http://www.defense.gov/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=15968
To be buried tomorrow (May 2) at Arlington. RIP, finally.
To be buried tomorrow (May 2) at Arlington. RIP, finally.
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Naval Aviators Missing From Vietnam War Identified
- Thread starter ltedge46
- Start date
707guy
"You can't make this shit up..."
Welcome home gentlemen. Here's another release from the Navy:
http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=73772
http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=73772
Related. My stepsister's father was killed piloting a C-123 in Vietnam. Remains were recovered in 1979 and the crew was buried in a common grave at Arlington. ID was verified by dental records. In the last year an office of the USAF is going about collecting DNA from relatives and plan to exhume the remains to compare DNA, and possibly re-inter as separate graves. Some of the family members (not my sister) are rather upset by this procedure, that none of them has requested. What is the USAF interest? Curious.
Assume it's "well-intentioned" in order to honor each individually. Pretty sure that if all the crew members' families felt the same…they'd reconsider and leave the "mass grave" alone.
I am glad you put well intentioned in quotes. We all know of well intended government actions that did not generate the results intended. I should hope that the families have some say, but it doesn't appear that way. Most of the crews families have stayed in touch. No one was asked if they approved of this initiative. They have always found some comfort in the fact their career AF loved ones were together as a crew for eternity. There was never a question of the IDs of the crew members. Remains were simply commingled due to crash dynamics and years in the jungle. So now they have DNA technology and by God they are going to use it.
Have the families transmitted their common desires to anyone? If not, they should…that's all I'm saying. They could do worse than to just send a "jointly signed letter reflecting the desires of all families" to all of their respective Congressmen.
They haven't gotten that far yet. They are just exchanging emails and copying each other on their comms with the relavent USAF office. I am almost wondering if this doesn't have something to do with cleaning up the mess Arlington had made of so many graves and registration that was in the news months ago.
Both could be relevant. No argument. Still sounds "well intentioned" to me until the families wade in. Pretty sure their stated desires won't be ignored...
Would anyone really want the "Unknowns" from The Tomb to be disinterred and compared against a national DNA database? Different issue, I know, but you get the idea...
Thanks. I admit to not having known that. But it does speak to the power of "family pressure". Which was really the point I was trying to articulate.
What if you get buried with a real asshole and have to spend eternity with them? That would be a pisser.
