Ayotte Presses Pentagon on POW/MIA Report

U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) pressed the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on July 18 about what the Pentagon is doing to address reported "inept management" of the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command. JPAC's mission is to recover remains of servicemen.

"With more than 83,000 of our country's heroes remaining or unaccounted for from past conflicts, including 49 from New Hampshire for Vietnam and Korea, I believe we have a moral obligation to those we have left behind," Ayotte said. 

The POW/MIA list is not a compilation of numbers and dates. It is a list of names, and they are not forgotten. It includes Pfc. Philip Warren Ackley, who was MIA during the Korean War on Nov. 2, 1950. He was from Nashua, Ayotte's home town.

The search for missing soldiers continues, and with some success. Army Sgt. Bernard J. Fisher, 21, of Wilkes Barre, Pa., was recently recovered. He was killed during an attack northeast of Seoul, South Korea in January 1951. He was buried July 16 in Arlington National Cemetery.

But to what degree is any mismanagement at JPAC being a barrier to finding U.S. servicemen and bringing them home?

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded during that Armed Services Committee meeting that it was troubling, and that he would "get to the bottom of it."