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Post by JohnEakin on Dec 29, 2014 20:46:31 GMT 8
Key JPAC scientific experts to be cut in reform The Associated Press 4:41 p.m. EST December 28, 2014 HONOLULU — A program that provides dozens of scientists and other experts to the Hawaii-based Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command is being cut. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports the move comes at the same time that Congress is seeking more recoveries and identifications from JPAC, whose headquarters and main lab are at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. As part of a Pentagon reorganization effort, 50 Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education fellows who assist JPAC are being let go. JPAC is responsible for finding, recovering and identifying missing-in-action service members. The Pentagon says only a half-dozen current or new Oak Ridge fellows will be retained. Pentagon spokeswoman Navy Cmdr. Amy Derrick-Frost says a careful review on how the program is used is required for "prudent use of government resources." Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. www.militarytimes.com/story/military/pentagon/2014/12/28/key-jpac-scientific-experts-to-be-cut-in-reform/20974015/
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Post by JohnEakin on Jan 27, 2015 21:40:36 GMT 8
This is far from the final chapter of this story, but Megan McCloskey of Propublicia tells it better than I do. (With permission of Propublicia) Missing overseas for 73 years, an American POW who perished in World War II is finally going home. Last week, the Pentagon officially identified the remains of Pvt. Arthur "Bud" Kelder, who died as a Japanese prisoner in the Philippines in 1942. After the war, the U.S. government buried him and thousands of others as "unknown" soldiers in a war memorial cemetery there. The identification is vindication for Kelder's family, who had discovered evidence of which gravesite contained Kelder's remains and then spent years trying to persuade the Pentagon to investigate. John Eakin, Kelder's cousin, finally sued in late 2012. ProPublica and NPR wrote about Eakin's struggle last year as part of an investigation into the Pentagon's failing efforts to find and identify long-lost MIAs like Kelder. Our investigation found that the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command was mired in problems, failing to embrace the latest science and paralyzed by poor management. Infighting, overlapping bureaucracy, and excessively risk-averse policies also contributed to meager results. On average the Pentagon has identified just 72 men a year out of the tens of thousands missing from Vietnam, Korea and World War II—despite spending about $100 million a year to do the job. After our investigation last March, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced sweeping changes. Advocates are watching closely to ensure that those changes are more than superficial bureaucratic shuffling. In August, the Pentagon also reversed course on Kelder's case, finally agreeing to exhume the grave that the family believed contained his remains of Kelder and those of nine other soldiers to identify with DNA. Eakin had used historical and medical documents to track down the location of Kelder's remains after he died at the Cabanatuan prisoner camp. Meticulous records kept by the POWs themselves show that Kelder's body had initially been buried at the POW camp in common grave 717. After the war, the U.S. military dug up the common graves. The government identified four of the 14 men from grave 717 and sent them home to their families for burial. But it was unsuccessful in identifying Kelder's remains as well those of more than 900 others from the camp. They were all re-buried as "unknowns." Eakin figured out that Kelder was likely in a grave labeled as unknown "X-816." Eakin said it's been an emotional rollercoaster since he got word about the official identification. "It's relief and anger that it has taken this long, and at the same time we know that we have to start planning a funeral," Eakin told ProPublica. "Maybe the worst part is knowing that the government doesn't care and isn't doing this for the right reasons. They simply want the lawsuit to go away." The Army casualty office plans to formally present the family next month with the evidence that led to the identification. However, at this point, Eakin is unsatisfied with the government's work. He doesn't dispute the identification but rather how much of Kelder's remains will be returned to the family. The Pentagon has identified pieces of Kelder's skull, his left humerus, right fibula, and left tibia. Eakin is concerned that more of Kelder's skeleton could be identified but the Pentagon is avoiding doing so because it would reveal that past identifications from grave 717 were incorrect. Last summer, when the government exhumed Kelder and the other nine remains associated with grave 717, they found bones from at least 11 people, not just the 10 they expected. The Pentagon has not said yet whether any of the other men exhumed this summer have been identified. Kelder won't be formally checked off the MIA list until the family accepts the identification, said Lt. Col. Melinda Morgan, a Pentagon spokeswoman. Should the family accept the identification, Kelder will be buried in the family plot outside Chicago. Related coverage: Read our original investigation into how the military is leaving the missing behind, and how European authorities identified the remains of a long-lost American soldier after the U.S. military demurred. www.propublica.org/article/pentagon-finally-identifies-the-remains-of-a-pow-lost-since-1942
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Post by pdh54 on Jan 27, 2015 23:03:27 GMT 8
WOW! John...just ........WOW!
I am very happy for you and your family that this part of your journey is done.
I know there is still a lot more to do and take care of. Stay strong and know that we are with you on this in our thoughts and prayers.
Patty
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Post by JohnEakin on Jan 28, 2015 12:00:27 GMT 8
Thank you, Patty. I can't begin to tell you how many people - often at great risk to themselves - did more than me and they actually made this possible.
And now that we've gotten an inside look at the CIL workings, we're appalled at what we have seen. Calling it a cesspool doesn't begin to describe it. I've seen more professional middle school science projects.
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Post by JohnEakin on Feb 17, 2015 4:42:39 GMT 8
A lot has happened in the three weeks since JPAC claims to have identified the remains of my Cousin, Arthur H. “Bud” Kelder.
The entire family was thrilled to think that Bud would soon be home and our battle with the Department of Defense would be over. It wasn’t to be, though. We were originally told that in about four weeks we would receive a family briefing detailing how the remains were identified. In the meantime, they refused to provide us with their identification documents and they asked the Court to dismiss our lawsuit. That was our first clue that perhaps something was not as it appeared and we made it plain that we expected to receive the proof of the identification immediately.
We received the 138 page identification package at 9:30 p.m. on a Saturday night. At 4:30 a.m. the next morning we received another email asking us to complete the multiple attached forms accepting their identification.
Frankly, we were ready to accept their identification as we didn’t see any problem in the ID package, but I shared it with a few experts in the field and it didn’t take them long to start pointing out the discrepancies. Much of it is highly technical and still over my head, but most of the issues concerned what was not included. There was no evidence that any of the other nine Unknowns had been identified. In fact, there was nothing to indicate that any DNA testing had been done on them. The military regulations require that all remains be examined and identified at the same time so it was a little odd that they not only had not identified the other nine, but they had not even yet exhumed four of them.
And then we found that they really were not going to return Bud’s remains. They proposed to return three long bones, a skull and a handful of tiny bones. This, despite all ten of the remains being anatomically complete when they were recovered. There was a note, though saying that they expected to find more remains – these had been spread across three caskets – and the additional remains would be shipped to us. Kind of an installment plan delivery at some unspecified time in the future.
Again, this was in violation of the military regulations, but what really tipped us off was when we found that they had no statutory authority to make an identification without the family’s concurrence – yet they wanted the Court to believe it was a done deal. Now the Armed Forces Medical Examiner could conduct an autopsy and certify the identity of the remains, but that would require someone putting their signature – and medical credentials – on the line and no one apparently wanted to do that.
Just to put this all in context, you may remember that in early December of last year, another family had intervened in my existing lawsuit. They were believed to be one of seven possible families of an Unknown recovered from a B24 crash. The remains had been exhumed in 2003 and one family told that they were not a match. Now, within a week of intervening in the litigation, this second family was told that they were not a match, either. So that left five possibles – all of whom had family reference samples on file – and JPAC wouldn’t say if any of them were a DNA match. Under the circumstances, one might think that perhaps there may have been a prior mis-identification and these remains were actually those of a crewmember who had previously been identified. It was all a little suspicious and the family didn’t buy the government’s non-identification and did not withdraw their suit as the government lawyers had asked.
Then, in early January of this year, another family notified the U.S. Government that they also intended to intervene in my lawsuit. Their family member had died during the Battle of Bataan and been buried in Abucay. After the war, the remains were recovered from the Abucay Church Cemetery and identified. However, because this man had been awarded the first Medal of Honor of WWII, someone thought they had better be absolutely sure of the identity and they conducted a second investigation. This second investigation found a discrepancy between the estimated height of the skeletal remains and the known pre-death height. Ultimately, these remains were buried as an Unknown in the Manila American Cemetery. A few years later, the anthropologist who supervised all the WWII identification efforts published new tables to be used for estimating height and proved that the tables previously in use underestimated height by several inches. But, by this time, all the records had been classified and hidden away from public view so this man remains an Unknown.
Perhaps it was the Medal of Honor that got their attention, because even before this family could file their motion with the Court, the government claimed to have identified Bud Kelder. Of course, they argued that since he was identified there was no longer any grounds for a lawsuit. Neither would there be a lawsuit for the Medal of Honor family to intervene in.
Are you getting the picture, here? For six months, the government had claimed they could not identify Bud Kelder’s remains because the remains had been treated with an embalming compound – that didn’t even exist until after the Second World War. Now, suddenly, they could identify him – at least a couple of parts of him and they wanted everyone to trust them that the rest would be along shortly.
Since then, a third family has moved to intervene. Their family member had been buried in Cabanatuan Grave number 822 – just eight graves over from Bud Kelder in grave 717.
So we are not much closer to identifying the remains of Bud Kelder than we were a few weeks ago. What we do know from the partial records we obtained as part of the identification package is that this project has used more than thirty percent – probably more than forty percent – of the annual DNA test capacity of the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL). And even with that effort, the techniques they were using were unable to make valid identifications of even two sets of skeletal remains. Fat chance they would ever reach their congressionally mandated goal of 200 per year. Perhaps they need to fire the lawyers and hire some more scientists.
Stay tuned, folks.
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Post by Karl Welteke on Jul 9, 2015 10:01:25 GMT 8
Here is one soldier who is coming back home, after years of rigorous work by members of his family. Federico Baldassarre, the web master of the Battling Bastard of Bataan reports this on Facebook on his Open Forum page. X707 this is the capture of that Facebook page. In that entry he attached this URL: www.facebook.com/download/400286010179577/budobit.pdfThis is a PDF file and I hope it will open for you. The heading of the article is: Arthur Herman “Bud” Kelder 1916 – 1942 Returned to His Family 2015 – No Longer an Unknown. What really got my attention is this paragraph which I copied below here: The family has requested no official participation in the funeral by members of the U.S. Military in recognition of their lack of cooperation in identifying and returning Bud's remains for burial. Bud served his country, but his country failed him both before and after his death. At the end of the file are many contact information and links which I also copied here: FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Doug Kelder, Shell Lake, WI, phone 715 468 4371 Home, 715 491 3177 Mobile Ron Kelder, Bollingbrook, IL, phone 630 739 5470 Home John Eakin, San Antonio, TX, phone 210-695-2204 (litigation information) Prior Media Coverage bataanmissing.com/EakinVABMC/MediaLinks.htmFederal Court Docket and Exhibits bataanmissing.com/EakinVABMC/files.htm
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Post by JohnEakin on Jul 19, 2015 8:40:43 GMT 8
The military was upset that we asked them not to attend the funeral and asked our family to reconsider and at least let a couple of general officers present the flag. They were told the gesture was too little, too late.
The casket was draped with the POW/MIA flag and if we could have thought of any other ways of insulting the government, without disrespecting Bud, we would have.
We were disappointed in the military's failure to properly identify these men after the war when the evidence was available, but we found the five years of their lies and personal attacks to be unforgivable.
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Post by beirutvet on Jul 19, 2015 14:22:56 GMT 8
Good on you John.
You are right, too little, too late. They probably only wanted the photo op. If they are truly interested in paying their respects, they can do it by themselves in private without the press looking on.
After all that they put everyone through, they still wanted to be included in him finally coming home, even though they did most all they could to prevent it. UNCONSCIONABLE!
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Post by Karl Welteke on May 23, 2016 12:46:23 GMT 8
CHANGE OF STATUS AT THE MANILA AMERICAN CEMETERY Recently I took my clan to both of the Memorial Cemeteries in Manila, including the Philippine Heroes Cemetery, and spotted an information symbol, I had not noticed before. W815 the information symbol for a change of status at the Manila American Cemetery. W816 this is a close up of image W815 about the information symbol for a change of status at the Manila American Cemetery. W817 the Welteke Clan at the Manila American Cemetery on the 18th of May 2016. I took many more images but did not upload them yet. If you are interested in those maps, like the one in the last picture, Hubert Caloud posted all 25 of those maps in high resolution on Facebook in this URL: www.facebook.com/hubert.caloud/media_set?set=a.1156076201072145.1073742073.100000093283994&type=3Note from Karl, Wednesday, I will be on the road to check out a 26th Cav. battle action in La Union, The USAFIF NL HQ in La Union, have a close look at Vigan, go thru the Bessang Pass, Stay on Mt. Data in the Cordillera and return via Baguio. You may not hear from me for about 6 days.
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Post by Karl Welteke on Jun 16, 2016 18:14:12 GMT 8
ANOTHER DPAA DISAPPOINTMENT 2014 JUNE 14th Elizabeth Stone, the niece of Lt. Earl Stone, made that entry in her Facebook page on this date. I was surprised to see it and I copied it and post it below here. A few months ago a retired Navy Officer told me that he had heard that the DPAA is ready to give up on Lt. Earl Stone because the tremendous resources required working at that location. He said further that the chances of finding any remains are very slim in view of the geographic site and the weather conditions there. Based on my experience at the site any large recovery party got to be flown to the helicopter site and then one got to climb up another 100 meter in elevation and descend again another 200 meter down a very steep slope to the west valley of this ridge. And that they scheduled this new attempt in June is really a big mistake in view of the rainy season that started about 3 weeks ago like it does every year. W851 this are the written words of her entry and the URL of it is below that: Another DPAA disappointment. After 75 years of diligence in communication, the recovery mission for my uncle's WWII P-40 crash site was scheduled. Despite my cautioning DPAA of the weather window they, in their infinite wisdom, deployed a team to the site in June. I just received word that due to the poor weather the recovery mission has been aborted, big surprise? Not. So, now the story, and I do mean story, is that the team will be deployed to once again recover the site when the weather window is conducive to a recovery mission. Oh, and to add insult to injury, DPAA is using a strategic partner consisting of a Ph.D. and his students working on their Ph.D. to recover the site. God forbid they should use their experts and resources. Honestly, if I didn't know better this could be a Seinfeld episode! Don't worry Earl, I won't leave you behind, and I won't give up until you are home. www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1726131721009792&id=100008389422153W852 this is the newspaper clipping she added to her 2014-06-14th entry in her Facebook page
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