[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 129 (Wednesday, September 18, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1637]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        POW-MIA RECOGNITION DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 18, 1996

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remind my colleagues of the 
importance of National POW-MIA Recognition Day on September 20, 1996. I 
urge my colleagues to participate in recognizing America's heroes, 
those who are presumed missing in action.
  Our Nation has fought six major conflicts in its history. In those 
wars, over 500,000 Americans have been taken prisoner of war. Those 
servicemen and women experienced numerous hardships and treatment which 
could often be described only as barbaric during the course of 
captivity. Those Americans imprisoned by the Japanese during World War 
II faced the worst possible conditions in captivity and were firsthand 
witnesses to the utter depravity of their fellowmen.
  I have been a strong advocate of an accounting of our POW-MIA's since 
I first came to the Congress in 1973. I proudly supported the creation 
of the Select Committee on Missing Persons in Southeast Asia, the 
National POW-MIA Recognition days, and POW-MIA legislation because I 
believe the families of those who are missing in action deserve no 
less. Hopefully 1996 will be the last year that such an occasion will 
be necessary. My hope is that by this time next year, our Government 
will have obtained a full accounting of those brave American's whose 
fates, at this time, are still unknown.
  Permit me to focus special recognition on those POW-MIA's from Korea 
and Vietnam. Despite the administration's best assurances to the 
contrary, many of us remain unconvinced that the Governments of North 
Korea and Vietnam have been fully cooperating with the United States on 
this issue. Regrettably, by normalizing relations with Vietnam, I 
believe that we have withdrawn our leverage over the Vietnamese 
government on this issue.

  On September 18, 1996, the Washington Times ran a front page story 
about the latest POW-MIA hearing held by Chairman Dornan's Subcommittee 
on Military Personnel. This hearing, on September 17, 1996, consisted 
of several key witnesses, including a former aide to President 
Eisenhower, and a high ranking Czech defector who was a member of 
Czechoslovakia's Defense Ministry.
  The defector, former Gen. Jan Sejna, testified that Soviet and Czech 
military doctors performed ghastly medical experiments on U.S. POW's in 
North Korea during the Korean war. Those experiments were used to test 
the psychological endurance of American GI's, as well as their 
resistance to chemical, biological, and radioactive agents. Moreover, 
Mr. Sejna also stated that he helped organize shipments of POW's to the 
U.S.S.R. during the Vietnam war, and that at least 200 were sent there 
between 1961 and 1968.
  Hopefully this information will lead to a further investigation 
regarding the safe return of any living POW's who may still be in 
captivity in Korea or elsewhere.
  Americans should always bear in mind the love of country that 
America's veterans have shown as well as their personal sacrifices, 
courage, convictions, and dedication to freedom that these individuals 
have exhibited.
  Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Stump recently quoted a 
portion of President Abraham Lincoln's letter to a mother who lost five 
sons on the battlefield: ``I cannot refrain from tendering to you the 
thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our heavenly 
Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only 
the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that 
must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of 
freedom.
  May it be of some solace to the families and loved ones of our 
missing and POW's that there are many of us in the Congress committed 
to a full and final accounting of our missing.

                          ____________________