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Show ;arnpaign seeks accounted POW's cleus of determined families ; eonto the hope of information " their loved ones lost ,in war- southeast Asia, are circulating a t; t , petition to get President i-33 ,J give top priority to the w National League of Families of can Prisoners Missing in list Asia is comprised of wives, Zn parents ald other close 5.. ?Bof American prisioners of war i 'ti and mission in action and 3,' Jed Vietnam POWs. ' r.Mugh the families of the mission t so unrealistic to believe that Ijtion is available on every man, . , ji not so naive as to believe that ? '(counting cannot be made for a ntial number of the missing. ,-ntfigures show that as many as military men and 41 civilians are l-i in Southeast Asia. Of the "men, 96 are know POWs; 1,178 i: yied in action and body not ,ted, and 1,279 are missing in a TVenty-eight of the 41 civilians Counted for are reported as ;3g and 16 are presumed dead. nee the end of the U.S. military K ivement in Southeast Asia, the amese have been persuaded to It: -de information on about 75 of the 3 missing, but denied holding any anal American prisoners, ie defense Intelligence Agency is tently investigating over 450 reports r Indochinese refugees in the U.S. ' ailing to the sighting of men held life. it National League of Families r.gly believes that the combined rts of national collecting and anting hundreds of thousands of i petitions will be effective. In the Uintah Basin, Brian Hayes of Roosevelt is spearheading a campaign to gain signatures on the National League of Families' petition to get the remaining Americans out of Southeast Asia. Hayes claims he has no relatives who were POWs in Vietnam, but says he became involved in the issue after extensive investigation into the POW situation in Southeast Asia. "A lot of people are unaware of the problem," Hayes said about the reaction of people and clubs he has contacted in the Basin. Hayes said that the petition will advocate a "presidential push" to get the missing accounted for. He has contacted several clubs in Vernal to gain support for his campaign and has been on talk shows on two local radio stations. According to Hayes, Utah Congressman Jim Hansen is sympathetic sym-pathetic to the National League of Familes' petition and will be debriefed on the matter by Admiral Tuttle, Defense Intelligence Agency, May 21. The movement has also received support from the American Legion. "While these groups are working deligently, the efforts will probably not accomplish the goal of release and total accounting of these men without presidential support, " said Dale Madsen, past department commander in a letter to fellow legionaires. "It is incumbent upon us as ex-servicemen ex-servicemen to get involved and do what we can to resolve this problem." The petitions will be presented to President Reagan on July 17, National . POW-MIA Recognition Day. 5 ' ' ' 4X I . ' f , m-y, , 1 . , , ' .V. '' 'J j 1 r, ' 1 51:: J ' si "- ' I 1 4 " m . - ! 7 " 1 " 1 l A $100 check was presented by Ladies of the Elks president, Jolynn Corey, to Cathy Metz for the Families in Crisis program 85 of which she is the project coordinator. |