October 25, 2009
CFCC cancelled on October 27
Free Caregiving for Veterans
http://www.military.com/veterans-report/free-caregiving-for-veterans?ESRC=vr.nl
Applebee’s – Veterans Day Thank you
Veterans and active military eat free at Applebee’s on Wednesday, November 11, 2009.
Speicher Death Investigation
Interesting article. Someone did a real good job, keeping the history of Vietnam POW/MIAs from this family.
New Details Expected in Speicher Death Investigation By Tiffany Griffith @ September 22, 2009 12:59 AM
The 18-year search in Iraq for Captain Scott Speicher is over and his body is back home in Jacksonville. But there’s still controversy surrounding how and when he died. Family Spokesperson Cindy Laquidara says the Pentagon will answer at least one of those questions in the coming weeks – the date of Speicher’s death. “The Pentagon is working on setting the final date-of-death, which is an administrative matter,” says Laquidara. A death certificate has the believed date of Speicher’s death, which many understand to be January 17, 1991. But Buddy Harris, Speicher’s close friend, believes any date that’s released out of Washington at this point would be made purely on “horrendous assumptions” until they know how Speicher died during the first Iraq War. “I had some of the leading forensics scientists in this nation, not just military, but in the nation, sitting with me in a room, and none of them could come up conclusively with a date-of-death. An actual, firm, absolutely, ‘this is when he died,’” says Harris. He believes knowing how Speicher was killed is paramount to the case. “There is a lot of information and a lot of possibilities for his demise.” But according to Laquidara, there’s currently no investigation into Speicher’s cause of death. Harris says there’s still a strong effort to close the book on this case. He believes that’s because some officials don’t want to shine a light on mistakes that were made during the search for Speicher, fearing reputations could be at risk. Harris believes the real lessons to be learned are from the Bedouins – the nomadic group that travelled the Iraqi desert, and reportedly buried Speicher’s body in 1991 after his aircraft crashed. He thinks it’s important to understand their culture, so the military doesn’t have another case like Speicher’s to investigate. In the meantime, Harris says he’s working with Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Senator Bill Nelson to keep the case open and get more of his questions answered. Navy officials did not wish to respond for comment at this time. Captain Scott Speicher was a United States Navy Pilot. His family moved to Jacksonville when he was a teenager. He was a graduate of Forrest High School and Florida State University. He was married to his wife, Joanne, and they had two young children at the time of his depolyment from Naval Air Station Cecil Field. His death or capture had been debated for years, but his death was not confirmed until August 2, 2009. Speicher was 33-years-old at the time of his disappearance in 1991. — Lynn Lynn O’Shea Director of Research National Alliance of Families for the Return of America’s Missing Servicemen World War II – Korea – Cold War – Vietnam – Gulf Wars – Afghanistan.
Retrieved from http://wokv.com/localnews/2009/09/new-details-expected-in-speich.html#
