[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 111 (Thursday, July 25, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H8518-H8519]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO CAPT. JOHN WILLIAM (JACK) KENNEDY

  (Mr. WOLF asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, CAPT. John William (Jack) Kennedy is coming 
home. Next Friday, August 2, a nearly 25-year saga surrounding the fate 
of Captain Kennedy, a missing-in-action Air Force pilot in Vietnam, 
will end at Arlington National Cemetery.
  On August 16, 1971, Air Force Captain Kennedy was flying an O-2A 
aircraft, solo, on a visual reconnaissance mission over the Quangtin 
Province of South Vietnam when radio contact was lost. He was a forward 
air controller pilot for the 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron based 
in Chu Lai, Vietnam, in support of the 23d Infantry Division. The area 
in which he was flying was rugged mountainous terrain covered by thick 
jungle and a known location of enemy ground forces. When Captain 
Kennedy failed to respond to normal communications checks, a search 
effort was initiated. But no crash was found, no radio contacts made, 
and no witnesses were identified. He was listed as ``Mission in 
Action,'' a status he carried until the Air Force moved to

[[Page H8519]]

change it to ``Presumed Killed in Action'' in July 1978.
  Mr. Speaker, I call Captain Kennedy to the attention of our 
colleagues because his is a case I became familiar with during the 
1980's when I represented his hometown of Arlington, VA. It was then 
that I met his mother, Sally Kennedy, who was active in the National 
League of Families. She was stalwart in her determination to find out 
what happened to her son, and, in the larger context of working with 
the National League of Families, to help keep alive the effort to 
determine the fate of all those service personnel missing in action.
  She was tenacious in making sure that a search was ongoing to find 
Jack's crash site, and has been kept advised of all that went on with 
the various search teams that went in each year they were allowed into 
Vietnam as the National League of Families diligently sought to obtain 
permission throughout the years. As tensions between the United States 
and Vietnam decreased, significant levels of activity in identifying 
and exploring possible U.S. forces crash sites took place.
  In 1992, after several visits and discussion with Vietnamese 
villagers, a possible crash site was identified. At that time no 
conclusive evidence was available to specifically identify the site as 
Jack's. In 1993, several bone fragments, reportedly from the pilot of 
that aircraft, were provided by villagers. Also engines of the type 
used on Jack Kennedy's aircraft were found in the area. It wasn't until 
just recently that techniques were such that DNA could be extracted 
from these bone fragments and compared with those of his mother. Just 
this past May, the U.S. Air Force positively identified those bone 
fragments as belonging to Capt. John William Kennedy.
  Jack's remains arrived at Travis Air Force Base, CA, in late June and 
will be flown to Washington, DC, on August 1 with funeral services next 
Friday morning, August 2, at the Fort Myers Chapel with interment with 
full military honors including a flyover at Arlington National 
Cemetery.
  John William Kennedy was born in Washington, DC, on May 1, 1947; 
raised in Arlington, VA; graduated from Wakefield High School in 1965 
and Virginia Military Institute in 1969. At VMI he was the 1969 
Southern Conference Wrestling Champion in the 160-pound class, was 
cocaptain of the varsity wresting and soccer teams, a member of the VMI 
Honor Court, was included in ``Who's Who in American Colleges and 
Universities'' and Kappa Alpha after graduation. In 1980, he was also 
inducted into the VMI Sports Hall of Fame.

  He began active duty in the U.S. Air Force in October 1969, and for 
his military service was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple 
Heart, Air Medal with 2 oak leaf clusters National Defense Service 
Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, and Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.
  In addition to his mother, Sally Kennedy, of Lake Ridge, VA, he is 
survived by his brother Daniel E. Kennedy, Jr., of Dumfries, VA, also a 
VMI, Class of 1966, graduate and retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. 
Air Force with one combat tour in Southeast Asia from 1972 to 1973.
  The waiting and hoping and wondering for the Kennedy family has not 
come to an end and as Sally Kennedy said in a recent letter, ``time 
will bring a peace and finality to me.'' she also reminded as a poet 
has written, ``A man is never dead until he is forgotten.''
  Mr. Speaker, we express not only our sympathies to the Kennedy 
family, but also our gratitude for the service to his country of Capt. 
John William Kennedy. And we offer a prayer that some day all the 
families whose loved ones served their Nation but remain missing in 
action can find peace.

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