On April 25, 1998: I sent an e-mail to the White House asking what the U.S.Government was doing about the Pow/Mia issue. In particular about our adopted Pow/Mia: USAF Maj. Thomas Edward Clark, who was lost over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, and about the other Pow/mias lost in Laos. That the Secrecy Act had been over for 20 years and US is aiding Laos while Laos hasn't returned any Pow/Mias. On June 17, 1998 I received a reply from The DOD Office of Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel explaining what is happening in this issue.

They said that the pilots in 3 other aircraft on that mission witnessed the crash and saw no signs of survival. Returning Pows did not report seeing or hearing of Maj. Clark in the North Vietnam prison system or in the jungle prisons of Laos or Vietnam. ( I wonder if they asked them? I know I would have if he was on the list of pow/mia).

1) Since 1991 DOD investigators have conducted 2 investigations in Vietnam in the effort to account for Maj. Clark ( I wonder why Vietnam while he was lost in Laos? ).

2) They have found his crash site and evidence that he was in the cockpit at the time of crash but cannot find his body (What did he do? just disappear into thin air?).

3) That in spite of this they are still investigating this matter. (where? in Nam or Laos)

4) They have more than 500 men and women working on the Pow/Mia issue.

5) As of the date of the letter there are 2,089 serviemen unaccounted for in Southeast Asia with 447 of those in Laos. That dispite all theories that US Serviemen are being held captive, they find NO evidence that any American Servicemen are being held in captivity anywhere in the world. In other words read our lips: "Trust Me."

Respectfully signed:

DOD Defense Prisoner Of War/Missing Personnel Office