This page was last updated 1 January 2009.
An
Enormous Crime: The Definitive Account of American POWs
Abandoned in Southeast Asia (Hardcover) The dramatic history of living American soldiers left in Vietnam, and the first full account of the circumstances that left them there
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This year's National POW-MIA Day will be 19 September 2008. Here is this year's poster.
One
of the women I have met in the past few years as I traversed back and forth
through Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri is Diane (Kuhn) Nicholson. She wrote a lovely poem
entitled ONE AMERICAN LIFE on 8 May 2003 and I have her permission to post it
here. I hope you like it too:
ONE AMERICAN LIFE On the nightly news, broadcast from faraway places I see a platoon of American faces. In the back of my mind I imagine each one I wonder about their families and the burdens they bear I can't help but consider the cost of freedom is... ONE AMERICAN LIFE He's the boy next door with the twinkle in his eye The hometown hero who caught the game-winning fly In the middle of the desert his courage was tested He saved his company, but he paid the price, he's... ONE AMERICAN LIFE She was the girl from church that everyone loved She had the voice of an angel; a special gift from above Her mama's pride and her daddy's joy Its hard to envision what she must have endured, she's... ONE AMERICAN LIFE He was a daddy to three Loving husband to Marie He was the gunny sergeant that taught the ways of the war And he gave his life for them on a distant shore.
He's... ONE AMERICAN LIFE There isn't a community that hasn't been touched by a war Don’t take for granted the liberty you enjoy. Freedom isn't free; the cost is oh, so high... ONE AMERICAN LIFE NEW BOOK AND DOCUMENTARY!
The dramatic history of
living American soldiers left in Vietnam, and
the first full account of the circumstances that
left them there
ENDURING FREEDOM
IRAQI FREEDOM
IN MEMORY OF MATT MAUPIN Yellow ribbons wave and flutter while wind-laced rains spit and stutter ~ Those of us who kept you close in prayer, and those of us who hoped you would come home from there, feel numb.
This dark night, I have sent a prayer heavenward for you ~ though I know you are with angels and your suffering is through.....
I have said a prayer for your family, your sad father and your grieving mother You were everyone’s loved one, everyone’s son or brother.....
Rest easy, now You were one of the best. You’re mission is over Just rest, just rest.
But this time history was made once again. Among those captured or missing were three women: (L-R) PFC Jessica Lynch, PFC Lori Piestewa and SPC Shoshana Johnson.
As members of the ill-fated 507th Maintenance Company out of Fort Bliss, TX they were ambushed on 23 March 2003 outside Nasariyah. Jessica was rescued by a Special Operations team on 1 April becoming the first American POW to be rescued. That same night the team found the remains of other 507th members among them was Lori--the first Native American female Hopi Indian to be killed in action. AND on 13 April, Shoshana was found alive along with four others from the 507th (SPC Joseph Hudson, SPC Edgar Hernandez, SGT James Riley and PFC Patrick Miller) and 2 helicopter pilots (CWO2 Ronald Young Jr. and CWO2 David Williams) from the 227th Aviation Rgt. from Fort Hood, TX. A lot has been written about Jessica but something which didn't get a lot of coverage was her promise to Lori whom she roomed with both at Ft Bliss and through their journey into the desert of Kuwait and Iraq. That promise was that if anything happened to either of them--the survivor would do everything possible to take care of the other's family. Jessica kept her promise! She was in constant contact with the Piestewa family in Tuba City, AZ. In 2005 Jessica helped arrange for them to get a brand new home with the help of the ABC-TV program "Extreme Home Makeover" with Ty Pennington and his amazing crew. The crew not only built a new home for Lori's family in nearby Flagstaff but they also constructed a Native American Cultural Center in Tuba City to honor all the Native American men and women who have served our country. On Friday 19 January 2007 Jessica gave birth to a 7 pound baby girl! She named the baby Dakota Ann Robinson in honor of her fallen friend Lori Piestewa's Native American heritage. Dakota means friendship or ally and Ann was Lori's middle name. Considering what Jessica went through since March 2003 it was a miracle that she even got pregnant--CONGRATS to Jessica and Wes Robinson! GULF WAR During the Gulf War (Operation Desert Shield/Storm/Victory) 1990-1991 quite a few Americans were POWs including two women: (L-R) MAJ Rhonda Cornum--now a BG and SPC Melissa Rathbun-Neely. Although I never met either one of these women I have read Rhonda's excellent book She Went To War about her time in captivity.
Meanwhile--there is still one individual officially listed as MIA from the Gulf War--Michael Scott Speicher (shown below)--and 15 others who are listed as Killed in Action/ Body Not Recovered (KIA/BNR). I suggest that you visit Tribute to LCDR Michael Speicher, USN POW/MIA to learn more about this case. Another site set up to keep the pressure on for Scott can be found by going to Friends Working to Free Scott Speicher - Saturday, October 9, 2004.
VIETNAM JACK RITTICHIER finally came home from Vietnam. He was positively identified and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on 6 October 2003 on Coast Guard Hill! Several women were listed as POW-MIA during the long Vietnam War. They were Elizabeth "Betty" Ann Olsen, Eleanor Ardel Vietti, Evelyn Anderson and Beatrice Kosin. BUT because they were American civilians they didn't get much coverage except by those of us who REALLY care about this issue! One of the former POWs I met is Theodore "Ted" Gostas. I'm surprised that more people don't know about him but he has kept a rather low-profile since returning on the Freedom Bird in January 1973 during Operation Homecoming. Ted was held in the Hanoi Hilton Prison and kept in solitary confinement almost the entire time he was there.
Earl Jr's father and step-mother run Task Force Omega, Inc. This organization is heavily involved with researching all information about the men and women listed as POW-MIA who have yet to return from Vietnam. Please visit this important site.
KOREA Not too long ago a gentleman sent me some photos. Willard Adams was a Navy Third Class Radioman aboard the USS Repose 1953-1954. He wanted to share some photos he had taken on the day some American POWs were repatriated and boarded his ship in September 1953. The photo on the left is of some enlisted men while the photo on the right is on some officers. If you recognize any of these men please contact me or Willard directly.
Use the buttons below to go to another page.
HOME IN MEMORY IRAQ AFGHANISTAN
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Copyright 1996-2009 by Noonie Fortin. All rights reserved.
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STILL
MIA--American
civilian Cyd Mizell, 49, from Atlee, VA was taken hostage on 26 January 2008.
She was working for the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation in
Kandahar, Afghanistan at the time of her abduction. Fluent in the local
language and culture Cyd taught English at Kandahar University and gave
embroidery lessons at a girl's school. It is hoped that she will be
released soon.
Sadly I have
to report that the remains of SPC Alex R Jimenez and PVT Byron Fouty
were found and identified. Their status was changed on 10 July 2008 from missing
to deceased.
Three
Americans were taken hostage on 12 May 2007. They were members of 4th Battalion,
31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division at Fort
Drum, NY. Although PFC Joseph J Anzack Jr's body was later found his two buddies
were missing until recently: (L-R) SPC Alex R Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, MA and
PVT Byron W Fouty, 19, of Waterford, MI. While funerals were held in
their hometowns--their remains were buried together in Arlington National
Cemetery.
STILL
MIA--US
Army translator SPC Ahmed Qusai al-Taei, 41, became missing on 24 October 2006
while visiting his wife's family in Baghdad. He
remains MIA although reports claim he is alive no one has been able to locate
him even with a reward being offered for him.
CIVILIAN
Jill Carroll, 28, was handed over to the Iraqi Islamic Party office in
Amiriya, western Baghdad, by an unknown group on Thursday 30 March 2006. She was
later turned over to the Americans and was believed to be in the heavily
fortified Green Zone. She has since returned to the US and her family. The
most recent war in Iraq produced POW-MIAs just like all our other wars.
Jill,
originally from the Ann Arbor, MI region is a freelance journalist reporting for
the Christian Science Monitor. She was abducted on 7 January 2006 after an
interview she went on in Baghdad turned out to be a hoax. Although she is fluent
in Arabic she traveled with an Iraqi translator who was killed on the spot while
her driver managed to get away. Jill was in Iraq reporting on the Iraqi people
themselves rather than the war. She had graduated from the University of
Massachusetts-Amherst in 1999 with a degree in journalism. Jill is the 36th
journalist to be kidnapped since April 2004 and the first American woman. Her
parents, James and Mary Carroll of Ann Arbor, MI and her twin sister, Katie, had
been praying for her safe return. Their prayers were answered!
Sadly
I have to report that the remains of POW-MIA SSG Keith "Matt" Maupin of Batavia, OH
were found and identified through DNA. Matt was a PFC with the Army Reserve's 724th Transportation Company from
Bartonville, IL serving in Iraq when he was captured on 9 Apr 04. Though past
media reports
have stated that he was killed by his captors--his remains were not
located until the week of 24 Mar 08 and his family was notified on Sunday
afternoon 30 Mar 08 by a three-star general that his remains were in fact
identified. There is an article 
As I said I have met many family members of POW-MIAs. One such couple
heads Task Force Omega. Colonel Earl and Patty (Skelly) Hopper lead the quest to
have our POW-MIAs accounted for. While I have known about them for a number of
years I didn't meet them until 1993 for the first time. Patty was not married to
Earl during the war but came to know him through his efforts to find his son
Lieutenant Colonel Earl Hopper Jr. I will soon be sharing their story about Earl
Jr. with you.
Photo donated by COL Earl Hopper.
