[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 141 (Tuesday, September 12, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1762]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    REMEMBERING OUR POW'S AND MIA'S

                                 ______


                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, September 12, 1995

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, September 15 is National POW-MIA Recognition 
Day, a day when our veteran's posts, our schools, our libraries, and 
our mass media can remind all Americans of our courageous servicemen 
whose fates are still undetermined from our Nation's past wars.
  Candidate Clinton told the POW-MIA family groups and veteran 
organizations that he would never lift the trade embargo or normalize 
relations with the Communist government of Vietnam until the fate of 
thousands of POW's and MIA's from the Vietnam war was resolved. 
President Clinton, against the advice of the American Legion, the 
National League of Families, the National Alliance of Families, and 
other veteran and family organizations has gone back on his word. His 
rationale for doing was that the Vietnamese Government was cooperating 
with our efforts to account for our men.
  Regretably, besides some access to old crash sites that were, on many 
prior occasions, fully investigated by Vietnamese, Soviet, and Chinese 
personnel years ago, the Vietnamese Government has done next to nothing 
to attempt to account for hundreds of Americans. The government of 
Vietnam continues to withhold from our investigators access to prison 
records and military reports that were written at the time of the shoot 
downs and captures. The meticulous Communist recordkeepers tell us that 
the books were ``eaten by worms, damaged by weather, or hold sensitive 
national security information.''
  For this reason I introduced House Joint Resolution 89, legislation 
that will prevent the State Department from expending any funds for an 
Embassy in Vietnam.
  It is my sincere hope that the administration's normalization of 
trade and relations with Vietnam eventually pays dividends and that 
next year there will not be any need for an MIA-POW Recognition Day. 
Unfortunately, if Hanoi's past track record is any indication of what 
we should expect by way of cooperation, then there is little hope of 
learning much more about our missing servicemen.
  Accordingly, on this solemn day, we reaffirm our commitment to 
continue our struggle to resolve all of the many remaining cases of our 
Nation's POW-MIA's.


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