Navy Remembers POW/MIAs
Fri, Sep 15 08:04 PM EDT
By BEN DiPIETRO, Associated Press Writer

HONOLULU (AP) - Nearly 33 years after his plane was shot down over in coastal waters off North Vietnam, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Roger B. Innes was buried on home soil Friday.

Innes was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia as National POW/MIA Recognition Day was marked with ceremonies across the country. Thousands of miles away, Innes story was told at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, home to the Army lab that identified the remains of the long-missing radar operator.

The story is one about "the power of hope and determination," said Brig. Gen. Harry Axson Jr., commanding general of Joint Task Force/Full Accounting.

A Vietnamese fisherman found part of Innes' plane in 1995. His remains were recovered in 1998 and taken to Hickam where the Chicago native was identified last year.

"Many other families of U.S. servicemen are still waiting for answers," Axson said. "Today, perhaps like no other time in the history of American wars, has such an organized effort ... been mounted to resolve the fate of U.S. service members."

Axson read from a letter he received from Innes' sister, Gail Innes, in which she said "today's science and technology have made it possible for me and my family to at last have our answer. There are answers out there, sometimes in as little as 30 feet of water."

In Columbus, Ohio, 500 people listened to a 21-gun salute. In Miami, former prisoners of World War II, Korea and Vietnam spoke to a gathering of veterans and their families. In Seattle, bracelets inscribed with the names of POW/MIAs were presented to the POWS-MIA Living Memorial at Washington Memorial Park Cemetery.

At the Hickam ceremony, an honor guard fired a 21-gun salute and a bugler played "Taps" as Axson placed a memorial wreath to honor those still missing.

Following the ceremony, flag-draped coffins carrying the remains of nine Korean War veterans were taken off a C-17 cargo plane and taken to the Army's Central Identification Lab.

Robert Jones, deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs, said more remains were repatriated this year than ever before, in part because of improved cooperation with China and North Korea.

"This is the first time we've had an opportunity to speak with Chinese veterans of the Korean War, about their activities and how it directly related to the handling of American POWs," Jones said. For Al Frumkin, head of the Hawaii chapter of the American Ex-Prisoners of War, the nation can't rest until all its fallen soldiers are returned home.

"We have 80,000 missing from World War II, we'll never find those," said Frumkin, who was taken prisoner by Germans at the Battle of the Bulge. "There are 8,000, give or take a little, from Korea, and now there's 2,000 from Vietnam.

"I was very fortunate, I was able to come back," Frumkin said. "The ones who haven't come back yet, their families are still grieving."