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Post by fots2 on Jun 4, 2011 8:24:29 GMT 8
The United States won permission Friday to search for the remains of American troops who were killed or went missing while fighting Japanese World War II occupation forces in the Philippines.
Under the agreement, Joint Prisoner-of-War and Missing-in-Action Accounting Command teams from Hawaii would make short, periodic trips to try, with local help, to find the remains of the fallen, ambassador Harry Thomas said.
"Sadly, for over 65 years, many of those Americans who fought alongside Filipinos and gave their lives to liberate the Philippines in World War II have never been accounted for, as their remains have never been found," Thomas said.
"Thanks to this new undertaking... we now have an opportunity to address this. We are grateful for this cooperation which will eventually bring closure to so many families," Thomas said in a statement.
Neither side explained why it had taken so long to reach an agreement.
"The (agreement) honours the shared sacrifices made by the armed forces of both countries that stood together side by side to defend freedom during World War II," the Philippine foreign department said in a statement.
The two governments did not say how many US soldiers went missing in the Philippines during the war.
The remains of 17,202 other American servicemen, most of whom lost their lives in operations in New Guinea and the Philippines, are interred at a 152-acre (62-hectare) gated cemetery in Manila.
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Post by dmether on Jun 4, 2011 8:54:28 GMT 8
I've been doing this as part of a volunteer organization for the last few years, looking for US MIAs in the PI www.mooresmarauders.org/index.htmIt's good to see JPAC getting involved. No idea why JPAC hasn't been involved in the past, however there were missions scheduled back in the 80s that were turned down due to the "danger" a team would be in in the Philippines. I've also heard that the Philippine government wanted a lot of money for the US to send teams to look for MIAs. They've talked to other countries in the region and know how much money JPAC spreads around. I worked in JPAC my last three years in the Air Force, went around Asia and Europe looking for MIAs. As for numbers of known missing, there are: Luzon-231 Leyte-225 Rest of Visayas-113 Mindanao-72
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