[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 126 (Friday, September 19, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9734-S9735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    NATIONAL POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY

 Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Mr. President, Friday, September 
19, 1997, has been designated this year by President Clinton and 
numerous State Governors as National POW/MIA Recognition Day. This is a 
special day for paying tribute to our missing service members and 
civilians involved with our Nation's past military conflicts. It is a 
day for reaffirming throughout the United States our national 
commitment to obtaining the fullest possible accounting for America's 
POW's and MIA's.
  It has been an honor and privilege for me, since my election to the 
Congress in 1984, to assist the POW/MIA families, our veterans, and 
their friends and supporters, with the many efforts that have been 
undertaken to try to achieve a proper accounting for so many of our 
Nation's bravest heroes still listed as missing. It has been a 
difficult and emotional task, complicated by on and off-again 
cooperation by foreign governments.
  As many of my colleagues know, I served as vice-chairman of the 
Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs in 1992, and I currently 
serve as the U.S. chairman of the Vietnam War Working Group of the 
Joint United States-Russian Commission on POW's and MIA's. This past 
summer, I, along with Congressman Sam Johnson of Texas, himself a 
returned POW from North Vietnam, traveled to Russia, Poland, and the 
Czech Republic in our continuing efforts to open archives and interview 
people knowledgeable about the fate of American POW's. We both feel, as 
a result of our trip, that we have enhanced our Government's ability to 
further investigate POW/MIA leads. I have also continued my own efforts 
here in the Senate to ensure that U.S. Government records on this issue 
are declassified and made available to the public. I am pleased to 
report that I am making additional progress in that regard, 
specifically with respect to information from the Nixon administration 
that I hope will shed more

[[Page S9735]]

light on our own Government's knowledge about POW's and MIA's when the 
Vietnam war ended in 1973.
  As a result of my direct involvement with this issue, I can report 
that, even though we have made some progress over the years, there is 
still much work to do. It is, therefore, my hope that this 
administration will take the opportunity National POW/MIA Recognition 
Day provides to rededicate itself to using all appropriate resources 
available to the U.S. Government to resolve the POW/MIA issue.
  I personally believe that public awareness is critical to ensuring 
that the United States vigorously presses Communist governments abroad, 
especially North Korea, China, Vietnam, and Laos, to give us the 
complete answers that we deserve on this humanitarian issue. Indeed, 
the support of the public has enabled us to continue to push forward 
with legislative initiatives in Congress that can help to ensure the 
POW/MIA issue is pursued as a top priority with the governments I just 
referenced.
  I want to assure my own constituents and the many concerned Americans 
who have contacted me through the years that I remain absolutely 
committed to doing everything I think is appropriate to resolve the 
fate of our missing soldiers.
  Mr. President, I thank the American people for remembering our 
unaccounted for POW's and MIA's on this special day.

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