Word: mia
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...visit to the American Office for POW-MIA Affairs, set up last summer in Hanoi's Boss Hotel, cast some doubt on that conclusion. Bell, head of the office, said the pilot of an F-4C flying in formation with Scharf's had reported that he saw a parachute fully deployed. That meant one of the crew could have survived and may have been taken prisoner. Because Scharf's body was never located, said Bell, "our conclusion was that further efforts are warranted." But one of the office's investigators later insisted, "Both of them are dead...
...parachute, it could have been the drag chute used to slow F-4s after landing. It also could have been an effort by a comrade-in- arms to do a favor for the families of the downed crew. As long as a serviceman is listed as MIA, his family continues to receive his pay and even benefits from periodic promotions. Those explanations were persuasive. But while the evidence remained inconclusive, Case 0158 would be an open wound...
...encourage the trade in bones even more. Says Garnett Bell: "Some remains could be in the hands of private citizens, but the figure is unknown." Last year a Vietnamese team was sent the length of the country to ask local officials and individuals to turn over any evidence on MIAs. The search yielded a scant 46 boxes, only three of which contained materials relating to MIA cases. A joint U.S.-Vietnamese forensic team is examining the materials...
...bones are being warehoused in Vietnam. Moreover, the central government's efforts to collect remains held by its citizens have been halfhearted at best. A week after our trip to Suoi Pai, we traveled to Ho Chi Minh City and put out the word that we were interested in MIA bones. Leads flooded in. A Vietnamese military officer passed along photocopies of the personal effects of three servicemen that supposedly came from graves dug up by impoverished soldiers in Kontum province...
Later in Hanoi, Bell commiserated with us about the frustrating journey: "That's pretty typical. We get right down to the wire and then can't find the remains." He said the American MIA office in Hanoi would like to excavate the Scharf crash site, because even if most of the bones have been removed, it is possible that a few teeth or other fragments might remain. But it would be next to impossible to lug the necessary gear up the mountain, and Vietnam's Soviet-built helicopters are too large and unreliable to risk setting down in that treacherous...