[net.general] Friends of MIAs will not give up their vigil.

trb@drutx.UUCP (BuckleyTR) (04/15/84)

...
Note:  This article appeared in the Letters to the Editor section
of the Denver Rocky Mountain News on Friday, April 13, 1984.  It
was written by Rick Blumenthal, who is a very good friend of mine.
Rick belongs to the Forget-Me-Not Association, an organization
devoted to pressing for resolution of the MIA issue. - TRB
------------------------------------------------------------------

       David Hrdlicka was unable to walk his daughter down the
       aisle at her wedding March 3.  David's absence has become a
       way of life for the Hrdlicka family.  In May of 1965, while
       serving his country as a fighter pilot, David was shot down
       by communist guns over northern Laos.

       David was seen by his wing men safely ejecting, landing,
       rolling up his parachute, then surrounded and taken
       prisoner.  One year later the Soviet newspaper Pravda ran a
       picture of David and his captors.  David's brother, Leo
       (also from Colorado), discovered this same picture in a
       Chinese daily newspaper while he was stationed in Taiwan.

       With all the information and photos on David, the Hrdlicka
       family expected David's eight-year imprisonment to end soon
       after the Paris Peace Accord was signed on Jan 27, 1973.
       However, a serious problem arose.  The United States was
       told there was no evidence of, or information on David
       Hrdlicka.  Our government, knowing that communists never
       lie, accepted their word.  How do I know they accepted it?
       Because they have done nothing to prove differently.

       While President, Jimmy Carter did little to help David's
       situation.  Carter had David's personnel file stamped KIA:
       Killed in Action.  Simple patriotism unveils the turncoat
       philosophy that ambassadors from Hanoi may walk freely on
       American soil under the banner of the United Nations, while
       their government tramples underfoot America's best.  Common
       sense reveals the insanity that through the International
       Monetary Fund our tax dollars refurbish the soil of a
       country that continues to claim our sons' bodies.

       Our government annually pumps tax dollars into UNESCO, which
       is "devoted to serving culture."  What kind of culture
       continues to hold David and 2,500 more like him?  The same
       money would be better spent educating Americans on the
       culture we have become; a culture that forsakes its very
       own.

       The POW/MIA issue is not settled.  Our government may have
       stamped the files KIA, but a stamp settles nothing in the
       minds of families and concerned citizens.  A barrage of
       letters is urgently needed.  Our elected officials need to
       be bombarded with reams of paper concerning this issue.
       This is election year and our officials must get the message
       that they shall not return to their jobs if these men remain
       unaccounted for.

       Action must be taken to force our government to rectify such
       a corrupt manipulation of human lives.

       Mayor Federico Pena recently scored a victory at election
       time.  I ask, Where is David Hrdlicka's victory?  Gov.
       Richard Lamm has enjoyed more than nine years in the
       governor's mansion, but what enjoyment has Hrdlicka
       experienced in the past nine years?  Sen. Gary Hart has the
       freedom to move about this country campaigning, yet what
       freedom does David have and for what would his campaign
       stand?  President Ronald Reagan recently said the "long
       vigil was over."  I ask, When did it end?

       Col. Hrdlicka was unable to hear the bells of his daughter's
       wedding, but if Americans do their part, he shall hear the
       bells of freedom ringing.

       Hrdlicka turned 52 on Dec. 30.  God bless him if he is dead,
       but God help us if he is alive and we do nothing.


                                       Rick Blumenthal

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom Buckley   AT&T Information Systems, Denver, CO
ihnp4!drutx!trb