https://plus.google.com/photos/104807109800278530436/albums/5713235653949278833?authkey=CNqUgY_NubivBg

closure for the families of more than 40 missing British and American air crews

Malaysian jungle adventurers solve WWII mysteries

By Romen Bose | AFP – 15 hrs ago

• Email
• 14
• Print

RELATED CONTENT

• Enlarge Photo
  Handout photo from the Malaya Historical Group shows group leader Shaharom Ahmad …
• Enlarge Photo
  Handout photo from the Malaya Historical Group shows group members holding a propeller …

VIEW SLIDESHOWS

• 

  Giants, fans savor Super Bowl title

  14 photos - 11 hrs ago
• 

  Faculty to be removed at L.A. school

  15 photos - 18 hrs ago
• 

  Verizon, Redbox team up for video service

  5 photos - 23 hrs ago

See latest photos »

They trek for days through crocodile-infested swamps and up rain-lashed mountain jungles, but the members of the Malaya Historical Group are not seeking treasure or ancient artefacts. Instead, they're after rusty wreckage.

Over the past decade, the six amateur Malaysian military historians have helped locate the confirmed or suspected crash sites of 30 World War II aircraft -- helping bring closure for the families of more than 40 missing British and American air crews.

Nearly 70 years after the end of the war, at least 100 British and American aircraft wrecks are believed scattered across the jungles of India, Thailand and Malaysia, along with the remains of their crews.

As well as the battles for the Pacific Islands, allied forces waged war against Japanese forces whose regional conquests included previously British-held Singapore and Malaysia -- known then as Malaya.

"What we do is to find whichever wrecks are in Malaysia and help identify them so that relatives can get closure after waiting for more than six decades," says the group's leader Shaharom Ahmad.

During the week, Shaharom, 37, is a technical engineer with Malaysian state news agency Bernama.

But he and his fellow war buffs have carried out 40 weekend expeditions over the last decade, searching for the wrecks of long-missing allied aircraft that crashed or were shot down.

Such sites "are a crucial part of the story of the war in the Pacific," said military historian Christopher McDermott, who works for the US Joint Prisoner of War/Missing In Action Accounting Command (JPAC).

He said at least 550 Americans went missing over the jungles and seas of Southeast Asia as a result of air raids, patrols, and cargo and reconnaissance missions.

Finding crash sites, he adds, can provide "positive identification for the return of remains to the families of the missing service members."

Shaharom says the group's research into American and British archives indicate the wrecks of at least 15 to 20 allied aircraft are still yet to be examined in Malaysia.

Seven of the sites have been discovered so far, but the whereabouts of the others are not yet known.

Guided by whatever, often sketchy, information is available from a flight's last location, the group's members search likely areas on treks that take several days, often in dense jungle.

Once found, sites are left undisturbed but meticulously photographed and the pictures are uploaded to their website, mhg.mymalaya.com.

From there, a worldwide network of similarly minded amateur war buffs weighs in, analysing the find.

"Within a matter of days, sometimes hours, we are able to indentify the wrecks and even get hold of the family of the pilots who were missing for so many years to tell them that the remains of their loved ones have been found," Shaharom said.

Started as a hobby in 1996, the group's work soon became a passion after members were moved by the heartfelt responses of airmens' families. Its work is funded by members or whatever private donations they can scrape together.

In one case, the group in 2009 reached and identified the crash of a US Air Force DC-3 transport that disappeared shortly after the war over the northern state of Perak during a routine flight in November 1945.

Its remains had first been spotted from the air in 1966 but nothing was done until the Malaysian wreck hunters found the site and pilots' relatives were contacted via the Internet. JPAC is now planning an excavation in 2013.

Holding a pair of smashed aviator glasses that helped to identify the American wreck, Shaharom says the group has made all sorts of finds.

"We have found exploded ammunition from the planes, landing gears, even the remains of several Japanese aircraft, of which there are 22 that crashed here during the war, with most still missing," he said.

As he spoke, Shaharom showed off a metal knob bearing a Mitsubishi logo and serial number. It came from the crash site of a Japanese bomber found by the group and since identified as part of the initial December 8, 1941 attack on Malaya.

The group has approached Japanese authorities about such finds but found little interest in pursuing identification.

One particularly "heart-wrenching" find was the discovery of two rings, a dagger and part of a watch that had melted and fused with the aircraft's fuselage in the fiery crash of a British plane, he said.

"Knowing that these items were on people who died in these very sites was really moving. It really connected us to these warriors," Shaharom added.

Providing a dignified burial to the remains of the dead can be a challenge.

In central Negeri Sembilan state in 2006, Shaharom and his team found the August 1945 wreck of a Royal Air Force B24 Liberator bomber that research shows was carrying supplies for Force 136, a British Special Operations unit.

British officials initially rejected the discovery, relenting only after the wreck hunters went back and obtained engine serial numbers.

They declined, however, to fund or recover the human remains. Shaharom's group recovered them with private funding in 2009.

Sue Raftree, an official with a British defence ministry unit dealing with such issues, told AFP British government policy is that it "does not actively search for remains and discourages unofficial excavations," viewing such sites as war graves.

However the crew's relatives insisted that the remains be given a proper burial and they are slated to be interred in a Malaysian military cemetery early next year.

Such delays can imperil wreck sites, says Shaharom, pointing to the crash of a Japanese fighter found by locals in northern Kedah state in 2001.

"They just removed the pilot, cut the aircraft into pieces and sold it as scrap. This is our worry."

Interesting forward by Marty Volin

Interesting Veterans Statistics off the Vietnam Memorial Wall

"Carved on these walls is the story of America , of a continuing quest to  preserve both Democracy and decency, and to protect a national treasure that we call the American dream." ~President George Bush

SOMETHING to think about - Most of the surviving Parents are now Deceased.

There are 58,267 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those added in 2010.

The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. It is hard to believe it is 36 years since the last casualties.

The first known casualty was Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth , Mass. Listed by the U. S. Department of Defense as having been killed on June 8, 1956. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965.


* There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Wall.

* 39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger.

* 8,283 were just 19 years old.

* The largest age group, 33,103 were 18 years old.

* 12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old.

* 5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old.

* One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old.

* 997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam ..

* 1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam ..

* 31 sets of brothers are on the Wall.

* Thirty one sets of parents lost two of their sons.

* 54 soldiers on the wall attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia.

* 8 Women are on the Wall. Nursing the wounded.

* 244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall.

* Beallsville , Ohio with a population of 475 lost 6 of her sons.

* West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. There are 711 West Virginians on the Wall.

* The Marines of Morenci - They led some of the scrappiest high school football and basketball teams that the little Arizona copper town of Morenci (pop. 5,058) had ever known and cheered. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest . And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morenci's mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. Their service began on Independence Day, 1966. Only 3 returned home.

* The Buddies of Midvale - LeRoy Tafoya, Jimmy Martinez, Tom Gonzales were all boyhood friends and lived on three consecutive streets in Midvale, Utah on Fifth, Sixth and Seventh avenues. They lived only a few yards apart. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. And they all went to Vietnam . In a span of 16 dark days in late 1967, all three would be killed. LeRoy was killed on  Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Jimmy died less than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day. Tom was shot dead assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

* The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 ~ 245 deaths.

* The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 - 2,415 casualties were incurred.

For most Americans who read this they will only see the numbers that the Vietnam War created. To those of us who survived the war, and to the families of those who did not, we see the faces, we feel the pain that these numbers created. We are, until we too pass away, haunted with these numbers, because they were our friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters. There are no noble wars, just noble warriors.

FREEDOM ISN'T FREE--- SOMEONE HAD TO PAY FOR IT.

"Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
1. Jesus Christ.
2. The American Soldier.

One died for your soul, the other for your Freedom."

- Author Unknown
CC - Viet Nam '69-'70

New Link for Military.com

Not sure if anyone already enjoys the site, but it has lots of pro-Military articles and link. Lots of interesting stuff and even a Buddy Finder where some you may be able to reconnect with old friends...If anyone uses the site and has any feedback please let us all know what you think! There is a link at the bottom and also one in the archive.    Thanks, J.P.  Dartt
                      SNC Honor Gaurd Adjutant            


http://www.military.com/

Making Posts

I have made some changes so that viewers can make comments to the content. It is open to the public so that they can add their 2 cents, yet I have set it up so that comments are filtered. I want users to be able to use the site and feel like it is theirs to use, but at the same time none of us need disrespectful comments from the public.  Keep in mind the site is for respectable dialogue and I will not post nonsense or inflammatory speech...This site represents us all.  With that said feel free to add what you feel is important! Thanks, J.P. Dartt

This was a forward from Tom Lenahan.  I thought it deserved a place on our wall...

        You're a 19 year old kid. 
        You're critically wounded
        and dying in 
        The jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam .. 
        
        It's November 11, 1967.  
        LZ (landing zone) X-ray. 
        
        Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense from 100 yards away, that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in. 
        
        You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you're not getting out. 
        
        Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again. 
        
        As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day. 
        Then - over the machine gun noise - you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter. 
        You look up to see a Huey coming in. But.. It doesn't seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it. 
        
        Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you. 
        
        He's not MedEvac so it's not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway. 
        
        Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come.He's coming anyway.
        
        
        And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you at a time on board. 
        
        Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety. 
        
        And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!! 
        Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm. 
        He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey. 
        
        Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman,United States Air Force, died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise, Idaho 
        
        
        May God Bless and Rest His Soul. 
        
        
        I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we've sure heard a whole bunch  about Lindsay Lohan, Dr. Murray, that sicko Sandusky, and a 72- day sham marriage. 
        
        

    Shame on the media !!! 
    
    <image002.jpg>
    Medal of Honor Winner Captain Ed Freeman 
    
    
    Now... YOU pass this along. Honor this real hero.  
    
    Please.
    
    

Saratoga Today Article

Well everyone I am proud to announce that a local magazine has done an article on the local Honor Guard. Saratoga Today has done a great job of trying to help the organization generate interest and possible donations.  

I am including the article and a link to the site. Although the article is here you may wish to visit the site, there is an area for feedback in the right hand column.  I would appreciate it if you would tell them just how much we are grateful to have the needed public exposure.  Community support  will ensure our ability to serve veterans and their families.  There are also several pictures on their page that I cannot seem to copy. I will try to obtain them if I can for our site.

http://www.saratogatodayonline.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=278:honor-guard&Itemid=1