May he finally rest in peace

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,536170,00.html

Quote:

Remains of the first American lost in the 1991 Persian Gulf War have been found in the Anbar province of Iraq after a nearly 20-year search, the U.S. Navy said Sunday.

The Armed Forces Institute of Pathology has positively identified the remains of Captain Michael "Scott" Speicher, whose disappearance has bedeviled investigators since his jet was shot down over the Iraq desert on the first night of the 1991 war.

So, his family will finally have peace, and they finally know what happened to him.

Quote:

The Pentagon initially declared Speicher killed, but uncertainty " and the lack of remains " led officials over the years to change his official status a number of times to "missing in action" and later "missing-captured."

Quote:

Officials said Sunday that they got new information from an Iraqi citizen in early July, leading Marines stationed in Anbar province to a location in the desert which was believed to be the crash site of Speicher's jet.

The Iraqi said he knew of two other Iraqis who recalled an American jet crashing and the remains of the pilot being buried in the desert.

"One of these Iraqi citizens stated that they were present when Captain Speicher was found dead at the crash site by Bedouins and his remains buried," the Pentagon said in a statement.

He was positively identified through a jawbone found at the site and dental records, said Read Adm. Frank Thorp.

Speicher was shot down over west-central Iraq on Jan. 17, 1991.

The Navy never stopped looking for him, and even when I was in Iraq we had orders to investigate any reports we got about captured Americans and to investigate any reported sighting.

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I am glad for his relatives. It must be hell not knowing what happened to a loved one, for so long a time.

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@Phoenix32890,

Phoenix32890 wrote:

I am glad for his relatives. It must be hell not knowing what happened to a loved one, for so long a time.

1.3 million Germans (and certainly a lot more from other nations) are still officially missed. (A neighbour got to know the place where his father died in 1944 only last year.)

And planes with killed - in WWII - allied pilots are still found in Europe.

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@Walter Hinteler,

I know where at least one of them is.

My next door neighbor is the daughter of a German POW that was held here when this was still Camp Breckenridge, during WW2.
He didnt want to go home after the war, so he stayed here in morganfield.
He is buried at the local Catholic Cemetary.

1 Reply

@mysteryman,

I suppose that such persons are wellknown to the special department at the German Red Cross as well.

The number of 1.3 millions reflects to those where they have no data at all - on tombstone it's just "missed in ....", if they are officially declared dead.

(My uncle was officially declared dead as well, and I've got all his personal belongings. That was in 1944, but it lasted until the late 60's when finally the location was found where he might have been buried.

When I was young, in nearly all families of my classmates there was at least one close relative, who was missed.
Because some still returned from Russia, the hope that others might return, was alive quite a long time. (And even today, some siblings, children don't/can't belive that their brother/father is dead.)

2 Replies

@Walter Hinteler,

In all (western) German states, you've regional/local history groups, who search for the missed allied soldiers, like this one:

Quote:

On 22 November 1944 American Thunderbolt pilot James G. Newman crashed near Dillingen-Pachten (Saarlouis County). He has been MIA since then. The Dillingen History Work Group has taken intensive effort to finally clarify his fate and, if possible, to recover his remains.

At least one team of the Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii (CILHI) is constantly in Germany to identify WWII soldiers. A couple of weks ago, they identified two pilots in the Thuringia forests, where they were shot down in 1944.

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@Walter Hinteler,

There are 4 German soldiers buried at the military cemetary in Nashville Tn.
They died at Camp Breckenridge during the war, and were buried here at the old cemetary.
After the war, they were moved to the military cemetary.
Their families were asked if they wanted the remains returned, and all of the families said no.
They were reburied in 1946 with full military honors.

1 Reply

@mysteryman,

I don't question that, mm, and I think it's very honourale what was done.

I just was writing in response to your original post resp. Phoenix' response that it "must be hell not knowing what happened to a loved one, for so long a time".

When a German became a POW, relatives were noticed by the International Red Cross and a Vatican office for POW's about the whereabouts of that POW. (Those cards from the ICRC took some time though: ¾ year in e.g. my fathers case, a bit less that from the Vatican. [But he wrote 12 cards/letters which were delivered by returning POW's.].)

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@Walter Hinteler,

Quote:

1.3 million Germans

I have to ask.

I read somewhere that about half of the German soldiers captured by the Russians never came home.

How many of the 1.3 million are from the Eastern Front?

1 Reply

@mysteryman,

I suppose most.
(Others are missed e.g. in the Ardennes, around here [Bulge of the Ruhr), on sea, as pilotes - but that will be a lower number.)

Between 3.2 and 4 million (the latter estimated by Russian historians) Germans were Russian POWs. 1,110,000 died in the camps. 500,000 were repatriated until 1947. The last German POWs returned in 1955/6 (10,000) as result of an initiative of chancellor Adenauer.

A couple of weeks ago, some lists with the names of some eight thousand soldiers and officers (seemed to be from Stalingrad) were found in a secret archive in Russia.

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"May he finally rest in peace"

It seems unlikely that he waited, being concerned about having molted
his outer covering before beginning to rest.

People who have died
(including soldiers in combat, some of whom I have met and discussed it)
have reported, after returning, that thay were not especially concerned
with their human bodies -- more like worn out clothing
that is discarded -- not a big deal,
tho it might be of greater concern to their surviving families.

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@mysteryman,

What an odd coincidence you should post this just as it's been reported that the last two Australia MIAs in Vietnam have been located: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jdeb-CWxXdUv4KB-PBVlcInQxpUAD99ONORO2

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May he finally rest in peace

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