DOOLEY, JAMES EDWARD
Name: James Edward Dooley Rank/Branch: Lieutenant (JG)/USN Unit: Attack Squadron 163, USS ORISKANY (CVA 34) Date of Birth: 14 November 1942 (Middlebury VT) Home City of Record: Manchester Center VT Date of Loss: 22 October 1967 Country of Loss: North Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 205100N 1064000E (XH860893) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 5 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: A4E Refno: 0872 Other Personnel In Incident: (none missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 2008.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: When Douglas Aircraft created the A4 Skyhawk the intent was to provide the Navy and Marine Corps with an inexpensive, lightweight attack and ground support aircraft. The design emphasized low-speed control and stability during take-off and landing as well as strength enough for catapult launch and carrier landings. The plane was so compact that it did not need folding wings for aboardship storage and handling. In spite of its diminutive size, the A4 packed a devastating punch and performed well where speed and maneuverability were essential.
LTJG James E. Dooley was a pilot assigned to Attack Squadron 163 onboard the USS ORISKANY. On October 22, 1967, Dooley was flying an A4E aircraft in the second division of Attack Squadron 163. The aircraft was on a strike mission over North Vietnam. The target was the Haiphong railroad yard.
It is believed that Dooley's aircraft hit anti-aircraft fire as he pulled off the target. Witnesses observed his aircraft straight and level and streaming fuel while heading eastward toward open water at approximately 6,000 feet. The aircraft then commenced a gradual descent heading toward the water and crashed. The aircraft impacted in the water in a nose and wing down attitude about one mile from land. A thorough search of the area was conducted by the strike group but there was no evidence of a survivor. There was no parachute seen, nor any radio transmissions from the target area to the site of impact. The surrounding land area was densely populated and if he had ejected he most certainly would have been captured immediately.
James E. Dooley was placed in a status of Missing in Action. After six years, and following the end of the war, Dooley's status was changed to Presumed Killed in Action because there was no evidence that he was alive.
Nearly 2500 Americans are missing in Southeast Asia. Unlike the MIAs from other wars, most of these men can be accounted for. Tragically, thousands of reports have been received, and continue to be received, that indicate Americans are still captive in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
Whether James Dooley survived the crash of his plane or died that day in October 1967 is not known. What is apparent, however, is that someone knows what happened to James Dooley. Someone knows what happened to the others who disappeared. Even though men are alive and held captive, the U.S. has been unable to secure their freedom. Even though American aircraft litter the countryside of Vietnam, the U.S. has been unable to investigate these sites.
For those men and their families, the war is not over.
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Nigel Caethorne's BAMBOO CAGE
Page 261
Chapter 21
The Women Who Wait
The long years must have taken a savage toll on the men who still live in a bamboo cage in Vietnam or Laos. It has also taken a terrible toll on the wives and families of the missing men who know that their loved ones are alive, but will probably never return to them.
Some women have gone practically crazy with frustration. They know their husbands are alive, maybe from documents leaked by a sympathetic intelligence officer a couple of times a year, yet their own government denies their existence and seemingly does nothing to get them back.
Service wives have become bitter with the military. Fathers of the missing, who maybe served in the military themselves during World War II, have become disillusioned with their country. Mothers of the missing have gone to their graves not knowing the fate of their son. Brothers and sisters have been prey to con-men, hucksters and would-be Rambos. Others have simply blanked it from their minds.
Pam Hicks was engaged to be married to Navy Lieutenant James Dooley when he was downed on a Rolling Thunder strike mission. His A4E was hit by anti-aircraft fire over Haiphong at 12.35pm on 22 October, 1967. The plane was observed streaming fuel in a gentle descending turn, then crashing into the water in the mouth of the river east of Haiphong. No parachute was observed. There was no voice contact, no radio transmission and no beeper. The area was searched from the air but no sign was found of him. Though James Dooley was officially listed as MIA, Pam Hicks was told that he was almost certainly dead. He did not come home in 1973, so she very sensibly married someone else and got on with her life.
Some 15 years later that marriage broke up and she went back to work. She was a psychotherapist and began running group therapy sessions for Vietnam veterans. Then one night she woke up in
Page 262
a cold sweat. Was her former fianc,, James Dooley, really dead? She tracked down James Dooley's mother who, as primary next of kin, held his casualty file. Many of the documents in the casualty file had been 'sanitized' to the point where they were meaningless. Filing under the Freedom of Information Act, Pam Hicks managed to fill in some of the holes, and she discovered that some evidence relating to James Dooley had been deleted in his own file, while it appeared openly in the files of other missing men. Slowly Pam Hicks put together a story that was shocking. (1)
James Dooley had not been killed on 22 October 1967. He had been captured. In April, 1973, during his debriefing, one of the returning American PoWs said that he saw Dooley's name written on the wall at the prisoner-of-war camp known as the Plantation Gardens. Dooley's status was changed from missing to PoW. Another returnee said that he saw someone who looked like Dooley in March or April, 1968, in another prison camp called the Zoo. He was nicknamed 'Major Bomber' and lived alone in a small room. He was thin and sick-looking and could not eat. It was apparent that he was crazy. (2)
Major Bomber left the Zoo in December, 1969, with another American prisoner 'Lieutenant Jay'. This appears to be J.J. Connell who died in captivity in 1971 and whose remains were returned in 1974. No one knows the fate of Major Bomber, but neither he, nor anyone crazy, ever came back.
Even though Dooley's PoW status was later overturned by a presumptive finding of death, Pam Hicks discovered that in 1984 Dooley's case was brought up twice in negotiations with the Vietnamese. (3) Then, in 1987, a refugee appeared in Thailand with a story that even JCRC in Bangkok thought related to Dooley's shootdown. The source said that he had seen an American pilot in exactly the same spot that Dooley was downed in October or November, 1968. Dooley was actually downed in October 1967, otherwise the story correlates perfectly and perhaps a refugee can be forgiven a year's uncertainty in the date after 20 years. (4)
The source said that at around 12 noon he heard an explosion and saw a man coming down under a red, white and blue parachute. He landed approximately 50 metres east of the Do Son airfield on the beach, near the mouth of the river. The pilot attempted to evade capture by swimming out into the estuary. When he was about 200 metres off shore, elements of the NVA's 50th regiment began firing
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ahead of him with a 35mm recoilless rifle to prevent him getting away. The soldiers then began swimming out to capture him. The pilot began firing at them. He tried to talk into a small, hand-held radio, but couldn't because of the waves caused by the recoilless rifle shells hitting the water.
When several of the soldiers got within 10 metres of him, they dived down under the water to capture him safely. They disarmed him and took him ashore. There, they tied his arms behind his back, blindfolded him, put him in a motorcycle sidecar and drove off with him. The source says that later he saw five or six jet aircraft and a helicopter circling the area, apparently looking for the captured pilot. (5)
Pam Hicks is now convinced that James Dooley survived his shootdown and was taken prisoner. She is trying to get a job in South-East Asia and is determined to do what she can to get him home.
------------------------------------------ STATEMENT: Tracy E. Usry Special Investigator, Senate Foreign Relations Committee - Minority Staff
Minnesota State Senate Veterans Affairs Committee February 7, 1991
My name is Tracy E. Usry, I am employed as a Special Investigator for the minority staff, Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Senate. I am responsible for the conduct of the legislative inquiry concerning the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA) issue, initiated by the Honorable Jesse Helms, Senior Senator from North Carolina as well as the Honorable Charles Grassley, Senator from Iowa. This concern originated with Senator Grassley, then passed to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, when Senator Helms became concerned over the controversy as well as the possibility of men being left in Southeast Asia at the conclusion of US involvement there. ...
One very good example to show how the Defense Department excludes information that is contrary to their analysis is the case of Navy pilot LCDR James E. Dooley. It illustrates very well my previous comment about intelligence analysts disregarding new information. Dooley is listed as Killed in Action/Body not Recovered by the Defense Intelligence Agency, however, private researchers believe he was taken prisoner in North Vietnam. Dooley was not returned or accounted for during Operation Homecoming in 1973. Dooley was shot down October 22, 1967 while on a bombing run near Hanoi, flying an A-4E aircraft. He crashed south of Do Son, Haiphong province, North Vietnam. Limited observation by fellow pilots, weather and the swiftness of the incident may have led to some confusion over whether or not Dooley survived the crash. In 1973, a returning U.S. POW claimed he saw Dooley's name written on the wall in a prison cell in Hanoi; two Thai special forces soldiers also released by the North Vietnamese in 1973, identified Dooley's photograph as that of a person who was in prison with them; and a propaganda photograph of captured U.S. pilots in Hanoi, dated after the Dooley casualty, shows a partial profile of a person that strongly resembles Dooley. In 1987, a North Vietnamese refugee interviewed by U.S. intelligence personnel, while in a refugee camp, described the shootdown of an American jet he witnessed in 1968, in the area of Do Son, Haiphon Province. He stated that he saw the pilot bail out with a tri-colored parachute and try to swim out to sea to escape capture. While swimming out to sea, the pilot fired at his pursuers, who were in boats chasing him. Once captured, the pilot was stripped of his one-piece flight suit and placed in the sidecar of a motorcycle, then taken away by North Vietnamese officials to a waiting chinese - made automobile.
An early DOD analyst's evaluation of the source's information noted a number of discrepancies; the analyst believed the source witnessed the shootdown of Navy pilot J.M. Hickerson, which occurred in the same general area as Dooley's shootdown, only two months later.
In April 1989, former POW Hickerson made a written statement pointing out he had landed on the inside of the peninsula at Do Son, did not even enter the water, let alone have access to the sea to swim away to avoid capture, did not fire his pistol, utilized a solid white parachute, was wearing the traditional two piece Marine Utility uniform and was taken to prison riding on the back of a bicycle. JCRC maintains its position that the refugee's information pertained to the Hickerson crash and not Dooley. The analyst refused to change his finding in spite of the other evidence to the contrary presented to him. This is just one of several examples in which the analysis is flawed.
In line with the resolution of live sighting reports, is the accountability of missing through the Presumptive finding of death, which was utilized by the Defense Department to write off all prisoners listed as missing in Laos. Authority for "Presumptive Finding of Death" is found in title 5 USC, Section 5565 through 5566, for civilian employees and Title 37, USC, Section 555 through 557 for U.S. military personnel. These codes permit the secretaries of agencies to declare an individual dead after the person has been missing for 12 months under circumstances indicating he or she may have died. Once this declaration is made, surviving spouses, next of kin or children are entitled to government sponsored death benefits, e.g., six-months pay for spouses of deceased military members, government life insurance, etc. After a declaration is made, the individual is then removed from the active roles of the military service or agency responsible for him/her.
The Dooley example cited previously well illustrates this problem of a finding of death impacting on the individual file and the welfare of next of kin also. I wish to cite two additional examples as well. The first, is again taken from the "Uncorrelated Information Relating to Missing Americans in Southeast Asia". A Vietnamese source identified the picture of a U.S. Marine as a person he saw in North Vietnamese custody. The interrogator indicated he thought the source was mistaken because the Marine was officially listed as Killed In Action/Body Not Recovered. ...
-------------------------------------------
STATEMENT - Harvey J. Andrews, PhD
Consultant, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
State of Oklahoma House Veterans Affairs Committee
March 26, 1991
My name is Harvey Andrews. I am employed as a consultant/researcher for the minority staff, Foreign Relations Committee, United States Senate. I am responsible for providing assistance and research for the minority staff's inquiry of the Prisoner of War/Missing In Action (POW/MIA) issue. The inquiry was initiated in the Foreign Relations Committee by the Honorable Jesse Helms, Senior Senator from North Carolina. During the early stages of this inquiry, the Honorable Charles Grassley, Senior Senator from Iowa was the motivating factor for my participation in this issue. This concern originated with Senator Grassley's staff, then passed to Senator Helms of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Senator Helms became concerned over the controversy that there was a possibility that United States citizens were left behind in Southeast Asia at the conclusion of United States involvement in the Second Indochina War. ...
To show how the Department of Defense excludes information that is contrary to their analysis, I'll summarize the case of Navy pilot Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) James E. Dooley, missing and presumed KIA/BNR. It is used to illustrate how intelligence analysts tend to disregard new information.
According to a file provided to this inquiry by interested persons, then-Lieutenant (jg) Dooley was shot down October 22, 1967 while on a bombing run near Hanoi while flying an A-4E aircraft. He crashed south of Do Son, Haiphong province, North Vietnam. Limited observation by fellow pilots, weather and the swiftness of the incident may have led to some confusion over whether or not Dooley survived the crash. In 1973, a returning U.S. POW claimed he saw Dooley's name written on the wall in a prison cell in Hanoi; two Thai special forces soldiers also released by the North Vietnamese in 1973, identified Dooley's photograph as that of one of the persons they saw in prison with them; and a propaganda photograph of captured U.S. pilots in Hanoi, dated after the Dooley casualty, shows a partial profile of a person that strongly resembles Dooley.
"In 1987, a North Vietnamese refugee interviewed by U.S. intelligence personnel, while in a refugee camp in Hong Kong, described the downing of an American jet he witnessed in 1968, while fishing in the area of Do Son, Haiphong Province. The refugee stated that he saw the pilot bail out with a tri-colored parachute, land in the water on the Tonkin Gulf side of the peninsula and try to swim out to sea to escape capture. While swimming out to sea, the pilot fired a pistol at his pursuers, who were in boats chasing him. He was finally captured, stripped of his one-piece flight suit, placed in the sidecar of a motorcycle, and driven across Do San Airfield. Then the captured pilot was taken away by North Vietnamese officials to a waiting Chinese-made automobile. During this incident, according to the witness, other American aircraft were flying in the area presumably looking for the captured pilot. The witness said the downed jet crashed in the water of the Tonkin Gulf.
An early DOD analyst's evaluation of the source's information noted a number of discrepancies; Judged the refugee as incompetent because of his lack of education and the years since the sighting. According to the analyst, he believed the source witnessed the shoot down of Navy pilot J. M. Hickerson, which occurred in the same general area as Dooley's shootdown, but in December 1967. Hickerson survived his crash near Do Son and returned as a POW in 1973.
In April 1989, after having been informed that the DIA analyst indicated the refugee in Hong Kong may have witnessed his shootdown and capture in North Vietnam, former POW Hickerson voluntarily made a written statement regarding the incident. Hickerson said, he parachuted near Do Son, landing on the inside of the peninsula, not the Tonkin Gulf side; could not have swam out to sea from that location to attempt to avoid capture; did not fire use his pistol because it was under his flight gear; his parachute was solid white; wore a two-piece Marine utility uniform rather than a flight suit; and was taken to prison riding on the back of a bicycle. He added, that at no time did he see an airfield, nor was he transported across one after capture. Additionally, he said the ceiling was less than one thousand feet that day due to overcast and there were no other U.S. aircraft visible under the low overcast. In spite of the new information, the analyst maintains his position that the refugee's information pertained to the Hickerson crash and not Dooley's. ...
=================================
[ssrep7.txt 02/09/93]
SMITH 324 COMPELLING CASES ...
North Vietnam James E. Dooley
(0872)
On October 22, 1967, Dooley was the pilot of an A-4E on a combat mission over Hai Phong. He was hit by hostile fire while pulling off from an attack on the Hai Phong railroad yard. Witnesses observed the aircraft begin a gradual descent and crash into the water about a mile offshore. Search and rescue aircraft could not locate any sign of a survivor. He was initially reported missing in action. After Operation Homecoming he was declared dead, remains not recoverable.
Returning U.S. POWs reported either seeing Dooley's name on a wall or heard he was a prisoner. Returning U.S. POWs were unable to report having seen him alive in prison. ...
===================================== Photocopies or microfilm copies of these articles are available from the Library of Congress, Photoduplication Service, Washington D.C. 20540. VOICE: 202-707-5640 FAX 202-707-1771 ...
297 . North Vietnam, pre-1975: Summary Extract/Non-Returnee [concerns seeing Dooley's name on wall at Plantation Gardens] ...
==========================================
Documents found on CIA popular documents site www.foia.ucia.gov/ 11/30/98 ...
LCDR JAMES E DOOLEY USNR-RESULTS OF PHOTO COMPARISON CASE NO (DELETED)- Pub Date: January 31, 1971 Pages: 0004 ... ======================================================================
National
For the Return of America’s Missing Servicemen
World War II –
Dolores Alfond --- 425-881-1499
Lynn O’Shea ------ 718-846-4350
Web Site -- www.nationalalliance.org
Email ------ lynn@nationalalliance.org
January
26, 2008
Bits N Pieces
The National
##############
Truth Squads – If you’ve been watching the news and reading newspapers lately you have heard a lot about “truth squads.” Well, we have our own kind of truth squad. Anytime a politician, regardless of party, makes a statement regarding the POW/MIA issue that is misleading or untrue, we feel obligated to correct the record.
Such is the case with a
statement made by Senator John McCain.
According to an article by Todd J. Gillman, published January 19th
in the Dallas Morning News, Senator
McCain is quoted as stating: “There is a record of the POW-MIA commission
which unanimously reported that there is no compelling evidence that there's
Americans alive in
The “POW-MIA commission” Senator McCain refers to is well known to our readers as the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. Equally well known to our readers is the most important conclusion of that committee.
The following comes directly from the committee's report, published January 13, 1993.
[Begin
Quote] -- "In 1976, the Montgomery Committee concluded that because
there was no evidence that missing Americans had survived, they must be dead. In
1977, a Defense Department official said that the distinction between Americans
still listed as "POW" and those listed as "missing" had
become "academic". Nixon, Ford and Carter Administration officials all
dismissed the possibility that American POWs had survived in
"This
Committee has uncovered evidence that precludes it from taking the same view.
We acknowledge that there is no proof
that
First, there are the Americans known or thought possibly to have been alive in captivity who did not come back; we cannot dismiss the chance that some of these known prisoners remained captive past Operation Homecoming.
Second,
leaders of the Pathet Lao claimed throughout the war that they were holding
American prisoners in
Third,
Fourth,
information collected by
Finally, even after Operation Homecoming and returnee debriefs, more than 70 Americans were officially listed as POWs based on information gathered prior to the signing of the peace agreement; while the remains of many of these Americans have been repatriated, the fates of some continue unknown to this day."
[End
Quote]
McCain’s statement that “there
is no compelling evidence that there's Americans alive in Southeast Asia”
is a far cry from the committee’s conclusion:
“…We acknowledge that there is no proof that
We should all remember, and
remind the media and anyone else who will listen, that John McCain signed the
final report of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, a report which
stated; “There is evidence, moreover,
that indicates the possibility of survival, at least for a small number, after
Operation Homecoming….”
We’d like to find the reporter that would ask the next question…. Senator McCain, what have you done since 1993 to help learn what happened to that “small number” with evidence that indicated “the possibility of survival?” We all know the answer to that question…. Nothing!
####################
Why We Need H. Res 111 – calling for a Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs in the House of Representatives. There are many, many reasons but for today, we will offer only one…. James Dooley.
####################
Is It or Isn’t It -- Our regular readers are well aware of our complaint and the complaint of many POW/MIA family members that reports of unreturned POWs are routinely “re-evaluated” to correlate to a returned POW.
One of the most egregious and publicly debated of these “re-evaluations” occurred in the case of Navy LCDR James Dooley, Case 0872. Dooley was originally report as an over water loss and placed in Category 5 indicating the enemy would have no knowledge as to Dooley’s fate and that his remains were non-recoverable.
In January 1987, a refugee provided a detailed description of the shoot down and capture of a pilot. According to the source; “he heard an explosion and saw a single person descending under a fully deployed, tri-color parachute (red, white and blue) and land on the beach approximately 50 meters east of the Do Son airfield…. The pilot attempted to evade by swimming out into the water….. No one was wounded or injured during the capture. The man was escorted to land and was loaded into a sidecar which transported him across the Do Son airfield. On the west side of the airfield, the man was moved into a Chinese auto which drove away….”
The source then provided a physical description of the man stating: “The pilot appeared to be 24-25 years of age had short, very light brown or blond hair, was approximately 1.8 meters tall, approximately 70 kilograms in weight, was in good physical condition, did not wear eyeglasses, and wore a one piece uniform that had a long zipper in the front and was the color of rice plant leaves.”
The biographical site report prepared by the Joint Task Force – Full Accounting (JTF-FA is the predecessor of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command), dated January 27, 1998, James Dooley is described this way:
“Race - Caucasian, Sex - male, Hair - Grey - Eyes Blue, Height – 68in/ 1.73 mtre, Weight 150 lb/ 67.99 kg.” Dooley was one month short of his 25th birthday when shot down.
Based on the description of the
incident, the pilot, and general time frame the
If the source was accurate and the JCRC correlation was accurate and there was no reason to doubt either, James Dooley had survived his incident and was captured. But, the late 1980’s was not a time when the government was looking to add POWs to the list. Instead, they were looking to remove names using convoluted accounting methods.
By July of 1988, “JCRC initiated a complete reevaluation of all incidents which occurred in the area reported by the source….. As a result of this review, we must rescind the correlation…. to Lt. Dooley. The circumstances of loss described…. more closely relate with Commander Hickerson’s incident.” [Source – JCRC Message 260812Z JUL 88] Hickerson returned during Operation Homecoming in 1973.
With a stroke of the pen Jim Dooley was no longer captured and was once again lost at sea.
As part of an investigation conducted by the Minority Staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee into the POW/MIA issue, the Dooley case came under scrutiny. Lead investigator for the Minority Staff Tracy Usry became convinced that the enemy, in fact, captured Dooley. In addition to the report of capture, a returned POW reported either seeing or hearing of Dooley’s name scratched onto a cell wall.
According the “Summary of All Non-Returnees Reported Vol 3 Navy Personnel Not returned from Southeast Asia” based on the debriefing of returned POWs “Source [returned POW Lenard Daugherty] thought Perricone had mentioned seeing Dooley’s name scratched into wall at camp nicknamed Paradise Garden. Neither Perricone or source had firsthand information. Addl Info – Apr 73 – No contact. Either saw name on wall or was told about name by Richard Perricone”
Additionally, the refugee report HK86-102 would not go away. Dooley’s former fiancé contacted Commander Hickerson to confirm that the report did, in fact, describe his incident of loss.
In a letter dated April 24, 1989, Hickerson stated; “My name is Captain J. M. Hickerson, USN (Ret) – POW 22 December 1967 to 14 March 1973. I do not believe that the captured American pilot, subject of JCRC Report HK86-102, was me. There are too many discrepancies between the JCRC Report HK86-102 and my capture….”
Hickerson
went on to detail various and blatant discrepancies which included the
following:
“My parachute was all white, not red, white and blue.”
“If I had landed 50 meters from an airfield, I would have been aware of it.”
“I did not attempt to use my pistol.”
“I was transported away on the back of a bicycle, not in a sidecar, and I was never in an automobile.”
“I was wearing Marine fatigues (2 piece), not a one piece flight suit.”
Hickerson ended his letter stating; “Despite the fact that the location and date of the described capture was approximately mine considering the above, I do not believe that the captured pilot reported in JCRC Report HK86-102, was me.”
The Dooley’s case became a linchpin in the final report issued by the Minority Staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Report., commonly referred to as the “Grassley-Helms Report” or simply the “Helms Report.”
It also became a target for the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs and specifically one of its members, Senator John McCain.
Senator McCain was more than aggressive in his challenge of the conclusions reached on the Dooley case by the Minority Staffs lead investigator Tracy Usry. McCain challenged the presentation of information regarding the Dooley case. Specifically, the information obtained from returned POW Lenard Daugherty and the way in which it was presented in the Helms Report.
One of the many confrontational exchanges between Senator McCain and Mr. Usry went this way.
Senator
McCain: “That has nothing to
do with my questions, Mr. Usry. That
was very illuminating. It has
nothing to do with my question. My
question was: Where did you get the information that a U.S. POW, which you state
as fact in your report, said he saw Dooley’s name written on the wall of a
prison cell in
Mr. Usry: That’s in the information that’s provided to the family members and I would be more than happy to research that and provide you and answer for the record, Senator.”
Senator McCain: “In other words you do not know at this moment?”
Mr. Usry: “I don’t know every nuance of this report in my head at this particular time, since it was published in May, no sir.”
Usry appeared before the committee again, one week later to provide written answers to the questions supplied by the committee. In the end, despite a vigorous defense of the Dooley case, by Mr. Usry, the challenge to the case led by Senator McCain firmly put Jim Dooley in the water, lost at sea.
Why bring this up now? The reason is simple. Based on newly found government reports it looks like Jim Dooley may, once again, be out of the water.
JPAC
Message Traffic dated 24023Z JUN 05 states in part; “The information
contained in this article correlates to unresolved case 0872, based on general
timeframe, time of day, location and known circumstances.
The date in the article (22 November 1967), however, is one month
different than the actual incident date of 22 October 1967.
The translation also states the unit took part in a battle on 22 October
1967, but did not shoot down a
“…In addition, in February 1997 the VNOSMP presented a U.S. Team with a photograph annotated with the following: “Aircraf” wreckage, A4E, piloted by Dooley, James Edward, Rank first Lieutenant, Air force, shot down at Hai Phong 22-10-67, pilot missing.” The report noted; “The item was found in a military museum.”
The message ended saying; “ Despite multiple indicators that the case 0872 aircraft crashed at sea the combination of the above article, which says the aircraft crashed on land, and the photography, which provides evidence of Vietnamese knowledge of the aircraft wreckage and pilot’s name, might warrant further investigation.”
A follow-up investigation is described in JPAC message 202010Z NOV 06. According to the message;
“During the 83rd
Joint Field Activity (JFA) (13 October 14 November 2005), a Vietnamese Office
for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP) Team conducted advance work for case 0872
pursuant to U.S. requirements. The
VNOSMP team interviewed four witnesses who provided information regarding a
number of
In his interview Duc is reported to have stated: “the Enterprise Self-Defense unit along with the militia captured a pilot, who they later turned over to higher authorities.” Another witness reported his participation “in the capture and turnover of two pilots one from an aircraft that crashed in the ocean in Thuy Trieu village and one from an aircraft that crashed in Lap Le Village.”
Perhaps someone might want to ask Senator McCain about Jim Dooley and the fact that new Vietnamese witnesses are now reporting the capture of a pilot that once again is being correlated to Dooley? Or, they might want to ask Senator McCain what he will do about bringing Jim Dooley and all our POWs and MIAs home?
##################
257 Co-Sponsors for H.Res 111 --That’s right! Thanks to your efforts H.Res 111 calling for the formation of a Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs in the House of Representatives is so much closer to becoming a reality.
We’ve got the votes!
Our next hurtle is getting H.Res 111 out of the Rules committee.
To do this we need to keep the pressure on Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi and Chairperson of the Rules Committee, Louise McIntosh-Slaughter.
Please send letters to both Speaker Pelosi and Chairperson
McIntosh-Slaughter stressing the need for a new look at the POW/MIA issue.
Send your letter to:
Honorable Nancy Pelosi Tel: 202-225-0100 or Toll Free at 866-727-4894
Office of the Speaker Fax: 202-225-8259
H-232, US Capitol 202-225-4188
And
don’t forget Rules Committee Chairperson
Honorable Louise McIntosh-Slaughter
2469 Rayburn Bldg Tel: 202-225-3615 or Toll Free at 866-727-4894
As we work on Speaker Pelosi and Chairperson McIntosh Slaughter, please continue to gather co-sponsors. For a list of Congressional Representatives visit www.nationalalliance.org/legis/index.htm Check to see if your representative is a co-sponsor of H.Res 111. If he or she is not highlighted in red, contact them and ask that they co-sponsor H. Res 111.
######################
New Book To Be Released – “Perfidy” - The Government Cabal That Knowingly Abandoned Our POW’s And Left Them To Die by John (Top) Holland is about to be released. Place your order now! To Pre-order contact The American Free Press at 202-544-5977 or truthhound2@yahoo.com
We haven’t seen the book but based on Top’s many years of experience in the POW/MIA issue, we are sure this will be a great read.
####################
An article published in
Chosunilbo states: “As it was
being briefed a few days ago by the Defense Ministry, president-elect Lee
Myung-bak's Transition Committee said it views resolving the plight of South
Korean prisoners of war held in North Korea as a prime responsibility of the
state, and the situation demands priority. As a result, the Defense Ministry has
decided to consistently raise this issue in military talks with
“Since 1990, 59 South Korean
POWs have fled
“But still, that
A
follow-up article stated
“
“The
West German government gave some W1.7 trillion
(US$1=W937) to
“A ministry official said in
addition to the West German way, Japanese and U.S.-style solutions were being
suggested to the transition team.
The
only difference between the
###################
Officials
search for POW/MIAs on Wake Island – in an article by Tech. Sgt. Chris
Vadnais, Air Force News Agency reports: “A
team of anthropologists sent by Joint Prisoner of War Missing in Action
Accounting Command officials began to dig on
“When a contractor doing
asbestos abatement work on the island discovered what appeared to be
human remains,
“Wake Island was the site of
a fierce World War II battle, coinciding with the Japanese attack on
“The remains may be those of 98 American civilian contractors, who were held as prisoners of war to perform forced labor for the Japanese and then executed in 1943.”
"We're looking to see if we have found little bits of human bone or even possibly artifacts that might be related to the incident," he said. "So I'm looking for anything from shells to rounds to buttons, any sort of personal effects, coins, and they really stand out against the background of shell debris."
“The job is tantamount to looking for a needle in a haystack, only you're not sure there is a needle in the haystack. It's a tedious process that takes time -- and on this overnight trip, time is the one thing this team doesn't have much of.
"We've got five hours of daylight today and maybe three tomorrow," Mr. Berg said. "We're moving at max speed to get this done. We sent out two anthropologists to tackle this because we knew we had such a short period of time."
“And after hours of digging and sifting, the team's efforts paid off. After excavating only a one meter square section of earth, they've bagged-and-tagged the lower quarter of the skeleton. They suspect there is more to be found in the area. They'll fly the remains back to Hickam AFB, where scientists will analyze the remains.”
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Why does Johnie Webb still have his job???