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It has long been speculated that American GI's from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam were held prisoner in The Soviet Union. Our government has consistantly denied it. Dio Vindici!
Group justified by report on Soviet POWs
By Joyce Howard Price
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Leaders of a group that long has sought the return of U.S. POWs and MIAs say they feel vindicated by a new Pentagon report that concludes that many Americans, including U.S. servicemen, were imprisoned in the former Soviet Union during the Cold War.
The National Alliance of Families (NAF) hailed the report -- "The Gulag Study," which was compiled by the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office's Joint Commission Support Directorate (JCSD) -- as the "definitive work confirming that prisoners of war" from World War II and the Korean conflict "were transferred to the former Soviet Union" and held captive in labor camps, primarily in Siberia.
"Volumes of documentation unearthed over the last 50 years by family members and researchers convinced us long ago" that this was the case, the alliance said.
But NAF said that for years, "official Pentagon policy dismissed not only our conclusions, but the conclusions of their own investigators," such as the Pentagon's 1993 report "The Transfer of U.S. Korean War POWs to the Soviet Union."
NAF volunteer Lynn O'Shea said the newly released JCSD study "vindicates" people such as the late Rita Van Wees, a founder of the group, who was convinced that her son, Korean War Pfc. Ronald "Dutch" Van Wees, was a POW in Siberia.
"He was seen driving a truck" in Siberia, but the U.S. government dismissed her claims, Ms. O'Shea said.
But the study by the JCSD, which was established in the fall of 1994, states that "Americans, including American servicemen, were imprisoned in the former Soviet Union."
"The Soviets and their Warsaw Pact allies even transferred some of these Americans from satellite states such as the German Democratic Republic to the Soviet Union, where they were detained," according to the study's executive summary.
"However, despite our extensive efforts, we have not yet acquired definitive, verifiable information that would allow us to determine the scope of such transfers or the ultimate fates of those whose lives were directly affected by them," the summary added.
JCSD Executive Secretary Norman Kass estimated that hundreds of Americans, both servicemen and civilians, were incarcerated in the former Soviet Union.
But he added: "I'm not comfortable with any hard and fast numbers. ... Our job is to try to find these Americans or their remains and bring them home."
Mr. Kass denied that the Pentagon refused to believe reports that Americans were held in the former Soviet Union.
"We've been in business for 12 or 13 years. We've kept these reports on the burner of unresolved issues."
NAF said it is urging the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon to "vigorously seek out information leading to the identity and fate" of Americans imprisoned in the former Soviet Union.
"We call upon the Russian government ... to open their records to U.S. investigators and allow the families of these men [to know] the truth they have waited for so long," the group stated.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050221-115000-8701r.htm
Group justified by report on Soviet POWs
By Joyce Howard Price
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Leaders of a group that long has sought the return of U.S. POWs and MIAs say they feel vindicated by a new Pentagon report that concludes that many Americans, including U.S. servicemen, were imprisoned in the former Soviet Union during the Cold War.
The National Alliance of Families (NAF) hailed the report -- "The Gulag Study," which was compiled by the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office's Joint Commission Support Directorate (JCSD) -- as the "definitive work confirming that prisoners of war" from World War II and the Korean conflict "were transferred to the former Soviet Union" and held captive in labor camps, primarily in Siberia.
"Volumes of documentation unearthed over the last 50 years by family members and researchers convinced us long ago" that this was the case, the alliance said.
But NAF said that for years, "official Pentagon policy dismissed not only our conclusions, but the conclusions of their own investigators," such as the Pentagon's 1993 report "The Transfer of U.S. Korean War POWs to the Soviet Union."
NAF volunteer Lynn O'Shea said the newly released JCSD study "vindicates" people such as the late Rita Van Wees, a founder of the group, who was convinced that her son, Korean War Pfc. Ronald "Dutch" Van Wees, was a POW in Siberia.
"He was seen driving a truck" in Siberia, but the U.S. government dismissed her claims, Ms. O'Shea said.
But the study by the JCSD, which was established in the fall of 1994, states that "Americans, including American servicemen, were imprisoned in the former Soviet Union."
"The Soviets and their Warsaw Pact allies even transferred some of these Americans from satellite states such as the German Democratic Republic to the Soviet Union, where they were detained," according to the study's executive summary.
"However, despite our extensive efforts, we have not yet acquired definitive, verifiable information that would allow us to determine the scope of such transfers or the ultimate fates of those whose lives were directly affected by them," the summary added.
JCSD Executive Secretary Norman Kass estimated that hundreds of Americans, both servicemen and civilians, were incarcerated in the former Soviet Union.
But he added: "I'm not comfortable with any hard and fast numbers. ... Our job is to try to find these Americans or their remains and bring them home."
Mr. Kass denied that the Pentagon refused to believe reports that Americans were held in the former Soviet Union.
"We've been in business for 12 or 13 years. We've kept these reports on the burner of unresolved issues."
NAF said it is urging the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon to "vigorously seek out information leading to the identity and fate" of Americans imprisoned in the former Soviet Union.
"We call upon the Russian government ... to open their records to U.S. investigators and allow the families of these men [to know] the truth they have waited for so long," the group stated.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050221-115000-8701r.htm
