OK so now I'm curious. Is Kenneth Lancaster a real person? Has he ever been accounted for? Does anyone know his story?
I used to work with a gal who's father was MIA. It was AWFUL for her! Not knowing...anything! She came to work in our section in about...1990, I think. So she'd been living with that since the '60s. Last year...2008!...I heard that he had been accounted for. Excruciating!
Isn't the ocean beautiful at sunset? So soft....so peaceful...so romantic!
Agatha wrote:OK so now I'm curious. Is Kenneth Lancaster a real person? Has he ever been accounted for? Does anyone know his story?
I used to work with a gal who's father was MIA. It was AWFUL for her! Not knowing...anything! She came to work in our section in about...1990, I think. So she'd been living with that since the '60s. Last year...2008!...I heard that he had been accounted for. Excruciating!
I think that we don't understand any of it because we are reading waaaay too much into this. Maybe Tom Selleck didn't select that bracelet...maybe the person in charge of costumes handed it to him and said, "Here, wear this." I wore a POW bracelet for many years and didn't get to select a name, they just sent me one...and I wore it. And remember this also, in the 1980's we didn't know what name was on his bracelet, nor I am sure did they intend for people to know. All this has been brought up since the invention of DVDs and the "pause" button! So I think that is where some of the confusion for me starts. JMHO, though!
I tend to agree. Most likely someone, maybe even TS decided that TM should wear a bracelet. I doubt any spacific name was selected. He, along with the rest of the guys most likely took whatever bracelet they were given. To me the bracelet always represented far more than the person whose name appeared on it anyway.
You're both right, of course...as far as the series goes. I just wondered because I thought I remembered...hmmmm..."Digger" Doyle saying that Thomas was in reconnassance. But I didn't know how the bracelet process worked.
What I don't understand is the implications of what I read on the links that N1095A included. Can it really be that there are still Americans left in Viet Nam? Or that there were and we didn't get them out? I'm remembering a show that I watched once about military dogs that were abandoned when we pulled out of Viet Nam. Sigh.
I think that I'm dwelling too much on man's inhumanity to man today. I'm going to break out of this cloud and go do something FUN!
Thanks for your info, Sellecklover and N1095A!!
Isn't the ocean beautiful at sunset? So soft....so peaceful...so romantic!
Agatha wrote:You're both right, of course...as far as the series goes. I just wondered because I thought I remembered...hmmmm..."Digger" Doyle saying that Thomas was in reconnassance. But I didn't know how the bracelet process worked.
What I don't understand is the implications of what I read on the links that N1095A included. Can it really be that there are still Americans left in Viet Nam? Or that there were and we didn't get them out? I'm remembering a show that I watched once about military dogs that were abandoned when we pulled out of Viet Nam. Sigh.
I think that I'm dwelling too much on man's inhumanity to man today. I'm going to break out of this cloud and go do something FUN!
Thanks for your info, Sellecklover and N1095A!!
Sadly, or maybe a better word is shamefully Agatha, the answer is yes. There were Americans left behind. Whether any are still alive is unknown, but it's not very likely. A lot of time has passed since Vietnam. The government tried to close out all the cases they could by reclassifying many as KIA (Killed In Action). No serious, honest attempt for a full accounting of 1800-2500 MIA from Vietnam by the US government, has ever or will ever happen. It's cheaper and easier to account for them through clever paperwork than to actually find them. The more time that passes, the more these heroes fade into history, and the less pressure there is on the government to do anything about it. That's why the National POW/MIA movement's motto is "You Are Not Forgotten". As long as we wear the bracelets, as long as we display the POW/MIA flag, as long as we remember, they will never just fade into history.
Did not realise that the number of uncounted MIAs was that high, that is very dishearting. The first casuality in the first gulf war was an American fighter pilot...or so they thought, latter they found the canopy that was in tact and ejected from the plane, then a flight suit with NO BLOOD on it was found...no body. So this poor pilot's family went from KIA, to MIA, to a possible POW, then back to MIA. There was a docummentary on it and man it breaks your heart and pisses you off all at the same time. I'm sorry I can't remember the pilots name. The armed forces and their families do so much for this country. Thank you just doesn't seem enough sometimes.
only looking wrote:Did not realise that the number of uncounted MIAs was that high, that is very dishearting. The first casuality in the first gulf war was an American fighter pilot...or so they thought, latter they found the canopy that was in tact and ejected from the plane, then a flight suit with NO BLOOD on it was found...no body. So this poor pilot's family went from KIA, to MIA, to a possible POW, then back to MIA. There was a docummentary on it and man it breaks your heart and pisses you off all at the same time. I'm sorry I can't remember the pilots name. The armed forces and their families do so much for this country. Thank you just doesn't seem enough sometimes.
That's him, thank you for posting his name. Forum members should do some research or try to find that documentary on him. It will deffinately keep you glued to your seat.
The Vietnamese government claims that a lot of the POWs and MIAs that died in their custody were buried in mass graves and unmarked graves, so they will never be able to give a full accounting either.
only looking wrote:Did not realise that the number of uncounted MIAs was that high, that is very dishearting. The first casuality in the first gulf war was an American fighter pilot...or so they thought, latter they found the canopy that was in tact and ejected from the plane, then a flight suit with NO BLOOD on it was found...no body. So this poor pilot's family went from KIA, to MIA, to a possible POW, then back to MIA. There was a docummentary on it and man it breaks your heart and pisses you off all at the same time. I'm sorry I can't remember the pilots name. The armed forces and their families do so much for this country. Thank you just doesn't seem enough sometimes.
This is a great forum topic. If you read Donald Bellasario's wiki bio you'll see that he is a partiotic supporter of our military. I don't know about his political bent but he is a former Marine. MPI was a series that was very sympathetic to the causes of Vietnam vets, alive, KIA or MIA.
