The National Alliance of Families mourns the passing of John Van Wees, father of Korean War POW, Ronald Van Wees. John, along with his wife Rita, were founding members of the National Alliance of Families. Mrs. Van Wees served on our Board of Directors until her passing. Their son, Ronald, was captured in Korea In November, 1950 and identified in a photograph. Subsequent information, uncovered by Mrs. Van Wees, led to the belief that Ronald was transported to the former Soviet Union. Mr. and Mrs. Van Wees were founding memberS of the first POW/MIA family organization "The Fighting Home Folks." They fought the the good fight. In life they never got their answers. Now they have them, and we have another angel whispering in God's ear. To their daughter Lillian, we offer our deepest sympathy.

North Korea To Return Remains - On Friday Oct. 8th, the Defense Department announced "tentative agreements have been reached between DoD officials and the North Korean government to resume the search for and transfer of remains of Americans missing in action from the Korean War. Delegations from both countries will meet in mid-October to work out details. Operations to recover American remains from North Korea began in 1996, but were halted in June of this year in a dispute over the method of repatriating the remains."

"Robert L. Jones, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel, will lead a delegation to Pyongyang in late October to accept the remains of what is believed to be four American soldiers. Since recovery operations began in July 1996, the U.S. Army's Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii has recovered 39 sets of remains, of which three have been positively identified....".

What About The Live POWs - Do you think we can get Deputy Assistant Secretary Defense for POW/Missing Personnel, Robert L. Jones, to ask about the LIVE POWs and supposed "deserters" in North Korea? DPMO's own analyst, I. O. Lee wrote in March of 1996 "According to North Korean defectors, PFC Dresnok is married to a North Korean and has a daughter. One of the North Korean defectors met SGT. Jenkins in a coffee shop in Pyongyang. SGT. Jenkins told the North Korean defector that he is now ready to return to America. The American deserters live in the "foreigner's apartments", Chukehon-dong, Mangyongdae-kuyok, west-side of Pyongyang."

Lee continued "A second, larger group of Americans is comprised of US service members, most likely POWs from the Korean War and possibly Vietnam War era. There have been numerous reports of both American and British POWs in North Korea. One of the most compelling reports received over the years was a sighting reported to DoD by a Romanian in 17 Feb 1988...."

The report concludes; "there are too many live sighting reports, specifically observations of several Caucasians in a collective farm by Romanians and the North Korean defectors' eyewitness of Americans in DPRK to dismiss that there are no American POWs in North Korea."

The Answer To The Question - Do you think we can get Deputy Assistant Secretary Defense for POW/Missing Personnel, Robert L. Jones, to ask about the LIVE POWs and supposed "deserters" in North Korea, is a resounding NO!

DPMO is not interested in Live POWs. Evidence of Live POWs and the opinions of their own staff regarding Live POWs is routinely ignored.

If we don't all focue on the Live POWs, real fast, the men in North Korea, China, the former Soviet Union, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are going to die the way they have spent most of their lives, as POWs in a foreign land, abandoned by their government, and the majority of their fellow citizens.

POW Transfers to the Soviet Union - It has been reported to us that DPMO representative, at Regional Meeting, are telling family members that there is no evidence of POW transfers to the Soviet Union. Yet, representatives of the Joint Commission Support Directorate are tell family members, at the very same meetings, that therE is evidence of transfers and further pursuit is required.

It is interesting to note that the unclassified summary of the National Intelligence Estimate, titled "Vietnamese Intentions, Capabilities, and Performance Concerning the POW/MIA Issue" dated July 1998, addresses the subject of POW transfers. The report states; "A few reports of transfers of US POWs to Russia and other countries are unexplained, and the books remain open."

Anytime you hear or see the words "No US POWs from Indochina were taken to the Soviet Union, China, or any other third country," REMEMBER, the intelligence community says differently. The words to remember are "the books remain open."

What Johnie Webb Is Saying At Regional Meetings - we're not going into that right now. Hopefully, we will have some interesting documents to share with you in the near future. For now, all we will ask is:

China To Cooperate - The Department of Defense issued the following statement on October 1st; "A Department of Defense delegation has concluded its second visit to China to seek additional cooperation in resolving Korean War POW and MIA cases."

"Robert L. Jones, the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs, led a four man team to China last week to continue discussions there on U.S. servicemen missing in action from the Korean War. Jones had earlier presented 44 case inquiries to the Chinese. He requested specific information relating to Americans missing from four areas: Korean War POW camps; ground battles (Chosin Reservoir, Chongchon River, Demilitarized Zone); air losses; and POW names appearing in Chinese publications during the war."

"I am pleased that the Chinese government is taking seriously our efforts to resolve these POW and MIA cases," he said. "We all know the difficulties in locating or reconstructing records that may be 45 years old, but the Chinese have told me they will do everything they can to help us move forward on this humanitarian issue."

Chinese Cooperation - Don't Hold Your Breath - Unless the Chinese are prepared to return Roger Dumas, Richard DesautelS and others known by name to be in Chinese custody, you can file Chinese Cooperation in the same category with Vietnamese cooperation.

Speaking of Vietnamese Cooperation - Where is Dallas Pridemore? Dallas Pridemore was an army sergeant, an MP, captured on September 8th, 1968, while visiting the home of his Vietnamese girlfriend. He was captured by the Viet Cong, in his pajamas, and transported to a POW camp in Cambodia. It's all in the intelligence reports. One intelligence report, dated 14 June 1970, is so accurate that the handwritten analysts note reads; "Make this in early Sep 68 and it fits Dallas Pridemore right down to the short sleeved pajamas." The source, some two years after the sighting, reported the date as early January 1968. Pridemore was captured in early September 1968.

The analyst described the credibility of the source as "cooperative and appeared to answer all questions truthfully, control questions revealed no apparent attempts to deceive."

On January 7th, 1969 another source reported the presence of an American POW at a camp located in Svay Teap District, Svay Rieng Province Cambodia. According to the source the POW WAS a sergeant in the U.S. Army Military Police named "Primont."

"Primont" arrived at the camp on September 25, 1968 "not wearing military clothing, but was clad in a light-colored T-shirt. He arrived at this site still wearing the T-shirt."

On January 22nd, 1969, the same source provided a more detailed report on the camp and "'Primont" stating his first name was "Dollas" and that he was captured at "2300 hours on 9 Sep 68."

The McDonnell Case - we're not done with that one, yet. There may be more to come. Just remember, Captain John McDonnell was left behind in a Quang Ngai POW camp, in February 1973 and he was not alone. There were 5 other servicemen with him. (For details: see Bits N Pieces September 11, 1999.)

Pridemore and McDonnell - what could the MP sergeant and the three tour special forces ARVN advisor/chopper pilot have in common? On the surface the answer seems to be nothing. But, if you look closer, there is a common thread. The tie that binds is "Project X."

Project X was a study, concluded in 1975, to "... evaluate the possibility of any of the unaccounted for being alive. The conclusion reached is: There is a possibility that as many as 57 Americans could be alive, although it is highly probable that the number is much smaller, possibly zero...."

"...This study has taken over 8 months and has involved many analysts. Included were personnel experienced in Aviation, Ground Operations, Search and Rescue, and Intelligence. Summaries for each of the 57 possibilities are inclosed. Two principal criteria for determining any individual as "possibly alive" were used:

a: The existence of positive reasonable indicators suggesting that the individual concerned survived the loss incident.

b: The absence of a reasonable case supporting an assertion that the individual concerned is dead..."

For more on "Project X" visit our website at http://www.nationalalliance.org/projx/index

Who are the men of "Project X"

Greer, Robert L.*x	Schreckengost, Fred T. *	Mc Lean, James H
Tavares, John C. (Civilian)	Mellor, Frederick	Garwood, Robert +
Bailon Ruben (Civilian)	O'Laughlin, Stephen (Civilian)	Mauterer, Oscar
Peterson, Delbert R.	Hewitt, Samuel	Gates, James W.
Lafayette, John	Goss, Bernard J.*	Thomas, Kenneth D.*
Harris, Gregory	Kwortnik, John C.*	Brand, Joseph W. *6,1
Tatum, Lawrence B	Ammon, Glendon L.*	Warren, Arthur L. *
O'Grady, John F.	Hasenbeck, Paul A.	Mangino, Thomas A.
Nidds, Daniel R.	Winters, David M.	Graham, James S.*
Dodge Ronald W.*	Frederick, William V.*	Degnan, Jerry L.(Civ)
Moore, Herbert W.	La Porte, Michael	Vescelius, Milton *^
Hauer, Leslie J.*	Teague, James E.*	Hartney, James C.*
Jones, William E.*	Cocheo, Richard (Civilian)	Lacey, Richard J.
Metz, James H. *	Held, John W.	Pridemore, Dallas
Erskine,Jack D. (CIVILIAN)	Francisco, San D	Morrison, Joseph
Briggs, Ronald D	Christiansen, Eugene F.	O'Hara, Robert C.
Parsons, Donald E	Padgett, David E.	Stanley, Charles I.
Mc Donnel, John T.	Mc Kay, Clyde W. (Civilian)	Soyland, David P.
Morris, George W.	Peterson, Mark A.	Dean, Charles(Civ)
	Sharman, Neil (Australian)

* accounted for

x family accepts identification but questions circumstances

^ family disputes identification

+ returned alive

We Have To Ask - Could any of the unaccounted for men of "Project X" be among the 5 servicemen held with Capt. McDonnell at Ba To, in February 1973?

POW/MIA - We notice that more and more the media is using the phrase MIA/POW or MIA only. This probably comes from the government press releases they receive. It is our job to make sure the designation remains POW/MIA. POWs were left behind and the POWs along with the MIAs must be accounted for. We can not let the designation POW disappear. Please when dealing with the media, or discussing the POW/MIA issue, please use the designation POW/MIA.

The National Alliance of Families Eleventh Annual Forum is scheduled for June 22th - 24th, 2000, at the Wyndham Hotel, Washington D.C. (same as last year.) Room rates are yet to be determined. We'll let you know. Contributions are needed to finance our forum. Donations may be mailed to:

Contact us here!