Bring Our Heroes Home Alive Act – 2016

Sharing from Bob Jones....

From: Coalition of Families of Korean and Cold War POW/MIAs [mailto:coalitionoffamilies@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2016 2:38 PM
Subject: Bring Our Heroes Home Alive Act - 2016

Hello Everyone,

On Thursday, September 29th, Senator Kelly Ayotte will introduce the Bring Our Heroes Home Alive Act of 2016. This is long awaited legislation to declassify documents relating to missing armed forces personnel from all conflicts. The Senator will be issuing a press release and would like to include brief statements of support from organizations involved in the accounting mission.

Attached is a highlights page from the bill, as well as the proposed legislation itself. Please join us in support by sending comments to the Senator’s national security legislative aide, Ryan Clark: ryan_clark@ayotte.senate.gov. (Include the subject line: Bring Our Heroes Home Alive Act – 2016.)

There is too much information on missing men from all conflicts still waiting in classified documents, including intelligence reports and prisoner-of-war debriefs. Their classification status is maintained not because of critical information relating to the nation’s security but because there has never been a strong enough call to release them. This legislation will do that.

We hope that your organization will be part of this national effort to bring new information to the fate of missing men from all conflicts and answers to their families.

Thank you.

Rick
Richard Downes, President
(Lt. Hal Downes, MIA)

Coalition of Families of Korean & Cold War POW/MIAs

Bring Our Heroes Home Alive 2016 Act 

Bring Our Heroes Home Alive Act 2016 (Highlights)

A BILL To provide for the creation of the Missing Armed Forces Personnel Records Collection at the National Archives, to require the expeditious public transmission to the Archivist and public disclosure of Missing Armed Forces Personnel records, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bring Our Heroes Home Act of 2016’’.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS, DECLARATIONS, AND PURPOSES.

(a) FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS.—Congress finds and declares the following:

(1) A vast number of records relating to Missing Armed Forces Personnel have not been identified, located, or transferred to the National Archives for review and declassification. Only in the rarest cases is there any legitimate need for continued protection of records pertaining to Missing Armed Forces Personnel who have been missing for decades.

 (2) There has been insufficient priority placed on identifying, locating, transferring, reviewing, or declassifying records relating to Missing Armed Forces Personnel.

(3) Mandates for declassification set forth in multiple Executive Orders have been broadly written, loosely interpreted, and often ignored by Federal Government officials in possession and control of records related to Missing Armed Forces Personnel.

(4) No individual or entity has been tasked with oversight of the identification, collection, review, and declassification of records related to Missing Armed Forces Personnel.

(5) The interest, desire, workforce, and funding of Federal agencies to assemble, review, and declassify records relating to Missing Armed Forces Personnel have been lacking.

(6) All records of the Federal Government relating to Missing Armed Forces Personnel should be preserved for historical and Governmental purposes.

(7) All records of the Federal Government relating Missing Armed Forces Personnel should carry a presumption of immediate disclosure, and all such records should be disclosed under this Act to enable the fullest possible accounting for Missing Armed Forces Personnel.

(8) Legislation is necessary to create an enforceable, independent, and accountable process for the public disclosure of records relating to Missing Armed Forces Personnel.

Memorial Day Prayer

We stand for them.......The young and the brave......Now that day is done.

We stand for them with honor, with pride, with broken hearts and empty arms......
Memorial Day.

Our heroes have gone on before us - too young to go - but too brave to stay. Our hearts were set on our lives together, an eternity of days, a future of tomorrows...... yet, day is done.

We draw together in prayer.

May we give thanks to the Almighty that we have such a land of blessing and hope to live in. A land provided and sustained by the brave of our nation. Those who have stepped forth to right wrongs and secure liberties. Those, our heroes, who have gone before us.

May we remember and pray for their families ~ seeking their comfort, their healing, their strength. May we beseech God that they may live in peace, the peace brought forth to our nation by the sacrifice of their hero.

And may we pray for one another. May we never forget what our heroes have given. May we hold our standards high and bringing their honor forth.

Those, too young to go - but too brave to stay......

Now day is done.....

WE STAND FOR THEM!

Peace and Prayers,

May your Memorial Day be One of Blessing, Safety, and Honor,

Rev. Lin McGee
Former National Chaplain
Star Mothers of America, Inc.

NH Freedom Ride Key Note Speaker ~ June 16, 2016

Our speaker will be Richard Downes, Executive Director of the Coalition of Families of Korean and Cold War POW/MIAs. The Coalition promotes the fullest possible accounting for American servicemen who remain missing in action. Richard's father is MIA/Korea.

Missing-in-Action
Soldiers sent into battle face dire realities. One of these ends is the possibility that, like disappearing into a Stephen King fog, he or she will simply never be heard from again.

This kind of enigmatic loss ripples through generations of the man or woman’s family. There is no ending to their story. There is no grieving to begin healing. There is only uncertainty, longing, and an ever-present hope that he or she will return one day.

​It is a wound that never heals.

No matter how much one tries to accept this kind of loss, a place in the heart simply needs to know what happened to someone that important in our lives. It is an essence of who we are as human beings. In a tragic way, all the missing soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines remain alive, simply because it’s not known how, or even if, they died.

​No matter how much one tries to accept this kind of loss, a place in the heart simply needs to know what happened to someone that important in our lives. It is an essence of who we are as human beings. In a tragic way, all the missing soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines remain alive, simply because it’s not known how, or even if, they died.This leaves generations of family members, who when asked what happened to such an important person in their life, can only answer, “We don’t know”. More than 8000 families from the Korean and Cold Wars live this life. They are still searching for answers. And they face a clock that keeps ticking. Too many have already passed without finding closure.
​
As a nation, we promised that their loved ones would never be left behind. They were. The same promise is made to the families of today’s soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines. If this promise is to hold credibility for present day servicemen and women, it must be honored to the finish for those who have gone before. There is much to do. Much that can still be done.
Thank you for joining with us.
​
Rick Downes, President
(Lt. Hal Downes, father, MIA North Korea 1/13/1952)

Coalition of Families of Korean & Cold War POW/MIAs coalitionoffamilies@gmail.com

http://www.coalitionoffamilies.org

National Former Prisoners of War Recognition Day ceremony

Former Prisoners of War Recognition Day ceremony

Date: April 9, 2016
Time: 10:00AM - 11:00AM
Location: 
New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Dept of NH, the NH Chapter of the American Ex-Prisoners of War, and the NH VFW Ladies-Auxiliary cordially invite you and your family and friends to the annual Former Prisons of War Recognition Day ceremony.

Number of Americans Still Missing and Unaccounted-for by State as of March 22, 2016

Number of Americans Still Missing and Unaccounted-for by State

as of March 22, 2016

Alabama 31 Nevada 6

Alaska 2 New Hampshire 6

Arizona 15 New Jersey 42

Arkansas 15 New Mexico 12

California 166 New York 106

Colorado 24 North Carolina 39

Connecticut 25 North Dakota 8

Delaware 4 Ohio 75

District of Columbia 8 Oklahoma 32

Florida 57 Oregon 35

Georgia 29 Pennsylvania 90

Hawaii 7 Rhode Island 7

Idaho 8 South Carolina 27

Illinois 66 South Dakota 7

Indiana 51 Tennessee 27

Iowa 25 Texas 104

Kansas 25 Utah 14

Kentucky 14 Vermont 5

Louisiana 24 Virginia 45

Maine 11 Washington 38

Maryland 23 West Virginia 17

Massachusetts 39 Wisconsin 26

Michigan 49 Wyoming 5

Minnesota 33 Canada 2

Mississippi 12 Panama 1

Missouri 36 Philippines 4

Montana 17 Puerto Rico 1

Nebraska 17 Civilians* 7

TOTAL MISSING AND UNACCOUNTED FOR

1,621

*These 7 civilians do not have a listed home of record

For a listing of the Missing and Unaccounted-for by name, please visit the DPAA website: http://www.dpaa.mil/

Message from Bob Jones, Director of the Northeast POW/MIA Network

POW/MIA Vigil..Freedom Ride..'Together Always'

Thursday June 16th, Freedom Ride line up at Lowe's Gilford by 5:00 pm, bikes leaving for Meredith for 7 pm.

23rd Anniversary of the Freedom Ride. 28th Anniversary of the Vigil . As has been stated for the many years. Faith, Trust, Truth, Responsibility and Accountability are still important.

Over the years people from the area, state and country have gathered in support of those POW's who have returned, their family, as well as those who did not and those MIA's and the abundance of evidence that shows were left behind. The theme, "When one American life is not worth the effort, we as Americans have lost" is still a fact and today with American soldiers, men and women, serving in harm's way, is even more important. We as American must stay vigilant on their behalf in support of their families.

Faith, Trust, Truth, Responsibility and Accountability…Facts outweigh Opinions..The Vigil Continues.

Bob Jones
Meredith

NH Freedom Ride ~ 2016

NH Freedom Ride ~ June 16, 2016

23rd Anniversary of the Freedom Ride

28th Anniversary of the Vigil 

Hesky Park "The Rock" Meredith, NH 

”Ride to the Rock”

Have YOU contacted your legislative leaders concerning the terminology?

Have YOU asked them to account for our POW/MIAs?

Information can be found on the website: www.northeastpowmianetwork.org

Rolling Thunder NH1 will be assisting with the lineup at Lowe’s

Anyone riding should plan on being at Lowe's, 1407 Lake Shore Road [formerly K-Mart Plaza] in Gilford. Plan on being there by *6:00pm ~ lineup is at 6:00pm and we will be leaving the parking lot by 6:15pm with a state trooper escort down route 3 to “The Rock” Hesky Park. We need to arrive at Hesky Park and be prepared for the start of the vigil at 7:00pm.

The New Hampshire Army National Guard will be joining us in support of the Northeast POW/MIA Network Freedom Ride. The National Guard Hummer will be the last vehicle in the ride following the parade of bikes to Meredith, NH.

* If you are riding with a group we ask that you arrive with the group and fall into the line up ~ we will not allow bumping in the line for safety reasons.

*No vehicles other than the hummer will be allowed to be in with the motorcycles.

Numbers and Voices are important! 

This issue belongs to EVERYONE! 

Rolling Thunder NH1 will be assisting with the lineup at Lowe’s Anyone riding should plan on being at Lowe's, 1407 Lake Shore Road [formerly K-Mart Plaza] in Gilford. Plan on being there by *6:00pm ~ lineup is at 6:00pm and we will be leaving the parking lot by 6:15pm with a state trooper escort down route 3 to “The Rock” Hesky Park. We need to arrive at Hesky Park and be prepared for the  start of the vigil at 7:00pm. The New Hampshire Army National Guard will be joining us in support of the Northeast POW/MIA Network Freedom Ride.  The National Guard Hummer will be the last vehicle in the ride following the parade of bikes to Meredith, NH. * If you are riding with a group we ask that you arrive with the group and fall into the  line up ~ we will not allow bumping in the line for safety reasons. *No vehicles other than the hummer will be allowed to be in with the motorcycles.