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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Soldier missing 43 years in Vietnam finally accounted for |
| 2013-06-30 |
| The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that a soldier, missing from the Vietnam War, has been accounted for and will be buried with full military honors along with two of his crew members. Army Spc. 5 John L. Burgess, of Sutton Bay, Mich., was the crew chief of a UH-1H Iroquois helicopter that crashed in Binh Phuoc Province, South Vietnam. Also, killed in the crash were 1st Lt. Leslie F. Douglas Jr., of Verona, Miss.; lst Lt. Richard Dyer, of Central Falls, R.I.; and Sgt. 1st Class Juan Colon-Diaz, of Comerio, Puerto Rico. Another crew member, Pfc. John Goosman, survived the crash and was rescued. Remains representing Dyer, Colon-Diaz, and Burgess, will be buried as a group in a single casket, on July 2, at Arlington National Cemetery. The crash site was very close to the Cambodian border and was off limits to investigators for decades. By the time they found remains, there wasn't enough left for DNA matching; but they did find remains. John L. Burgess was adopted. The DPMO & other federal agencies do genealogy research in cases like his, but somehow thoroughly missed the newspaper articles, personal tributes and genealogy-related facts scattered all over the internet, related to him, such as this one. The news media close to his home town were already aware of his natural family & were in fact knocking on their doors for interviews shortly after this press release. His natural siblings were completely taken by surprise. After a lot of phone calls, emails & Facebook posts, this was sorted out. Many of his closest relations will be at Arlington National Cemetery for the interment. I was very impressed by the dedication and sensitivity of those investigating John's case. |
| Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418 |
| #1 Everybody comes home. One way or another, everybody comes home. |
| Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2013-06-30 17:26 |