shaw has delivered countless speeches to families, some about negotiations with foreign countries, others about the work the government does to resolve cases back home. Her theme is constant.

“You just try to give them some sort of hope,” Shaw said.

 

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http://www.kpua.net/news.php?id=15597

Hickam Air team helps ID pilot remains

By 67AM KPUA News

HONOLULU (AP) _ With the help of teams from Hickam Air Force Base, the Department of Defense has identified the remains of a U.S. serviceman missing from World War Two.

The remains of U.S. Army Air Force Second Lieutenant Howard Enoch Junior of Marion, Kentucky, are to be buried September 22nd at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.

Enoch was the pilot of a P-51D Mustang that crashed while engaging an enemy aircraft near a village in Doberschutz, Germany, in 1945.

In 2004, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command at Hickam surveyed the crash site and found the aircraft wreckage. In 2006, another Hickam team excavated the site and recovered the remains and wreckage.

Scientists used DNA and other forensic identification tools to identify the remains.

 

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http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/489342.html

 

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http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jIQ2XN7wAuiToDh4DrR1yKqaHQNgD92HJBMG0

Remains of World War II pilot identified By BRETT BARROUQUERE – 3 days ago

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Howard "Cliff" Enoch Jr. disappeared over what would become East Germany near the end of World War II, three months before his only son was born.

Six decades later, that son, Howard Enoch III, is getting to know his father while planning a funeral and memorial service for a man he never met.

"For 63 years, I had no reason to believe I would ever find out what happened to my father," Enoch said. "It's been remarkable."

The Department of Defense announced Wednesday it had identified the remains of 2nd Lt. Howard Clifton Enoch Jr. of Marion, Ky. His burial is scheduled for Sept. 22 at Arlington National Cemetery and a memorial service is being planned for western Kentucky in October.

Lt. Enoch was a 20-year-old pilot of a P-51D Mustang, a long-range single-seat fighter aircraft, that was shot down near the village of Doberschutz, Germany, on March 19, 1945. Lt. Enoch's remains were not immediately recovered and the crash site fell behind Soviet lines when the war ended in May 1945.

His son, Howard Enoch III, grew up in Marion, about 66 miles east of Metropolis, Ill. His mother remarried and he was eventually told about his father's disappearance.

"He had never been there my entire life," Enoch said. "I virtually had no hope of ever knowing what happened to my dad."

Enoch, 63, went to the University of Kentucky, then later to Boston College to get a Ph.D. He now lives in Framingham, Mass. and directs The E. Paul Robsham Jr. Theater Arts Center.

In 2007 he got a call from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, the military's cold case detectives, asking him to attend a meeting in Hartford, Conn., of families with relatives who went missing in World War II. After the meeting, members of the command pulled Enoch aside.

The military representatives had news: The remains of Lt. Enoch had been found in 2006 and initially identified in 2007. Officials said the ID was confirmed this year using DNA submitted by relatives of Lt. Enoch's mother to a missing soldiers database.

A German researcher, Hans-Guenther Ploes, who searches for historic crash sites, found the spot where Lt. Enoch's plane crashed and notified the Department of Defense. The military said it sent a recovery crew to Germany, where it found the remains.

"It's a tremendous amount of information," Enoch said. "I wouldn't say I've processed it. I think I'm still a little shell shocked by it all."

Since then, Enoch has been busy making arrangements to bury the father he never knew and trying to explain all the commotion to his two young daughters, ages 8 and 6.

"I think they kind of grasp what is going on," Enoch said.

The process also brought him in touch with relatives he never knew.

One of them is R.C. Hamilton of Marion, Lt. Enoch's second cousin.

"He was a fine young fellow," Hamilton, now 82, told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

Hamilton and the elder Enoch played together as children and both ended up serving in the U.S. Army in Europe near the end of World War II. Hamilton thought his cousin would never be found.

"I don't know that the military even looked for him," Hamilton said. "I guess they figured he was gone and that's about it."

Now that Lt. Enoch has been found, his son is trying to make sure the military honors its own. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear ordered flags lowered on Sept. 22 in tribute to the fallen airman.

For a son who never knew his father, it's one more step in the right direction.

"I'm just so proud of him and what he did for his country," Enoch said. "Anything I can do to see he gets the honors he deserves, that's what I'm working for."

 

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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/army_missingpilot_081308w/

Remains of WWII pilot found in Germany

Staff report Posted : Thursday Aug 14, 2008 8:54:50 EDT

The remains of 2nd Lt. Howard C. Enoch Jr., an Army Air Forces pilot who had been missing since World War II, were positively identified by the POW/Missing Personnel Office and will be returned to his family, the Defense Department announced Wednesday.

Enoch, of Marion, Ky., will be buried Sept. 22 at Arlington National Cemetery, Va.

Army representatives met with Enoch’s next of kin to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the secretary of the Army.

According to the Defense Department release, on March 19, 1945, Enoch was the pilot of a P-51D Mustang that crashed while engaging enemy aircraft about 20 miles east of Leipzig, near the village of Doberschütz, Germany.

His remains were not recovered at the time, and Soviet occupation of eastern Germany precluded his recovery immediately after the war.

In 2004, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command surveyed a possible P-51 crash site near Doberschütz and found aircraft wreckage.

In 2006, another JPAC team excavated the site and recovered human remains and aircraft wreckage.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of Enoch’s remains, the release said.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1420.

 

 

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http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10190949?nclick_check=1

Remains of World War II pilot from Ky. identified By BRETT BARROUQUERE Associated Press Writer Article Launched: 08/13/2008 12:26:32 PM PDT

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Howard "Cliff" Enoch Jr. disappeared over what would become East Germany near the end of World War II, three months before his only son was born. Six decades later, that son, Howard Enoch III, is getting to know his father while planning a funeral and memorial service for a man he never met.

"For 63 years, I had no reason to believe I would ever find out what happened to my father," Enoch said. "It's been remarkable."

The Department of Defense announced Wednesday it had identified the remains of 2nd Lt. Howard Clifton Enoch Jr. of Marion, Ky. His burial is scheduled for Sept. 22 at Arlington National Cemetery and a memorial service is being planned for western Kentucky in October.

Lt. Enoch was a 20-year-old pilot of a P-51D Mustang, a long-range single-seat fighter aircraft, that was shot down near the village of Doberschutz, Germany, on March 19, 1945. Lt. Enoch's remains were not immediately recovered and the crash site fell behind Soviet lines when the war ended in May 1945.

His son, Howard Enoch III, grew up in Marion, about 66 miles east of Metropolis, Ill. His mother remarried and he was eventually told about his father's disappearance.

"He had never been there my entire life," Enoch said. "I virtually had no hope of ever knowing what happened to my dad."

Enoch, 63, went to the University of Kentucky, then later to Boston College to get a Ph.D. He now lives in Framingham, Mass. and directs The E.

Paul Robsham Jr. Theater Arts Center. In 2007 he got a call from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, the military's cold case detectives, asking him to attend a meeting in Hartford, Conn., of families with relatives who went missing in World War II. After the meeting, members of the command pulled Enoch aside.

The military representatives had news: The remains of Lt. Enoch had been found in 2006 and initially identified in 2007. Officials said the ID was confirmed this year using DNA submitted by relatives of Lt. Enoch's mother to a missing soldiers database.

A German researcher, Hans-Guenther Ploes, who searches for historic crash sites, found the spot where Lt. Enoch's plane crashed and notified the Department of Defense. The military said it sent a recovery crew to Germany, where it found the remains.

"It's a tremendous amount of information," Enoch said. "I wouldn't say I've processed it. I think I'm still a little shell shocked by it all."

Since then, Enoch has been busy making arrangements to bury the father he never knew and trying to explain all the commotion to his two young daughters, ages 8 and 6.

The process also brought him in touch with relatives he never knew.

One of them is R.C. Hamilton of Marion, Lt. Enoch's second cousin. Hamilton, 82, and the elder Enoch played together as children and both ended up serving in the U.S. Army in Europe near the end of World War II. Hamilton thought his cousin would never be found.

"I don't know that the military even looked for him," Hamilton said. "I guess they figured he was gone and that's about it."

Now that Lt. Enoch has been found, his son is trying to make sure the military honors its own. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear ordered flags lowered on Sept. 22 in a tribute to the fallen airman.

For a son who never knew his father, it's one more step in the right direction.

"I'm just so proud of him and what he did for his country," Enoch said. "Anything I can do to see he gets the honors he deserves, that's what I'm working for."

 

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http://www.telegram.com/article/20080807/ONTHECOMMON/808070311/1004/NEWS04

Knights on shining motorcycles offer help

By Bonnie Russell TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

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A fund-raiser will help the family of Colin Yasko, a Holden youngster whose medical bills are mounting. (SUBMITTED PHOTO) Enlarge photo

OXFORD— With the revving of a throng of engines, Knights on Harley-Davidson motorcycles will thunder through the Valley on a three-fold fundraising mission.

One motorcycle ride will help a family with mounting medical expenses, supporters of a children’s memorial garden and veterans who fought for freedom.

The Nam Knights of America Central Mass Chapter will lead the second annual Ride for Freedom Aug. 16. This year’s event is a poker run motorcycle ride.

The ride will help the family of Colin Yasko, the almost 3-year-old son of John and Lisa Yasko of Holden. Colin suffers from a series of medical problems involving his muscles, heart and brain. A definite diagnosis has yet to be made. He also has cone-rod dystrophy, which causes poor vision, and may result in blindness, according to his mother.

The family has already accrued more than over $60,000 in medical expenses, and the tally will keep rising as Colin requires extensive medical care, which includes therapy at Children’s Hospital in Boston.

“We are at Children’s Hospital two to three times a week, and we will be going to Atlanta so Colin can have a muscle biopsy that can only be done there,” Mrs. Yasko said.

Mrs. Yasko said she and her husband were surprised and grateful when the Nam Knights offered to help.

The ride will also raise money for Blackstone Valley Angel of Hope, an organization dedicated to building and maintaining a children’s memorial garden. The effort began in memory of Sadie Grace Pomeroy, who was born Aug. 16, 2006, with Trisomy 18, a chromosomal syndrome, and died Oct. 5, 2007.

Sadie’s parents, Tracy and Brett Pomeroy of Uxbridge, decided to raise money to construct an Angel of Hope Shrine and memorial garden in memory of their daughter and “all other children who have passed too soon.”

The garden will be located at Peaceful Pond on East Hartford Avenue in Uxbridge. Mrs. Pomeroy said they are $5,000 short of the funds needed for the garden, but they are forging ahead and will dedicate the garden Aug. 16.

“We have to have it done by Sadie’s birthday,” Mrs. Pomeroy said.

This year’s Ride for Freedom will have a military theme of “Welcoming Home Our Troops,” according to Jim Fitzpatrick, a member of the Nam Knights and one of the organizers. A portion of the day’s proceeds will benefit veteran-related causes.

“Any veteran that comes to our party in uniform can enter free of charge, and that includes the meal,” Mr. Fitzpatrick said.

“We have invited the 65th Press Unit out of Lexington. They have just completed a tour in Iraq,” he said. The Nam Knights had escorted the unit when they left for Iraq, and were there when they arrived back home.

Registration for the poker run motorcycle ride will be from 10 a.m. to noon on Aug. 16. The ride begins and ends at the Singletary Rod and Gun Club, Sutton Avenue.

The ride will end with a barbecue and entertainment. The meal begins at 4 p.m.

The festivities include a demonstration of police dogs and old military vehicles.

In addition, raffles and contests will be held.

Price is $20 per person for riders and non-riders. Tickets are available at the door or may be purchased ahead of time by calling Mr. Fitzpatrick at (508) 889-3192, or e-mailing nknamvet67@gmail.com.

Children may attend the meal with their families. Cost is $10 for children ages 12 and older; children younger than 12 can eat for free.

Last year, $4,100 was raised. Organizers are hoping to do as well or better this year, Mr. Fitzpatrick said.

The mission of the Nam Knights is to honor the memory of American veterans and police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty and to assist veterans and police officers in their time of need by promoting community awareness. The group also sponsors and participates in various fundraising events to help those in need in the community.

For more information on the Nam Knights of America Central Mass Chapter, visit namknightsma.org.

 

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http://www.woburnonline.com/frontpage/august08/81408-3.html

Many Korean War heroes left behind By MARCY RAGUCCI news@woburnonline.com

WILMINGTON - According to Bruce Cabana, POW/MIA Coordinator for the Korean War Veterans Association (KWVA), servicemen and women are promised that if they become missing, are captured or die while serving this nation in combat, every effort will be made to see they are recovered and returned with all the dignity and honor they deserve and that they will be given proper burial with the honor and respect they have earned - that's official government policy.

Sadly, from the Korean War alone, there are approximately 8,100 POW/MIAs still missing and the government has yet to make good on that promise.

In fact, according to some veterans, the government policy in regards to heroes left behind in North Korea now is "don't ask, don't search."

For what seems like an eternity, the families of those heroes have been waiting and praying for th