NELSON, DAVID LINDFORD
Crash Site Excavated (see text) I.D. not accepted 10/90 - names is STILL on
USG remains returned list.
Name: David Lindford Nelson
Rank/Branch: O3/US Army
Unit: Company C, 158th Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne Brigade
Date of Birth: 10 November 1943 (Ft. Walters TX)
Home City of Record: Kirkland WA
Date of Loss: 05 March 1971
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 163850N 1061544E (XD425405)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: UH1H
Refno: 1717
Other Personnel In Incident: Michael E. King; Ralph A. Moreira; Joel C.
Hatley (remains returned)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 1990 from one or more
of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated
by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998.
REMARKS: EXPLOD - N RAD C - N SEARCH - J
SYNOPSIS: Lam Son 719 was a large-scale offensive against enemy
communications lines which was conducted in that part of Laos adjacent to
the two northern provinces of South Vietnam. The South Vietnamese would
provide and command ground forces, while U.S. forces would furnish airlift
and supporting fire.
Phase I, renamed Operation Dewey Canyon II, involved an armored attack by
the U.S. from Vandegrift base camp toward Khe Sanh, while the ARVN moved
into position for the attack across the Laotian border. Phase II began with
an ARVN helicopter assault and armored brigade thrust along Route 9 into
Laos. ARVN ground troops were transported by American helicopters, while
U.S. Air Force provided cover strikes around the landing zones.
On March 5, 1971, during one of these maneuvers, a UH1H helicopter (tail
#67-17341) was in a flight of ten aircraft on a combat assault mission in
Savannakhet Province, Laos. The crew of the aircraft consisted of WO Ralph
A. Moreira Jr., pilot; Capt. David L. Nelson, aircraft commander; SP4
Michael E. King, door gunner; and SP4 Joel C. Hatley, crew chief.
While on its final approach to Landing Zone Sophia, and at the time the
pilot should have been making his final turn, Nelson radioed that the
aircraft had been hit in the fuel cell and that the door gunner had been
wounded in the head. He then said they would attempt to return to the fire
support base on the same flight path as previously briefed.
After the other aircraft had disembarked their troops and were on their way
back to the fire support base, some of the other crewmen said they saw a
chopper believed to be that commanded by Nelson burst into flames, crash and
explode. As soon as the ball of flame was observed, attempts to make radio
contact were made with no success. No formal air to ground search was
attempted because of enemy anti-aircraft fire and ground activity in the
area. All aboard the aircraft were declared Killed in Action, Body Not
Recovered.
In 1988 a former officer in the Royal Lao Army, Somdee Phommachanh, stated
on national television that he was held captive along with two Americans at
a prison camp in northern Laos. The Americans had been brought to the camp
at Houay Ling in 1978. One day Somdee found one of the prisoners dead in his
cell. Somdee identified the American very positively from a photo. His name,
he said, was David Nelson. Nelson was Somdee's friend and he would not
forget him. Somdee buried his friend with all the care he would a cherished
loved one, given his limited ability as a prisoner of war. Although Somdee
has been threatened, he has stuck to his story. Nelson's family is grateful
to know his fate, but outraged that David Nelson died over FIVE YEARS after
American troops left Southeast Asia and the President of the United States
had announced that "all American prisoners of war had been released." The
U.S. Government did not inform the other families of this development.
January 5-10, 1990, a joint US/Lao team excavated the site of the crash of
the helicopter lost on March 5, 1971. Not one piece of aircraft material was
recovered, although an unspecified number of teeth and a ring were found. No
remains whatever were found that could be attributed to David Nelson, but on
September 17, 1990, the Defense Department announced that all four men
onboard the aircraft had been positively identified and that the remains
would be buried in a "group" grave. When asked about the Somdee report, Ms.
Shari Lawrence, a civilian working with U.S. Army Public Affairs Office
said, "We are not concerned with that."
The books on Nelson, Moreira, Hatley and King are now officially closed. The
U.S. Government is no longer looking for them. Even though live sighting
reports may come in relating to them, the reports will be discounted as
untrue because the four men are "dead." The books are closed despite the
fact that remains that could be forensically matched to David Nelson were
not found at the site.
Did David Nelson survive? What of the others? If David Nelson was abandoned
by the country he served, how many more were also abandoned? Not a single
American held by the Lao (and there were nearly 600 lost there) was ever
released or negotiated for.
If it were not for over 10,000 reports relating to the men missing in
Southeast Asia, most Americans could forget. But as long as even one man
could be still alive, unjustly held, we must do everything possible to bring
him home.
FAMILIES OF MIAs HAVE NEW QUESTIONS
By Nicole Welsensee States News Service
Washington, Sept. 30, 1990 -- They are the forgotten ones.
For years, these people have fought reams of bureaucratic red tape to find
out what fate befell loved ones who fought in the Vietnam War and were
declared Missing in Action (MIA) by the U.S. government.
They are tired. And so, when the government tells them their son, their
husband, their brothers' remains have been found, they believe. Because no
one has the doubts they do.
"There were questions, many questions I had," Mrs. Pat Matsey of Beaver, Pa.
"But you're alone. You don't talk to other families. You just feel you almost
have to accept it, as probably 80, 90 percent of of the families do."
That is also how Mrs. Elsie King of Calhoun, Ga., Mrs. Karla Carter of
Monroe, Wash. and Mr. Lawrence Hatley of Albermarle, N.C. felt, they said in
interviews this week.
Two weeks ago, these people learned that the remains of Ralph Moriera, Jr.
(Mrs. Matsey's son), Michael King, (Mrs. Kings son), David Nelson (Karla's
half brother) and Joel Hatley (Mr. Hatley's son), which were found at an
excavation site in Laos, had been positively identified.
Laos is a country in southeast Asia located next to Vietnam. The U.S.
government said the four men's remains were found at the site of an alleged
helicopter crash in Laos. A helicopter carrying the four men reportedly was
hit by enemy fire in 1971 in the same area.
What the government did not tell the Matseys, Kings or Hatleys was that two
years ago, in an NBC-TV Nightly News segment, a Laotian refugee said he was
in prison with David Nelson seven years after the helicopter crash.
Pat Matsey, in her years of trying to learn more about what had happened to
her son, never had been able to learn who else was aboard his helicopter when
it went down March 5, 1971. Thus, she was unaware of the NBC broadcast or of
any relation it might have had to her son.
When a reporter informed Matsey last week about the NBC report, she was
stunned.
"I'm quite shocked to hear about Nelson," Mrs. Matsey said. "We were never
told that and I feel at this point that we should have been, even if it was
just a rumor. Had I known that, there would have been other questions I would
have asked over the years."
The report of Nelson's imprisonment is making her question whether the teeth
and wedding band that the government has told her are the remains of her son,
Ralph Moriera, Jr., actually do confirm his death in the chopper crash.
The ring is in virtually perfect condition, several family members said, and
does not look as if it had been in the ground for 19 years.
"The only thing I can say is the teeth appear to be Ralph's (when compared
with dental records), but I did not have this other information," she said.
"You know his ring does not prove a great deal to me. I had letters from
Ralph that said he went into areas sterile-- with no dog tags, no wedding
ring, nothing.
For years, Elsie King attempted to find out more about the crash and was
certain that her son, Michael, was still alive. But the recovery of the teeth
the government said belonged to her son, plus the excavation report's mention
of Moriera's wedding ring, were what really convinced her that the searchers
had indeed found the crash site.
King hadn't heard the doubts raised by Moriera's family about the ring's
condition. King, now 73, said the government's disclosure is a way for her to
have some peace at last, although she harbored her own doubts about dental
evidence. The government assured her that four of the teeth found had
belonged to Michael. Yet when she took the dental x-rays to her orthodon-
tist, he was "90 percent sure" that only one of the teeth could be Michael's.
"Could be, could not be," she said. "To specifically say which teeth are my
son's, which are his bones, I don't know. I really don't, and I really don't
know if any of those are his bones. I am saying this-- I think group burial
under these circumstances can be the only way out for us. Perhaps we ought to
accept these."
The remaining objects recovered from the crash site are 44 bone fragments and
10 teeth or fragments of teeth the government could not identify. But, even
though there were seven or eight South Vietnamese on board that helicopter,
the government has decided Nelson's and Hatley's remains must be included in
the crash site.
Nelson and Hatley will now be taken off of the "MIA" list. This means the
government will not respond to sighting reports of all four men "indentified"
in the crash site, according to Ted Sampley, who heads Homecoming II Project,
a North Carolina veterans group that searches for POWs and MIAs from Vietnam.
Sherry Lawrence, a spokesperson for the Department of De- fense, said the
agency realizes some of the remains are Vietnamese and will include a
recognition of that on the headstone.
"For whatever reasons, we know the rest of the remains were American," she
said. "We would not have gone to the families if we didn't believe that."
The uncertainty has left Nelson's and Hartley's relatives feeling very
frustrated, but helpless to do anything but attend the group burial next
Frriday at6 Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.
"In a way, I feel like we're back to Square ONe," Karla said. "As far as I'm
concerned, he could still be alive--he could have died in the camp or he
could have died later, but there's no evidence he died in the crash."
Mr. Hatley said he feeld the same way. "Now they're saying he(Joel Hatley)
was with the crew,so they're declaring him dead and this is a way of closing
the books on the case," he said.
The new information about Nelson "Makes me think I've been lied to," he said.
"They want all of these case closed out, that's the purpose of this thing.
We've had all kinds of reports that there are still boys in Southeast Asia,
but I've tried to keep that off my mind. You dwell on something long enough
and you lose your mind."
His son Dale, said he still has the same doubts about his brother being dead
that he did 19 years ago.
"As far as the government goes in this situation, I don't believe anything
they say." he said. "They're saying they're through with the
investigation...that's going in one ear and out the other. My feelings
haven't changed for 19 years."
But all will convene at Arlington Cemetary this Friday to honor their loved
ones.
"I'm going not necessarily because I believe he's going to be buried, it's
more as a memorial," Karla said. "It's an honor to be buried in that
cemetary, it's an honor to be memorialized there. He deserves it -- but I
don't know that it's actually him."
Lawrence Hatley said he's going, "because my family thinks it's the thing to
do. I dread it, I was debating about it, but it seems like they're all saying
we have no choice."
Mrs. King described her feelings about the pending burial as "sweet agony."
The source of families' doubts is Somdee Phommachanh, a former Royal Lao Army
member who fought the Southeast Asian Communists. When he appeared on the NBC
Nightly News report in 1988, he was a janitor at a Tecumseh, Nebraska school.
Phommachanh was a captive of the Communists, but was used as a medical
orderly because he spoke little English. One of the prisoners he says he took
care of was David Nelson, who the Laotian said he buried when the American
captain died in 1978 -- seven years after the U.S. government declared Nelson
dead in a helicopter crash.
In the NBC report, Phommachanh was able to pick out a never before published
picture of Nelson from a callage of 20 other servicemen whose photos were
presented in a similar fashion.
Shortly after the segment was broadcast, however, Phomma- chanh was
interrogated by employees of the Defense Department's Defense Intelligence
Agency (DIA), various sources said. Afterward, he would no longer speak about
what he had seen in the camp. He still lives in Nebraska but is no longer
employed as the school janitor. A school official said he continues to avoid
discussing his Laotian camp experiences with reporters.
Ted Landreth, a Los Angeles-based producer of a BBC television documentary
about U.S. POW's in Laos that aired on American television in 1987 said
incidents like this have prevented other Laotians from telling their stories.
"This is one of the first things we discovered when talking to Laotian
refugees here and around the world," he said. "Whenever the U.S. government,
mainly the DIA, found out someone was telling a story, something awful would
happen, someone would descend on him and start threatening. That is certainly
the case with Somdee."
Landreth interviewed Phommachanh for hils documentary. The DIA sought to
persuade the producer later that he had recanted his story, but Landreth said
that was not so. Landreth, in fact, provided Phommachanh's name to the NBC
news crew for the network segment.
Sampley contends that the government's motives are more forreaching.
"There is a movement afoot by the Bush Administration to lay the POW/MIA
issue to rest," Sampley said. "They're not identifying people, they're
accounting and they're doing it solely for political reasons."
The Defense Department's Lawrence would not comment on anything about
Phommachanh or about anything Sampley said.
---------------------------------
STATEMENT OF SENATOR JESSIE HELMS
THE MOCK BURIAL OF MIAS
MR. HELMS. MR. PRESIDENT, THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE HAS ANNOUNCED THAT THE
REMAINS OF FOUR UNITED STATES SERVICEMEN, MISSING IN ACTION IN LAOS SINCE
MARCH 5, 1971, ARE TO BE INTERRED IN A MILITARY BURIAL TODAY AT ARLINGTON
NATIONAL CEMETERY. THE NAMES OF THESE SERVICEMEN ARE: SPECIALIST 4 JOEL C.
HATLEY, FROM ALBEMARLE, NORTH CAROLINA; CAPTAIN DAVID L. NELSON, FROM
KIRKLAND, WASHINGTON; WARRANT OFFICER RALPH MOREIRA, FROM BEAVER FALLS,
PENNSYLVANINA; AND SPECIALIST 4 MICHAEL E. KING, FROM CALHOUN, GEORGIA.
ON SEPTEMBER 21, THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE STATED IN PRESS QUIDANCE THAT
"REMAINS RECOVERED DURING JANUARY 5-10, 1990 JOINT EXCAVATION EFFORTS BY THE
U.S. AND LAO GOVERNMENTS HAVE RESULTED IN ACCOUNTING FOR THE [FOUR]
SERVICEMEN...THE REMAINS OF THESE AMERICANS WILL DEPART HICKMAN AIR FORCE
BASE IN HAWAII FOR A FULL MILITARY HONORS CEREMONY...AND WILL TRAVEL TO
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, CALIFORNIA, FOR THE FINAL JOURNEY HOME."
MR. PRESIDENT, THE ORDINARY READER WHO READS SUCH STATEMENTS MIGHT WELL
CONCLUDE THAT U.S. EXPERS HAVE MADE POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION OF THE REMAINS,
AND THAT THE FAMILIES OF THE FOUR MEN WILL AT LAST BE COMFORTED BY THE
KNOWLEDGE THAT THEY KNOW WHERE THE BODIES OF THEIR LOVED ONES LIE.
UNFORTUNATELY, THAT IS NOT THE CASE.
THERE ARE NO REMAINS WHATSOEVER FOR SPECIALIST 4 HATLEY OR FOR CAPTAIN
NELSON. FOR WARRANT OFFICER MOREIRA AND SPECIALIST 4 KING, THERE ARE
MINUSCULE FRAGMENTS OF BONE AND A TOOTH NOT POSITIVELY IDENTIFIABLE BY ANY
OBJECTIVE FORENSIC ANALYSIS. YET FOUR COFFINS WILL BE BURIED WITH FULL
MILITARY HONORS.
MR. PRESIDENT, I HAVE CONTACTED THE FAMILIES OF BOTH SPECIALIST HATLEY AND
CAPTAIN NELSON. THEY WERE THRILLED WHEN THEY FIRST GOT THE NEWS THAT THEIR
SONS HAD BEEN FOUND; BUT THEY WERE SHOCKED WHEN THEY WERE TOLD, UPON FURTHER
ENQUIRY, THAT NO ACTUAL REMAINS WERE BEING RETURNED.
WHY DOES THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PUT THE FAIMILIES OF MIA'S THROUGH THIS
KIND OF CHARADE?
THE ANSWER, MR. PRESIDENT, LIES IN A HIGHLY CONVOLUTED SYSTEM OF
INVESTIGATION AND ANALYSIS THAT DEPENDS MORE UPON PROCEDURE AND METHODOLOGY
THAN UPON PRACTICAL RESULT. FOR EXAMPLE, IN ANNOUNCING THE MOCK-BURIALS AT
ARLINGTON CEMETARY RELATED TO THE FOUR MEN, THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE PROUDLY
TALKED ABOUT "REMAINS," AND CASES "ACCOUNTED FOR." IN A Q & A STATEMENT, DOD
SAYS:
HOW MANY REMAINS RECOVERED FROM SOUTHEAS ASIAN COUNTRIES HAVE THUS FAR
RESULTED IN THE ACCOUNTING FOR MISSING AMERICANS?
INCLUDING THESE INDIVIDUALS, 287 AMERICANS (245 FROM VIETNAM, 40 FROM LAOS,
AND 2 FROM PRC) PREVIOUSLY MISSING IN SOUTHEAST ASIA HAVE BEEN ACCOUNTED FOR.
HOW MANY AMERICANS ARE STILL UNACCOUNTED FOR IN INDOCHINA?
WITH THIS DERERMINATION, THERE ARE STILL 2.298 AMERICANS (1,677 IN VIETNAM,
530 IN LAOS, 83 IN CAMBODIA, AND 6 IN PRC COSTAL WATERS) MISSING IN
INDOCHINA."
CLEARLY, THE IMPLICATION IN THESE STATEMENTS IS THAT PHYSICALLY REMAINS HAVE
BEEN RECOVERED AND RESTORED TO THE FAMILIES OF THE MISSING SERVICEMEN. YET
THAT IS NOT WHAT THE BUREAUCRATIC SYSTEM MEANS. DOD HAS ITS OWN LANGUAGE, ITS
OWN DEFINITIONS OF ORDINARY WORDS, ITS OWN PURPOSES TO BE SERVED.
WHEN DOD SAYS "ACCOUNTED FOR," IT MEANS THAT DOD HAS GONE THROUGH A
STEROTYPED PROCESS THAT ALLOWS IT TO CLOSE THE FILES ON A CASE. IT MEANS
FIRST OF ALL THAT ALL REPORTS OF SIGHTINGS OF SPECIFIC INDIVIDUALS BY
EYE-WITNESSES--SO-CALLED "LIVE SIGHTING REPORTS" --HAVE BEEN CHECKED OUT, AND
EITHER DISMISSED OR INVESTIGATED. OF COURSE IT IS EASIER TO DISMISS REPORTS
BY DISCREDITING THE WITNESSES, OR BY INSISTING THAT THE REPORTS MEET
BUREAUCRATIC CRITERIA THAN IT IS TO CHECK THEM OUT.
SINCE THE FALL OF SAIGON IN 1975 UP TO SEPTEMBER 1, THE U.S. GOVERNMENT SAYS
IT HAS RECEIVED 12,184 LIVE SIGHTING REPORTS. DOD STATES THAT IT HAS REJECTED
68% OF THESE REPORTS BY "CORRELA- TION" WITH AMERICANS WHO WERE IN SOUTHEAST
ASIA DURING THE PERIOD. BUT THE CRITERIA FOR CORRELATION ARE THEMSELVES
SUSPECT, FREQUENTLY BUREAUCRATICALLY RIGID, AND SOMETIMES ABSURD. I WILL
EXPLAIN THIS IN A MOMENT WITH RESPECT TO THE FOUR MOCK-BURIALS TODAY.
UNDOUBTEDLY, MANY REPORTS ARE MISTAKEN, MANY ARE DISTORTED, AND MANY ARE
FABRICATED. BUT DOD SEEMS TO BE CLAIMING BY ITS OWN STATISTICS THAT OVER
TWO-THIRDS OF THE REPORTS CAN BE SUMMARILY DISMISSED.
SECONDLY, DOD'S USE OF THE TERM "REMAINS" DOES NOT MEET THE ORDINARY
DEFINITION OF THE WORD. FOR DOD THE WORD "REMAINS REFERS NOT TO THE ACTUAL
PHYSICAL REMAINS, BUT TO AN ABSTRACT CONCEPT DEDUCTED FROM CIRCUMSTANCES.
IN THE CASE OF THE FOUR SERVICEMEN, AN EXCAVATION TEAM FOUND REMNANTS OF A
HELICOPTER AT THE SITE WHERE IT PRESUMABLY CRASHED ON MARCH 5, 1971. IN THE
INTERVENING 19 YEARS, MANY THINGS COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO THE BODIES OF THOSE
KILLED IN THE CRASH. A FIRE COULD HAVE CONSUMED MOST OF BODIES, INCLUDING
MOST OF THE BONES. THE PROCESS OF TROPICAL DECAY COULD OBLITERATE MOST
TRACES. WILD ANIMALS COULD DRAG BODIES AWAY. THE DIFFICULTY OF FINDING ACTUAL
REMAINS, AND IDENTIFYING THEM CORRECTLY, IS INDEED FORMIDABLE. THIS SENATOR
DOES NOT WANT TO MINIMIZE THE DIFFICULTIES FACING DOD.
IN PRACTICE, DOD WORKS BY A PROCESS OF DEDUCTION. RECORDS OF THE INCIDENT
WOULD SHOW WHO WAS PILOT AND CO-PILOT AND CREW. ANY REMAINS FOUND IN THE
APPROPRIATE PLACES IN THE WRECKED VEHICLE ARE THEN ARBITRARILY ASSIGNED TO
THE CASE OF THE CREWMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SITTING IN THAT PLACE. THAT IS
REASONABLE ENOUGH. IN SOME CASES, TEETH AND DENTAL WORK CAN BE IDENTIFIED,
BUT IN MANY CASES HUMAN FRAGMENTS ARE TOO SMALL TO BE POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED.
NEVERTHELESS, THE CASE IS STAMPED "RESOLVED," TENTATIVE THOUGH THE
IDENTIFICATION MAY BE.
MANY FAMILIES WOULD PREFER TO KNOW SIMPLY THAT THE VEHICLE HAD BEEN FOUND AT
THE CRASH SITE, AND THAT UNIDENTIFIABLE REMAINS WERE RECOVERED INSIDE. THEY
WOULD BE HAPPY TO JOIN IN A CEREMONY COMMEMORATING ANYONE WHO MAY HAVE DIED
IN THE CRASH, BUT THEY ARE DISTURBED WHEN TOLD THAT "REMAINS" HAVE BEEN
IDENTIFIED AS THEIR LOVED ONE EVEN THOUGH NO POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION IS
POSSIBLE.
HOWEVER, DOD GOES EVEN FURTHER. WHEN NO ACTUAL HUMAN REMAINS ARE FOUND IN THE
CRASH, OR NOT ENOUGH REMAINS ARE FOUND TO ACCOUNT FOR EACH OF THE CREWMAN,
THE DOD DECLARES THAT THE WHOLE CREW HAS BEEN "ACCOUNTED FOR." THUS EMPTY
CASKETS ARE RETURNED AS SYMBOLIC "REMAINS." THAT IS WHY NO ACTUAL REMAINS ARE
BEING BURIED TODAY FOR TWO OF THE MISSING AIRMEN.
THE PROBLEM WITH THIS METHOD, ALTHOUGH BUREAUCRATICALLY CONVENIENT FOR
CLOSING CASES, IS THAT IT IS DISHONEST. THE MISSING SERVICEMEN MAY WELL HAVE
ESCAPED BY JUMPING IN THE LAST MOMENTS OF THE CRASH--SOMETHING NOT IMPOSSIBLE
IN A HELICOPTER THAT FALLS IN A CERTAIN WAY. IF THAT IS THE CASE, THE MAN MAY
HAVE SURVIVED AND DISAPPEARED AS A PRISONER OF WAR.
THIS POSSIBILITY IS VERY INCONVENIENT FOR CLOSING CASES, PARTICULARLY IF
THERE ARE LIVE-SIGHTING REPORTS OF THE MISSING AIRMAN. THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT
HAPPENED IN THE CASE OF CAPTAIN NELSON. IN 1986, A LAOTIAN EYEWITNESS, A
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL LAOTIAN ARMY, REPORTED THAT HE HAD BEEN IMPRISONED IN
1978 WITH CAPTAIN NELSON AND ANOTHER WESTERNER, THAT HE HAD NURSED CAPTAIN
NELSON, WHO WAS BADLY BURNED, AS BEST HE COULD IN THE PRISON CAMP, AND BURIED
HIM IN THE CAMP WHEN HE DIED. HE PROVIDED SPECIFIC LOCATIONS, GEOGRAPHICAL
NAMES, A HAND-DRAWN MAP OF THE CAMP, AND THE SITE OF THE GRAVE IN THE CAMP.
PRESS REPORTS HAVE STATED THAT, INSTEAD OF TREATING THE LAOTIAN EYE-WITNESS'S
INFORMATION SERIOUSLY, DOD SOUGHT TO DISCREDIT HIM. DOD ADMINISTERED
"LIE-DETECTOR" TESTS ON HIM, AND CLAIMED THAT HE WAS LYING, EVEN THOUGH HE
HAD NO DISCERNIBLE MOTIVATION TO LIE, AND THE INFORMATION ON HIS MAP CHECKED
OUT WITH OTHER SOURCES. INDEED, SOME REPORTS SAY THAT HE WAS THREATENED WITH
DEPORTATION FROM THE UNITED STATES, WHERE HE NOW LIVES, IF HE DID NOT RETRACT
HIS STORY. I HOPE THAT THESE REPORTS ARE INACCURATE, ESPECIALLY SINCE THE
CONDUCT OF INTERROGATION TEAM WAS QUESTIONABLE AND NO NATIVE LANGUAGE
STATEMENT WAS TAKEN FROM A WITNESS NOT THOROUGHLY FAMILIAR WITH ENGLISH. IN
MY OPINION, HIS TESTIMONY SHOULD BE RE-EXAMINED BY COMPETENT EXPERTS.
NEVERTHELESS, THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A "LIVE-SIGHTING REPORT" THAT WAS
"RESOLVED" THROUGH "CORRELATION." MEANWHILE, DOD INSISTS THAT THE EMPTY
CASKET THAT WILL BE BURIED IN ARLINGTON IS THE TRUE "REMAINS" OF CAPTAIN
NELSON.
MR. PRESIDENT, THE QUESTION REMAINS AS TO WHY SUCH EFFORTS ARE MADE TO
"RESOLVE" CASES INSTEAD OF VIGOROUSLY PROSECUTING ANY REASONABLE LEADS ON
MIAs. I CANNOT ANSWER THAT QUESTION YET, BUT I AM VERY DISTURBED BY A FURTHER
STATEMENT THAT APPEARS IN THE DOD GUIDANCE ON THESE CASES. DOD STATES:
"THE SERIOUS COOPERATION OF THE LAO GOVERNMENT WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN ACHIEVING
PRODUCTIVE RESULTS FROM THIS JOINT OPERATION AND IS DEEPLY APPRECIATED BY THE
U.S. GOVERNMENT. THE MOST IMPORTANT MEASURE BY WHICH TO JUDGE THE SUCCESS OF
AGREEMENTS REACHED BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND VIENTIANE TO BROADER COOPERATION ON
THE POW/MIA ISSUE IS OBTAINING FINAL ANSWERS FOR THE FAMILIES OF AMERICANS
MISSING IN ACTION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA."
MR. PRESIDENT, AS I HAVE JUST POINTED OUT IN DETAIL, DOD HAS NOT OBTAINED
FINAL ANSWERS FOR THE FAMILIES, NOR CAN THE RESULTS BE DESCRIBED AS TRULY
PRODUCTIVE, WHEN NOTHING IS PRODUCED. BUT THIS FAWNING APPRECIATION LAVISHED
UPON A GOVERNMENT THAT MAY WELL BE CONCEALING THE FATE OF MANY OTHER MIAs
SUGGESTS THAT POLITICS HAS BEEN PLACED BEFORE FAMILIES.
MR. PRESIDENT, WITH THE ABLE ASSISTANCE OF THE DISTINGUISHED SENIOR SENATOR
FROM IOWA, MR. GRASSLEY, I HAVE BEEN STUDYING THE QUESTION OF MIA/POWs VERY
CLOSELY. RECENTLY , DOD GRANTED ACCESS TO THE 12,000 FILES ON OPEN CASES TO
ME AND MR. GRASSLEY--AN ACCESS I AM SORRY TO SAY WHICH WAS GRANTED
RELUCTANTLY AND AFTER MANY WEEKS. MR. GRASSLEY AND EXPERT ANALYSTS ON MY
STAFF HAVE PERSONALLY SPENT MORE THAT 110 MAN-HOURS REVIEWING HUNDREDS OF
THESE DOCUMENTS. THESE FILES ARE CLASSIFIED, AND IT IS NOT MY INTENTION TO
DISCUSS THEM AT THIS TIME. OF COURSE, THESE FOUR CASES I HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING
HERE TODAY ARE BASED UPON OPEN SOURCES AND UNCLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS.
HOWEVER, I CAN SAY THAT WE HAVE FOUND A NUMBER OF PROBLEMS SIMILAR TO THOSE
CASES WHICH I HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING TODAY. ALTHOUGH CERTAIN ELEMENTS IN THE
U.S. GOVERNMENT WERE BITTERLY OPPOSED TO AN INDEPENDANT EXAMINATION OF THE
CASES BY QUALIFIED INDEPENDENT EXPERTS, I DEEPLY APPRECIATE THE EFFORTS OF
TOP-LEVEL OFFICIALS TO MAKE THE DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE TO ELECTED REPRESENTA-
TIVES OF THE PEOPLE FOR PROPER OVERSIGHT PURPOSES. IN THE WEEKS TO COME, I
HOPE THAT EVEN GREATER ACCESS WILL BE GRANTED TO MAKE EVALUATION OF THE CASES
GO MORE SMOOTHLY. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL NOT REST UNTIL THEY ARE CONVINCED
THAT THE QUESTIONS RELATING TO MIA/POWs HAVE SATISFACTORILY CLEARED UP.
MR. PRESIDENT, I ASK UNANIMOUS CONSENT THAT THE UNCLASSIFIED DOD CABLE
RELATING TO THE CASES OF THE FOUR SERVICEMEN BE PRINTED IN THE RECORD AT THE
CONCLUSION OF MY REMARKS.
--------------------------
[somdee.txt]
PENTAGON BURIES ANY BODIES;
On October 5, the Department of Defense buried in a communal grave at
Arlington National Cemetery the supposed remains of four U.S.Army helicopter
crewmen, who allegedly died when their UH-1H helicopter was shot down over
southern Laos on March 5, 1971.
The Pentagon has identified the remains as those of the pilot, Capt.
David L.Nelson, of Kirkland, Washington, and crewman Michael Eli King of
Calhoun, Georgia; Ralph Angelo Moreira Jr. of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania and
John Clinton Hatley of Albemarle, North Carolina.
The problem with the Pentagon's supposed certain identification of
remains, however, is that the pilot was seen alive hundreds of miles away in
a prison camp in northern Laos SEVEN YEARS LATER.
The burial of the four Army airmen is the latest of the Pentagon's
interments of American servicement supposedly accounted for after being
missing in action in Southeast Asia from the Vietnem War, which ended in
1975.
Critics of the communal burials argue that the Pentagon is in a hurry to
dispose of as many unaccounted-for-missing-in-action cases as possible, in
order to pave the way for normalization of relations with Vietnam,
neighboring Laos, and Cambodia.
One businessman who has made numerous trips to Vietnam to push various
business ventures told The Spotlight that he anticipates a normalization of
relations in five or six months. He hopes to have U.S. government approval
soon for the opening of Vietnam for American tourists.
FOUND SINGLE TOOTH ,SAYS THEY'RE DEAD GIS:
Informed sources have told The Spotlight that the alleged
"identifiable remains" located at the supposed crash site consisted of a
single tooth and a shiny ring, which had gone through an in-air explosion of
the aircraft and resulting intense fire. These remnants had been in the
ground for nearly 20 yrs.
The sources told the Spotlight that an Army team of experts in
searching aircraft crash sites located the "remains" last January, after the
site had previously been examined by a communist Laotian team, which
supposedly located the site.
The sources said that there was nothing left of the helicopter itself
at the site, since Laotians in the area had removed all of the metal and
other debris, which they sell for scrap.
How they then could locate the exact crash site in the dense jungle
area is unknown.
When queried about the identification being made with such an-apparent
lack of identifiable remains, the Pentagon stated that is has eyewitness
reports of the helicopter exploding in such a manner that no one could have
survived.
IDENTIFICATION IRRELEVANT
Therefore, the Pentagon proceeded with the identification and the
burial at Arlington.
A number of unidentifiable bone shards were also found and are buried
in the communal grave.
The Spotlight has been told that the U.S. government PAYS the LAOTIANS
$1 MILLION for each crash site that it examines and leaves behind the heavy
excavation gear after it leaves the site.
Critics of the Pentagon's identification process point out that there
were uip to 10 or 12 South Vietnamese soldiers aboard the helicopter when it
crashed.
The bone fragments, Vietnamese and/or American, are buried in the
communal grave at Arlington. There is no mention made of the Vietnamese who
died and whose remains are co-mingled with the American remains.
The Pentagon is totally avoiding an eyewitness who swears that he had
encountered the helicopter pilot, Nelson, in a communist prison camp in
Northern Laos in 1978, five years after all American POWs were supposed to
have been released.
WITH TWO AMERICANS:
In 1988, a former officer of the Royal Laotian Army, Somdee
Phommachanh, reported in a television news broadcast that he was held captive
with Nelson and another American pilot in 1978.
Somdee said the pilots were brought to the camp that year. The former
Laotian officer, who escaped from the prison in 1984 and eventually made his
way to the United States, said that Nelson was in poor health and died at the
camp, which he pinpointed as being in Houay Ling in northern Laos, hundreds
of miles from the crash site. This was also seven years after the American
pilot supposedly had been killed in the crash in southern Laos.
Somdee was shown a group of 22 photographs, each of a different
individual and each cropped to the same size. From the group, he positively
identified Nelson, whom he claimed to have himself buried at the site of the
prison.
The other American POW, whom he identified as Navy Lt. Stanley K.
Smiley, a pilot, was taken from the camp shortly after Nelson's death, and
Somdee never saw him again. He is still unaccounted for in Southeast Asia.
Somdee, who now works as a janitor in a rural school in the United
States, appeared at a hearing of the House Subcommittee on East Asian and
Pacific Affairs, which investigates reported sightings of American POWs in
Southeast Asia, to present testimony under oath about the two Americans.
The subcommittee chairman, Rep. Stephen Solarz (D-NY), REFUSED to let
him testify, sources told The Spotlight.
The sources also said that after Somdee had told his story to
television newsmen, he was "paid a visit by agents of the Defense
Intelligence Agency [DIA] who took him to a hotel room, which he was told he
could not leave until he signed a statement recanting his story." He was held
there, they said, 46 hours.
He was also told that "all [his] relatives in Laos would be killed"
[presumably by communists] if his story was told.
He did not recant, although the DIA claims that he did.
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