ADMIR AL NIMITZ. Rolling Thunder NH-1 Newsletter WE RIDE FOR THOSE WHO CAN T September/October 2012, Volume 12, Issue 8

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1 NH-1 Newsletter WE RIDE FOR THOSE WHO CAN T September/October 2012, Volume 12, Issue 8 I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E : ADMIR AL NIMITZ Patriotic Night Flyer Walk a Mile in Their Boots Flyer Officers Mission Statement Who are DPMO&JPAC Presidents Corner Got Books POW/MIA GENERAL INFO Fallen Brother Ride ATAN Philip Kendell Balch SGT. Bowe Bergdahl Story (Repeat) NEW PATCH- ES Who are dpmo(cont) A Little AF Humor New Patches POW/MIA Stats Vigils 2 3 3& & The Closing Shot 11 Really interesting, and I never knew this little bit of history: Tour boats ferry people out to the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii every thirty minutes. We just missed a ferry and had to wait thirty minutes.. I went into a small gift shop to kill time. In the gift shop, I purchased a small book entitled, "Reflections on Pearl Harbor " by Admiral Chester Nimitz. Sunday, December 7th, 1941 Admiral Chester Nimitz was attending a concert in Washington D.C. He was paged and told there was a phone call for him. When he answered the phone, it was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the phone. He told Admiral Nimitz that he (Nimitz) would now be the Commander of the Pacific Fleet. Admiral Nimitz flew to Hawaii to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. He landed at Pearl Harbor on Christmas Eve, There was such a spirit of despair, dejection and defeat you would have thought the Japanese had already won the war. On Christmas Day, 1941, Adm. Nimitz was given a boat tour of the destruction wrought on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.. Big sunken battleships and navy vessels cluttered the waters everywhere you looked. As the tour boat returned to dock, the young helmsman of the boat asked, "Well Admiral, what do you think after seeing all this destruction?" Admiral Nimitz's reply shocked everyone within the sound of his voice. Admiral Nimitz said, "The Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could ever make, or God was taking care of America. Which do you think it was?" Shocked and surprised, the young helmsman asked, "What do mean by saying the Japanese made the three biggest mistakes an attack force ever made?" Nimitz explained: Mistake number one: the Japanese attacked on Sunday morning. Nine out of every ten crewmen of those ships were ashore on leave. If those same ships had been lured to sea and been sunk we would have lost 38,000 men P R E S E N T E D BY C A R M E N L O N E S K E instead of 3,800. Mistake number two: when the Japanese saw all those battleships lined in a row, they got so carried away sinking those battleships, they never once bombed our dry docks opposite those ships. If they had destroyed our dry docks, we would have had to tow every one of those ships to America to be repaired. As it is now, the ships are in shallow water and can be raised. One tug can pull them over to the dry docks, and we can have them repaired and at sea by the time we could have towed them to America. And I already have crews ashore anxious to man those ships. Mistake number three: Every drop of fuel in the Pacific theater of war is in top-of-the-ground storage tanks five miles away over that hill. One attack plane could have strafed those tanks and destroyed our fuel supply. That's why I say the Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could make or God was taking care of America. I've never forgotten what I read in that little book. It is still an inspiration as I reflect upon it. In jest, I might suggest that because Admiral Nimitz was a Texan, born and raised in Fredericksburg, Texas he was a born optimist. But anyway you look at it Admiral Nimitz was able to see a silver lining in a situation and circumstance where everyone else saw only despair and defeatism. President Roosevelt had chosen the right man for the right job. We desperately needed a leader that could see silver linings in the midst of the clouds of dejection, despair and defeat. There is a reason that our national motto is, IN GOD WE TRUST Why have we forgotten?

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3 Page 3 R O L L I NG THUNDER NH CHAPTER 1 OFFICERS PRESIDENT VICE PRESIDENT Joe Pepin Bill Downs SGT AT ARMS NEWSLETTER Tom Bennett Steve Cantelli TREASURER SECRETARY Janice Jolly Robin Cavallaro PHOTOGRAPHER WEBMASTER Ken Park Pat McGhie CHAIMAN OF THE BOARD BOARD MEMBER Scott Suchovsky Darryl Cook EVENTS CHAIRMAN ROAD CAPTAINS VACANT Scott Suchovsky BOARD MEMBER BOARD MEMBER BOARD MEMBER Mike Desjardins Steve Grundy Tom Bennett QUARTERMASTER CHAIR LEGISLATIVE LIASON Jay Robicheau Steve Cantelli Mark Willer BOARD MEMBER 1st ALTERNATE Patti Connolly Rich Deneka POW/MIA OFFICER Marsha Bailey Bruce Garry 2nd ALTERNATE CHAPLAIN Rick Smith Richard Borghi HISTORIAN JUNIOR PROGRAM DIRECTOR Kyrra Robicheau ASS T JUNIOR DIRECTOR Steve Grundy R O L L I N G T H U N D E R, I NC. M I S S I O N S T A T E M E N T The major function of, Inc. is to publicize the POW/MIA issue: To educate the public that many American Prisoners of War were left behind after all previous wars, and to help correct the past and to protect future veterans from being left behind should they become Prisoners Of War Missing In Action. We are also committed to helping American veterans from all wars. Who Are Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) And Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) by Bruce Garry Through pressure applied by the work of The National League of POW/MIA Families and other organizations like Rolling Thunder, by direction of the US Senate, the Department of Defense established a single office to oversee and manage all POW/MIA issues. In 1993 the Defense POW/MIA Personnel Office (DPMO) was established. Today DPMO is a team off civilian and military experts numbering about 100 people. Their span of operations is worldwide covering all conflicts going back to World War II. When American personnel remain captive, missing, or otherwise unaccounted- for at the conclusion of hostilities, the DOD accounting community becomes the responsible agent for determining the fate of the missing and where possible, recovering them alive or recovering and identifying the remains of the dead. For those killed-in-action, the accounting community is charged with locating, recovering and identifying their remains. More than 83,000 Americans remain missing from World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War. To accomplish this goal, DPMO develops and recommends policy guidance on personnel accounting, oversees the implementation of existing policies and provides the accounting community with oversight and coordination. DPMO also conducts research, analyzes information and investigates the cases of missing personnel. (From DPMO WEB page) In lessons learned it was decided that an operational organization of field experts were need to conduct search, recovery, and laboratory tasks. So on

4 Page 4 PRESIDENTS COR NER Hello Everyone, On behalf of Rolling Thunder NH-1, our hearts and prays go out to the Family and friends of Jillian Marie Burris. Many of you know Brian Burris General manager of Naults Honda not only has been a great supporter of RTNH-1 along with Dick Naults but a great friend of our Chapter. I ve had to say this way too many time this year, we need to pick up our heavy hearts and continue on with our mission. Boscawen Clean up Nov 4 th 1030am 1200 Walk a Mile Fundraiser Nov 4 th the Alpine, 175 Putnam st Manchester NH 4pm-9pm Nov 6 th Chapter Meeting Epping Legion 730pm Patriotic Night Epping Legion Nov 10 th 6 pm I m very excited about 2012 Patriotic Night looking forward to ending 2012 with a bang. Will be a nice gathering of RT and many other Friends of NH -1. So please feel free to invite your family and friends, everyone is welcome. Well NH-1 and Friends hope everyone survived Storm Sandy.. Ill be at the National Conference Nov 1 st 4 th so everyone be safe and have a great At Boscawen / Walk a Mile Sincerely Joe Pepin NH-1 President G O T B O O K S BY S TEVE C A N T E L L I GOT BOOKS continues to be an easy and great fund raiser. What is GOT BOOKS? It is an easy way for NH Chapter 1 to make easy money to support the mission statement. We need your help finding another location (possibly in Epping or Lee). We have filled our 9th container this year. We have to thank Karen in Kingston (who sells on Amazon) and donates books she doesn t use to us. Also the Madison Library and Jean at the Moultonboro Library for the donation of 800 boxes. Thanks to the Methuen Lib. We need your help now! Help us to get more books and help us to get another container site. If you have questions please call Steve Cantelli at or at stevedivesudnh2@ymail.com.we NEED your help. Our current Container is at ECSI Route 125 Kingston, NH (across from Reynolds RV). The new site must be at least two miles away from our box. Boob, Wrench, Jon (taking picture) and Steve pick up books in Methuen

5 Page 5 POW/MIA FEDERAL LAW FLAG REQUIREMENTS Federal law requires the POW/MIA flag to be flown on the following days: Armed Forces Day, May 16 Memorial Day, May 25 Flag Day, June 14 Independence Day, July 4 POW/MIA Day, 3rd Friday of September Veterans Day, Nov. 11 Fallen Brothers Ride P OW / M I A N AT I O N A L M O N U M E N T

6 Page 6 ATAN Phillip Kendall Balch, USN story by Bruce Garry Phillip Kendall Balch was born to Lowell and Mary (Putney) Balch, June 21, 1929 in Claremont, NH, though the family resided in Woodstock, VT. His dad, Lowell, local people called him Levi, was a Pharmacy Clerk at the local Drug Store and Mary raised their two boys, the oldest by two years, Edward, and Phillip. Phillip would attend Stevens High School in Claremont during the World War II war years to its end and then Occupying Forces in Europe and the Far East, graduating in the Class of In high school he had the nickname Chimp. He was a one of the smallest guys in the class who had flaming red hair. Phillip was in the Drama Club his junior and senior years and was the Secretary of his Senior Class Student Council. Soon after high school Phillip joined the U.S Navy following his brother Edward, who had joined the U.S. Navy in He attended Aviation Electronics School, in Memphis, TN. A friend of Phillip s at the Navy school remembered him fondly and that he was given another nickname in the Navy, Peeb. Phillip competed his training and became an Aviation Electronics Technician Airman Apprentice (E-2). Phillip Balch would eventually be stationed on the USS Essex aircraft carrier, assigned to Composite Squadron VC- 35, stationed off the coast of the Korean peninsula in 1951, during the Korean War. He became a flight crewmember of a Douglas AD-4Q Skyraider, which had a crew of two, a pilot and an enlisted Aviation Electronics Technician Airman (E-3). This type of aircraft was a dive-bomber and Squadron VC-35 s mission was to perform night bombing missions in North Korea off the deck of the aircraft carrier. They usually flew in pairs, taking shifts so the entire night time hours were covered to hinder North Korean forces to move men and supplies by night. On Sunday, August 26, 1951, Pilot Lt.(jg) Loren D. Smith of Minco, OK, and ATAN Phillip Kendall Balch, age 22, took off from the deck of the USS Essex. In flight for five minutes their aircraft suddenly burst into flames and crashed into the sea. Their bodies were never recovered. They were the second and third member that Squadron VC-35 lost of 15 total members the squadron would lose while fighting in Korea from June 26, 1951 March 25, ATAN Phillip Kendal Balch was awarded the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Korean Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, and the Korean War Service Medal. His name has been inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial, Hawaii. Phillip s father, Lowell Balch, would pass away in 1978 at the age of 73, in Windsor, Vermont. It appears his mother Mary lived to be 95 and died in 2000, in Claremont, NH. His brother Edward died in Manchester, NH in 1996 at the age of 69. Douglas AD-42 Skyraider that ATAN Balch flew on that fateful day.

7 Page 7 Sgt. Bowe R. Bergdahl Story by Bruce Garry At 0900 on the Tuesday morning of June 30, 2009, at Outpost Mest, in the Yahya Khail District of Paktika Province, Afghanistan, Company B, 1 st Battalion, 501 st Infantry (Airborne) Regiment, 4 th Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 25 th Infantry Division (ID) conducted their Morning Roll Call for 100% accountability. It was at this Roll Call that Company B Commander discovered Private First Class Bergdahl was missing. An immediate search of all areas in Outpost Mest was conducted without locating the missing soldier. The next higher command Blackfoot Tactical Operations Command (TOC) was notified of the missing soldier. Blackfoot TOC then reported the situation to the 4 th BCT command at Geronimo TOC. The command issued a mandatory 100% accountably of all camps and launched a search for PFC Bergdahl. Military Dogs and a Pathfinder unit were dispatched to the rugged mountainous area, twelve miles from the Pakistan border, and had boots on the ground within few hours. A Drone and aviation assets were tasked and expedited to the area of search. Blocking Positions were deployed on area roads and known paths of travel checking all traffic. A more detailed search of all vehicles, latrines, bunkers, and other Personnel Facilities was ordered for Outpost Mest and nearby Outpost Sharan. All of these efforts did not result in finding PFC Bergdahl. On July 2, 2009 it was reported the Outpost Mest Commander met with the local Elders to seek information and request their assistance in recovery and learning the wellbeing of PCF Bergdahl. The Taliban had asked the Elders to be the go between the Taliban and the U.S. Military to work a trade. The Elders assured the Commander that PFC Bergdahl was alive and not being harmed. The Taliban wanted 15 of their own held in American prisons to be released and an unspecified amount of money in exchange for PFC Bergdahl. The Commander offered to request resources to help the Elders defend themselves if they would help get PFC Bergdahl back from the Taliban. The Elders said they would try, and they even attempted to contact the Taliban so that the Commander could speak to Bergdahl but the communications network was down so the call did not go through. The last reported physical sighting of PFC Bergdahl was on July 4, 2009 where he had a bag over his head, wearing dark khaki apparel being transported in a black Toyota Corrolla escorted by motorcycles. Between December 2009 and May 2011 the Taliban have released five videos of Bergdahl but there has not been anything for thirteen months now. There are reports that negotiations have been ongoing for an exchange W HO A RE D P M O & J PAC ( C O N T.) October 1, 2003 the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) began operations. JPAC has four permanent detachments to conduct field investigations, searches, recovery, and laboratory analysis: (Detachment #1) is located in Bangkok and Thailand; (Detachment #2) is located in Hanoi, Vietnam; (Detachment #3) is located in Vientiane, Laos; and (Detachment #4) is located in Honolulu, Hawaii. The roots of JPAC began in 1973 when the Central Identification Laboratory (CIL), Thailand (CIL-THAI) was established to focus on the Americans still missing in Southeast Asia. In 1976 the Central Identification Laboratory (CIL) in Thailand was closed and moved to Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, Hawaii (CILHI) to search for, recover, and identify missing Americans from all previous conflicts. In 1992, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting (JTF-FA) was established to focus on achieving the fullest possible accounting of Americans missing as a result of the Vietnam War. In 2002 DoD determined that POW/MIA accounting efforts would be best served by combining JTF-FA and CILHI, thus effective Oct. 1, 2003: JTF-FA and CILHI joined together to form JPAC. Today JPAC s CIL is the largest and most diverse forensic skeletal laboratory in the world. JPAC reports its results to DPMO and will receive information for investigations from DPMO. Through the efforts of DPMO and JPAC, 16 servicemen have been accounted from January 1 - April : World War II: 2 Korea: 11 Vietnam/Laos: 2 Iraq: 1 O C T O B E R B O O T P A T C H E S C O N G R A D U L A T I O N S Jill Anderson (Left) and Paul Huber (Right) Receives their Boot Patches

8 Page 8 S E P T E M B E R B O O T P A T C H E S C O N G R A D U L A T I O N S Dave Webster (Left) and Ron Boivin (Center Left ) Cheryl Vaccaro (Center) and Tom Couture (Right) Receives their Boot Patches O C T O B E R B A C K P A T C H E S C O N G R A D U L A T I O N S Kim Hebert (Left) and Bob (Boob) Bergeron (Right) Receives their Back Patches S GT. B O W E R. B E R G D A H L S T O R Y ( C O N T ) and a fairly reliable source that Bergdahl is still alive. PFC Bergdahl was last seen at his firing position performing guard duty on Outpost Mest. There has been much speculation in how he disappeared in the press. Though the Defense Department has not officially reported anything on this subject, there was reported intercepted radio traffic of the Taliban bragging and the added insult how they captured Bergdahl with his pants down in a latrine. If this is true, it would explain why he didn t have his personal weapon with him at the time of his capture, as its common practice to ask a buddy to watch your weapon when they go to the latrine. We may not find out the actual circumstances of his capture until the situation is resolved.bowe R. Bergdahl s was born March 28, 1986 in Sun Valley, Idaho. His home town is Hailey, Idaho where his father Robert and mother Jani live, along with his older sister Sky. Robert Bergdahl is a United Parcel Service (UPS) driver and works the family 40 acre farm in the town of 6,000. Bowe was home schooled and earned a high school equivalency and then traveled a lot which included a three month hitch on a commercial fishing boat off the coast of Alaska. He was into dirt bike riding and ballet dancing. At the age of 25 he joined the active U.S. Army and did not tell his parents until after the fact. After his training, Bowe was assigned to Co. B, 1st Bn, 501st Infantry Regt., 4th BCT, 25th ID stationed at Fort Richardson, just outside Anchorage, Alaska. His unit deployed to eastern Afghanistan in February In May 2009 his Company B was assigned to Outpost Mest. The next month he was taken prisoner. Since Bowe has been in captivity, the U.S. Army has promoted him twice. In June 2010 he was promoted to Specialist Fourth Class (E-4) and in June 2011 he was promoted to Sergeant (E- 5). If Bowe R. Bergdahl s disappearance was suspicious to the Army it is highly unlikely the Army would have promoted him while in captivity.

9 Page 9 A LITTLE AIR FORCE HUMOR by Bob (Scooter) S E P T E M B E R B A C K & B O O T P A T C H E S C O N G R A D U L A T I O N S Randy Reagan (Left) and Dorothy Reagan (Right) Receives their Back & Boot Patches

10 Page 10 NH Chapter 1 PO Box 343 Epping, NH Phone mailto:president@rolling-thunder-nh1.org DEFENSE PRISONER OF WAR / MISSING PERSONNEL OFFICE (DPMO) Official DPMO Count as of October 22, 2012* Unaccounted For WWII Korean War Cold War Vietnam War Gulf War Iraq Other Operations Total Total MIA ***73,681 *7, , ,410 * NOTE: The Count for the Unaccounted is constantly changing as investigations are opened or completed. This count is for only completed conflicts so anyone missing in Afghanistan, like Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, are still under the Jurisdiction of that military branch. Accountablity for Iraq was turned over to DPMO on December 1, DPMO also accounts DOD Cililians and DOD Contractors. The 3 missing in Iraq are DOD Contractors. ** Reflects actual number still unaccounted-for. Personnel Management Korea (PMKOR) database count is slightly higher due to several entries pending administrative review. *** The number represents those missing from World War II as determined from the congressionally-mandated World War II Return of the Dead Program, (which ended Dec. 31, 1951), and the final 1956 Army Graves Registration Service (AGRS) roster which listed all WWII individuals considered unresolved by AGRS at that point (it contained 80,871 names but included 6,299 men officially buried at sea who are not considered missing). The present total reflects those numbers as well as those recovered and identified since 1956 and will continue to be updated as ongoing identifications are made or as research supports adjustments to the list. WEEKLY POW/MIA VIGIL - MEREDITH NH Every Thursday evening starting at 7:00 p.m. people gather in Hesky Park, located in Meredith, New Hampshire The Thursday evening Vigils started in August of 1989 in an effort to raise awareness about the abandonment of Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action. The first Vigil lasted 15 minutes; one minute to symbolize each year since the US State Department declared, "There are no more prisoners in Southeast Asia. They are all dead." The vigil now spans 32 minutes. The Meredith POW/MIA Vigil is believed to be the longest consecutively-held vigil in the United States. There has never been a Thursday night Vigil unattended since its inception. Vigil goers have weathered MONTHLY POW/MIA VIGIL - MANCHESTER NH Just want to let everyone know that there is a monthly POW/MIA Vigil held in Manchester NH on the 1st Wednesday of every month. This is usually the day after our meeting. It is held at Veterans Park on Elm Street. Currently it's a small group. UPCOMING EVENTS: 2012 NOVEMBER 4- NOVEMBER 6- NOVEMBER 10- NOVEMBER 12- DECEMBER JANUARY 8- FEBRUARY 5- MARCH 5 - APRIL 2- MAY 7- JUNE 4- JULY 2- AUGUST 6 SEPTEMBER 3- OCTOBER 1-10:30am-12:00pm Boscawen Cemetery Cleanup 6pm-11pm Patriotic Night Epping Legion Veterans Day Observed 7:30pm Monthly Meeting & Christmas Party & Yankee Swap

11 THE CLOSING SHOT Page 11 Bob (Boob) is Thinking: HOW MANY BOOKS IS STEVE GOING TO MAKE ME MOVE THIS WEEK!!!!!! NEVER FORGET