Lest We Forget...





Hundreds of our fellow Americans were lost in combat as Prisoners of War or Missing in Action, too many remain unaccounted for. These Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines are the truest of American Heroes, yet they bear no medals and receive no parades. We may never actually have a full accounting of all the Americans we've left behind, but there can be no excuse for forgetting them. I have "Adopted" this particular Marine, who has been Missing in Action since 1966. It could have been any one of them, from any branch of service and I would feel just as proud of his service and be just as ashamed of our lack of fortitude in having left him unaccounted for, for so long. I ask you to read this short story of one of our Missing American Heroes.




Gregory John Harris, Corporal U.S. Marine Corps, 1st Marine Division
Born on 1 October 1945, Home City of Record: Toledo OH (or Syracuse NY)
Date of Loss: 12 June 1966, in the Republic of South Vietnam
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action




Corporal Gregory J. Harris was a radioman with a South Vietnamese company operating in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam. On June 12, 1966, the 5th Vietnamese Marine Battalion Headquarters was overrun by Viet Cong forces. According to the U.S. Marine Corps, Harris was captured. Two officers with Harris were killed, but the South Vietnamese saw Harris captured alive and apparently unhurt. According to Marine Corps records, Harris died in captivity. The Defense Department has never classified Gregory Harris as a prisoner of war even though the Marine Corps believes he was captured and died in captivity. He was placed in a casualty status of Missing in Action.




In the summer of 1973, after Harris did not return with the released prisoners of war, his mother, Catherine Helwig, did something quite remarkable to tell the world that all the men did not return. She walked 450 miles in one month from Buffalo, New York to New York City. When asked why she did this, she responded, "If your child was lost in the forest you would not stop the search at the end of twenty four hours. I can't look for my boy...it's better than staying awake night after night."




At the same time Mrs. Helwig was walking, then-President Nixon was declaring the task of accounting for the remaining missing, "Our Highest priority". President after President has termed the accounting "highest national priority". Not too much has changed. The men are still in Southeast Asia. Their sons, daughters and grandchildren are marching and protesting because mounting evidence indicates that many of them are still alive.





Please, if you have a home page consider adopting one of our Missing American Heroes. It's very easy to do and there are many many people who will gladly help by providing graphics, backgrounds, and all the other items you need. Visit the links below and please,
REMEMBER THEM!!!



This is the official Operation Just Cause Webring. Visits these sites to learn more or to get ideas and help for building your own POW/MIA page.


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Hey Gunny! I care what happened to our MIA's!
This is the site where you can adopt a POW/MIA. It's very simple and you can specify a certain service, home state, etc. Go here first.

Mooncrest's Operation Just Cause Switchboard
This site provided many of the graphics on this page. This is an outstanding resource for building an POW/MIA Rememberance page.

POW/MIA Information Repository Links
This is an amazing collection of links giving you access an enormous amount of information on POW/MIA's. It also provides e-mail links to a variety of official and unofficial sources.

The Wall on the Web
This is a great data base search system for all the names on the Viet Nam Memorial Wall.

The Viet Nam Casualty Search Page
Another very good data base for finding information on POW/MIA's.

The POW Network
This is very nearly the definative site for information on POWs and MIAs, and the organizations which provide information and action in their support.



This link will take you to the Official OJC Newsletter site, "The Moonduster Chronicles".





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