FW: VVA: POW & MIA'a from VFW newsletter.

Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible;

 and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

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From: vva@vva2.talklist.com
To: vva@vva2.talklist.com
CC: vvachapter842@comcast.net
Subject: VVA: POW & MIA'a from VFW newsletter.
Date: Sat, 18 Apr 2015 07:34:15 -0500

. USS Oklahoma Unknowns to be Exhumed: The Department of Defense announced this week that the commingled remains of up to 388 unaccounted for sailors and Marines associated with the USS Oklahoma will be exhumed later this year for analysis that could lead to identifying most of them. On Dec. 7, 1941, 429 sailors and Marines were killed when Japanese torpedoes sank the ship during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Following the attack, 35 crewmembers were positively identified and buried. During salvage operations, the remaining crewmember remains were removed from the ship for eventual re-internment as unknowns in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, the Punchbowl. The new disinterment policy applies to unidentified remains from other American cemeteries as well, provided a basic threshold of criteria is met. The policy does not, however, extend to sailors and Marines lost at sea or to remains entombed in U.S. Navy vessels that serve as national memorials, such as the USS Arizona. Read more at: http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=128585&source=GovDelivery.

7. Four MIAs Identified: The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced the identification of remains belonging to one Marine and three soldiers who had been missing-in-action from the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Returning for burial with full military honors are:

• Marine Sgt. John McLaughlin, Company D, 32nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, who was lost in action fighting in North Korea on Dec. 2, 1950.
• Army Cpl. Elmer P. Richard, 20, of Exeter, N.H., was assigned to Battery D, 15th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion, 31st Regimental Combat Team. He was reported missing while fighting in North Korea on Dec. 2, 1950.
• Army Pfc. Eugene L. Erickson, 21, of Crow Wing, Minn., was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He died in a North Korean POW Camp on Aug. 31, 1951.
• Army Maj. Dale W. Richardson, 28, of Cashton, Wis., was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. He was lost when the UH-1H helicopter he was a passenger in was shot down near the Vietnamese/Cambodian border on May 2, 1970.

Ken Riskedahl
Tupelo, MS.