KSDK-TV - Military families can wait years for recovery of loved ones

News Article

By Jennifer Meckles

Harry McGuire was many things; A Chester, Ill., native, Twenty-four years old and the navigator of a ten-man bombing crew during World War Two.

Enemy forces shot down the crew's B-24H Liberator over northern Italy in January, 1944.

McGuire was also so beloved by his sister, she would name her own son after the brother she lost during the war.

"I know that she kept a photograph of him in his military uniform of him on her dresser for as long as she lived," said Harry Kiefer, McGuire's nephew who now lives in Cape Girardeau.

In honor of Memorial Day, thousands of scouts, and In honor of Memorial Day, thousands of scouts, and their families, gathered at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery and placed an American flag on each grave continuing a decades-old tradition.

Kiefer's knowledge of his uncle was limited, until the phone rang in 2013.

The caller identified herself as the secretary of an alumni group for the families of the 449th

Bomber Group. Their relatives fought with Lt. McGuire, and the alumni group learned the plane had been discovered in 2010. Now they were looking for descendants to give DNA samples.

Kiefer wanted to help. After the phone call, he initiated contact with the Department of Defense.

"At the time that I submitted the DNA sample, it was still a mystery other than, 'Hey, we found a plane and we think your uncle may be in it. And if we can get to any remains, we need to be able to identify who these people are,'" he said.

Kiefer says he asked the DOD to keep him informed of any developments. He also asked to be the primary point of contact, rather than McGuire's only surviving sibling -- Kiefer's elderly aunt.

Then, he waited.

The family member had to contact the DOD to try to recover his uncle.

Turmoil brewing in Washington D.C.

While Kiefer waited for answers in southern Missouri, turmoil brewed in Washington, D.C.

"If there's any place we should be doing our best work it is in identifying and recovering the remains of our heroes."

In 2013, the Department of Defense was the subject of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report listing a number of challenges plaguing the agencies responsible for bringing home those who went missing from war.

At the time of the report, there were two agencies devoted to recovery missions: the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) and Defense POW/MIA Missing Personnel Office (DPMO).

The report pointed to a fragmented approach to the mission, ongoing disputes between the two agencies about accountability and responsibility, and poor communication with families.

These issues, the report states, affected the DOD's ability to meet its responsibilities -- like the 2009 mandate from Congress that recoveries be increased from an average of 72 per year to an average of 200 per year by 2015.

As part of the Armed Services Committee, Missouri U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill reviewed the government's veteran retrieval program.

"And I was disgusted at the years of finger pointing and lack of accountability. I mean it was a mess."

"If there's any place we should be doing our best work it is in identifying and recovering the remains of our heroes, who have given their life on behalf of our country in military service," McCaskill said. "And I was disgusted at the years of finger pointing and lack of accountability. I mean it was a mess."

The Senator joined efforts in Washington to reform POW/MIA recovery efforts. In 2014, she drafted a proposal calling for the Department of Defense to submit a formal plan for reorganizing the two accounting agencies, including a suggestion to consolidate into single agency.

The plan also called for the DOD to report the numbers of current POW/MIA including in which conflict they fought, whether they are believed lost at sea or possibly recoverable, and how many remains have been recovered but not identified. Her proposal to the Defense Bill was later signed into law.

By summer 2015, change is underway

JPAC and DPMO have merged into the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), which is now under the direction of new leadership. In June, the Secretary of Defense announced Army Lt. Gen. Michael Linnington's appointment to that role.

McCaskill, who plans to meet with Linnington this month, said it is too early for a progress report on the issue-- but she is optimistic.

"It's too soon to declare a success, so my oversight will continue," she said. " I'm not going to give up on this until I'm confident that every single family is getting honest answers and timelines about their loved ones and the recovery of their remains."

Patricia Blassie is optimistic the changes will improve relationships between the government and the families.

"The bridge to the families is the most important part of this whole thing," she said. "Even if we know that they can't be found, you know that the families deserve to know the truth about what has… happened with their families."

Blassie's own family experienced the painful process of waiting decades for information. Her brother, Lt. Michael Blassie, flew for the Air Force during the Vietnam War.

In May 1972, the Blassie family learned he was shot down about 60 miles north of Saigon.

Ongoing fighting was so intense, the military told the Blassies, that search helicopters could only stay for a short period of time before they, too, were in danger.

"Even if we know that they can't be found, you know that the families deserve to know the truth about what has… happened with their families."

The family held a small ceremony for Michael, and waited for more information.

In 1994, they took a call from a Vietnam veteran whose research had led him to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers in Washington D.C. That was where he believed Michael's remains had ended up.

Blassie, who also serves in the Air Force, asked the Air Force Casualty Office if that could be true, but she says they quickly dismissed it.

"So I saluted smartly because I was like, that was the craziest story in the world, that a known soldier could be in the Tomb of the Unknowns," she said.

It took another phone call, this time from a journalist in 1997, to convince the family to pursue the topic further. With the Blassie's help, the journalist secured enough documents to convince the government to test remains inside the tomb.

They learned the Vietnamese initially found the crash site along with Michael's ID and artifacts. Blassie said her brother's remains were selected for the Tomb of the Unknowns in 1984.

In 1998, the government agreed to exhume the remains and test them against family DNA.

"On June the 30th the Secretary of Defense called my mother and told her that yes, indeed, it was her son and that she could bring him home," Blassie said.

The family felt several emotions: Excitement for finally knowing what happened to Michael, and grief, for confirmation of his death.

That same summer, they buried him with military honors at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis.

Reflecting on her experience, Blassie said family members need answers.

"We did expect that when he was found that they would have told our family and told the story. And that's what families need. They must know the truth about their loved ones. Whether it's.. an easy truth or a hard truth. Usually it's going to be difficult, but we'd rather know."

McGuire returns home

Nearly two years after his initial contact with the Defense Department, Harry Kiefer finally got some answers.

"I'm disappointed in that, all that we have is one right foot from my uncle and no clear projection of when his body, or his seven crew mates are ever going to be recovered."

He learned a military survey team sent to the crash site in 2014 found a flight boot near the plane. They tested the boot and its contents, and discovered partial remains belonging to Kiefer's uncle, Lt. Harry McGuire.

Those remains returned to St. Louis in June, for a funeral with full military honors at Jefferson Barracks. Kiefer, much the like Blassies, is conflicted.

"I guess I'm grateful we have some remains to deal with. I'm grateful that we know my uncle was there," he said. "But I'm disappointed in that, all that we have is one right foot from my uncle and no clear projection of when his body, or his seven crew mates are ever going to be recovered."

While he gives great credit to the people who worked his family's case and helped arrange the funeral, Kiefer remains frustrated with the process and lack of communication.

"I'm not sure if I had a son or daughter fighting overseas right now, if I got the call that they're missing in action, I'm not sure where I would turn or how hopeful I would be that there's going to be a reconciliation here."

Change underway in Washington

More than 80,000 men and women who served in foreign wars remain missing. Many disappeared over the ocean and will likely never be recovered. Others have potential to be found.

"It's just a matter of trusting that things will change and I'm hopeful that they really will."

"We have consolidated the agencies, and are responsible for accounting for U.S. missing service members from past conflictdating back to World War Two," said a DPAA spokesperson by phone Wednesday afternoon. "Our responsibility is to return all U.S. service members to their families and for burial with military honors."

As of July 2015, DPAA reports 62 missing servicemen and women have been accounted for. In 2014, that number was 51 and in 2013 it was 65. Congress mandated they reach 200 by the end of the year

Blassie believes new leadership, along with a working relationship with advocacy groups and families, can make that mission successful.

"It's just a matter of trusting that things will change and I'm hopeful that they really will," she said.

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