Senior Vice gauges progress of Southeast Asia POW/MIA accounting

VFW Magazine, August, 2002 by Tim Dyhouse

In pursuit of VFW's goal to fully account for all U.S. MIAs and POWs, Senior Vice Commander-in-Chief Ray Sisk traveled to Southeast Asia in April. His delegation, which included VFW Junior Vice Commander-in-Chief Ed Banas, Washington Office Executive Director Bob Wallace and POW/MIA Chairman Billy Ray Cameron, visited Laos and Thailand, as well as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

The official purpose of the trip was to assess the accounting of U.S. POWs/MIAs lost during the Vietnam War--a mandate of VFW Res. 453. It also gave the VFW officials an opportunity to hand out VFW's Operation Uplink phone cards to members of Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, which is in charge of searching for U.S. MIAs lost in Southeast Asia.

Sisk said that while he was in Thailand, he was briefed on JTF-FA's mission. Cooperation with Cambodia is "very good," he reported.

"Our personnel are able to do whatever is necessary to fulfill their mission with the full cooperation of the government," he said.

After visiting Laos, however, Sisk says cooperation there is proportional to the amount of U.S. funding.

"The Laotian government can do more to assist in the POW/MIA issue," Sisk said. "Laos is a very poor isolated country with old leaders who do not embrace change. They want the United States to pay for everything and because of the political landscape, we must negotiate every issue concerning POW/MIA matters. The war is still very much an issue with some of the older members of the government and this can hinder the process."

Cooperation in Vietnam, he says, is better than Laos.

"The government works closely with the JTF-FA detachment in Hanoi," Sisk said.

JTF-FA members in Vietnam perform four excavations per year, each lasting 30 days each. The 69th joint Field Operation was held March 14-April 17, 2002. While in Hanoi, Sisk also met with the Veterans Association of Vietnam, comprised entirely of those who fought for North Vietnam in the war. He said they want to send a delegation to Washington to meet with veterans groups and Vietnam vets now serving in Congress.

"We asked who would pay for the trip, and they stated they would, which we found very interesting," Sisk said. "It shows they have an agenda and want to get actively involved in the political process."

Sisk says the Vietnamese want VFW to push for more American tourism to their country and help convince the world that Vietnam's recent human rights record has improved. He added that Vietnamese veterans groups gave him three locations to search for U.S. remains.

"Our focus is of course their cooperation on VFW's MIA initiative," Sisk said. "They are doing a good job, and we are thankful for that. I especially want to thank our military and diplomatic members who are working so hard."