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Updates Joseph Thompson MIA |
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It is
even more important to
contact our congressmen.
It only takes a minute and it could bring another MIA home. |
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08JUN03 I was
contacted by Bryan Moon of MIA Hunters.
I have copied a portion of his correspondence with Sandy and me: I have
set in motion another expedition into the region of Ward Hunt in search of
the above. I have taken all the information in the correspondernce you sent
to me which contains far more leads than we generally have at this stage. The
expedition will consist of Papuan representatives of MIA HUNTERS based in
Lae, PNG but also include natives from Ward Hunt area who know the district
and speak the local language. I have
“instructed” my Papuan group to move ahead. Great
News indeed! |
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04JUL03 Another
correspondence from Bryan and MIA Hunters on the expedition his team just
returned from. New pictures will be
coming soon. Bryan Moon
writes: From our
last expedition in PNG I have kept contact with some Papuans in Lae and
piecing together the various inputs on the above aircraft, I underwrote three
of them to make another attempt at finding this B24. I made it clear to them
not to interfere with the crash site if it was discovered as I know your team
are experts at this and would rather the crash site was left untouched. The group
returned from this search on Sunday June 29th. The leader was hurt in a fall
and was recovering when I spoke with him yesterday on the telephone so his
preliminary report is sketchy and incomplete. However, he did report that he
had found the wreck of this B24 and was able to identify it because he
claimed that one of the local natives showed him a "note book" from
the crash site with the name FRANK
ROBERT on it. I checked the list of crew members on board this aircraft and
there is listed a Gunner by the name of S/Sgt ROBERT E FRANK. While this may
not be totally conclusive, it does appear that the missing bomber may be
found. My man in
PNG, operating as a member of MIA HUNTERS was directed to take photographs,
names and to prepare a map of the location (he did not have GPS
unfortunately) and to send all this to me. This may take about ten days but
when I have a more conclusive report, I will pass it on to you. In a phone
conversation with Bryan he told us that the Local village has been trying to
keep an eye on the site and that they are being very helpful. They will even
build a road for the team to make accessing the site easier. |
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10SEP03
Press Release 10SEP03 |
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23FEB04 Sorry I haven’t written before now. It’s been a little hectic on the home
front. So many people have come to help us bring Joseph
back from former military people like George Wyatt and Jim McEwen who knew
Joseph to elected officials. MN
Senator Steve Murphy was the first to contact me and lend his aide. US senator Mark Dayton and his staff have
also been checking into things. Now
this week I get an e-mail from US Congressman John Kline lending his
resources. I am amazed that so many
people do care. We still don’t have
all the answers like when JPAC (formerly CILHI) will go to the site and
recover the crew but we’re getting closer.
Writing
Congress does indeed get your voice heard!!! And this being an election year maybe we
could use that to our advantage!!!
Doesn’t hurt to try. |
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25MAR04 I just received word that JPAC/CIL is as I type this
at Joseph’s crash site in Papua New Guinea working to recover remains of the
11 member crew of The Swan. The team
should be back in Hawaii with the crew’s remains by the end of April 2004. From there the identification process will
begin. This could take anywhere from a
few days to 2 years depending on what method they need to use to identify the
crew. Dental Identification only takes
days whereas MtDNA can take 2 months.
The identification process starts with sorting the remains. Hopefully the mud encased fuselage and
entombed the crew so there won’t be a lot of sorting to do. I will let you all know details as I am
informed of them. |
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20APR04 |
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01SEP05 Thank you to everyone who
has corresponded with me and helped us get as far as we have. I hope that I was able to help those who
requested help in finding information to locate their loved ones who gave the
ultimate sacrifice for our country. I know that it’s been a
while since I have updated but that’s because I had no information to pass
on. I had not heard from Army Casualty
in over a year despite e-mails and phone calls I had made to their office. No one else that had been in contact with
me through this process was calling me either. Today that changed. I began to call and e-mail my
representatives on both the state and federal level last week. I received a call from Senator Dayton’s
office on Monday. I received another
call today. Nate was in contact with
Army Casualty this week. It seems that
since Joseph and his crew returned to American soil 9 other families of the
crew have been located. The process of
identification will begin in earnest now.
It is hoped that wanting Joseph’s DNA to confirm Sandy’s paternity
will help speed the process up a bit.
Our ultimate goal was is and will always be to give Joseph the honor
and final rest he deserves. I have been told that due
to regulations we cannot have information about the other family members and
they can’t be given ours. I am hoping
that that may change as the regulations were put in place for current military
and their families. It really
shouldn’t apply to past conflict heroes. Continue to
contact your elected officials about the POW/MIA issues. They really do listen! 26SEP05 Just got off the phone
with Army Casualty. Another blood
sample needed to be taken from one of the other crew members family for MtDNA
compairison. JPAC also did more
cuttings from remains to get a better MtDNA sample of that crew member. From the way it was put to me there are
MtDNA samples from all the crew and all but one of the families now. We should have Joseph's remains as well as
the rest of the crew identified by Christmas.
We are so excited about this.
It would be a wonderful present to give to Sandy as she gave us the
present of a new branch of our family. Hopefully, the next update
I give will is to tell you all that Joseph is home! |
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August 2006 Minneapolis, MN |
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