Focus
University Daily Kansan, July 24, 1985
Page 6
Group works to bring American soldiers home
A crowd of about 50 people attended ceremonies Friday evening at the Alford Clark VFW Post, 138 Alabama St., to remember the 39 POWs and MIAs from Kansas who disappeared during the Vietnam War.
As the skies darken and rain begins, 39 red, white and blue balloons are carried from the FVW post. Larry Wishon, Route 2, a VFW member, car-
John Lechliter/KANSAN
By Carol Stephenson Staff Reporter
balls rooftops from the post before they are released. The balloons sym bolize the 39 POWs and MIAs from Kansas.
As the 39 red, white and blue balloons drifted into the gray skies Friday, the group of 50 people remembered the servicemen who had drifted off to war in Vietnam and still haven't returned — a decade after the war's end.
Michael Caron, 2nd District POWMIA chairman and director of Project Prairie Fire, an organization working to bring back missing servicemen from the Vietnam War, told the crowd that showed up at the Allard Clark VFW Post, 138 in the last year that had been crucial to the POWs and MIAs in Southeast Asia.
"Last year at this time we released 40 balloons," Caron said. "Shortly thereafter, the remains of Lt. Gary Shank, who had been missing for 12 years, were returned to overland Park."
The Vietnamese government said it would return the remains of 26 Americans and provide information on six others, Caron said. This announcement followed Vietnam's public commitment to negotiate with the United States to resolve the issue within the next two years.
"We know for a fact that the Vietnamese have 450 remains in storage," Caron said. "What's going to happen is they're going to start sending home these remains. People are going to forget about the live Americans still there."
He said, "This ploy will work for the U.S. government because
they've been saying there aren't any live Americans left in Vietnam, and the Vietnamese will get the diplomatic recognition they want.
"They'll finally be able to write the final chapter of the Vietnam War and that will be it. The efforts to recover the remaining Americans, dead or alive, will be forgotten."
John Hughes, post chairman,
served his country in Vietnam. He
remembers that a Lawrence man
 joined him and his buddies in Viet-
nam; men were regrouped, and
six days later, the Lawrence man
was killed.
"I believe with all my heart we have live soldiers over in Vietnam," Hughes said. "I don't believe that they are really going to give us back all the servicemen. They may give us back a portion, and the U.S. will probably accept it and forget about the ones who are left over there."
"I keep thinking that if my son was still in Vietnam, I would want to know if he was dead or alive." McCall said. "I think it's important that we do get back all the bodies so that the families can finally have a peace of mind."
"if only one man was brought home alive, people would then believe that there are others, and that we must keep fighting for their
Bonnie McCall, 3417 W. 25th St.
Terrace, 2nd district president, said that when her 17-year-old son wanted to fight in Vietnam, she had no qualms about signing the papers giving her permission. Her son came back alive, but with tales of a woman running up to him begging to help her. In her arms she held a little girl, about the age of the man's sister, with her head blown off.
said she hoped that by releasing the balloons, the friends and relatives of POWs and MIAs would know that the servicemen hadn't been forgotten.
Evelyn Hess, 421 Pleasant St.,
"We need to do everything we can to bring these young men home if
there are some still alive." Hess said. "I have three sons, and I know how I'd feel if they never returned home. It would be horrible."
Caron said nothing could be accomplished without the support of U.S. citizens.
"The U.S. government won't do anything unless the people become as upset over this issue as in the hostage situation," he said. "We have Americans who are still in Vietnam. No matter what shape they may be in, they deserve to come home."
Bob Kuhlmeier, a Vietnam veteran, stands in the rain listening to Michael Caron, 2nd District POW-MIA chairman, speaking on the missing servicemen. Caron told the group he thought that the Vietnamese government was holding back information on POWs and MIAs and that U.S. soldiers might still be alive in Vietnam.
Josh Caron, 12, and his father, Michael, collect donations after the ceremony. Metal bracelets with the names of Kansas POWs and MIAs were given in exchange for donations.
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