Thursday closures

Closure,  as in resolution. Today we have three:

Monday, Captain Ronald Forrester was laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery. He was originally listed as missing in action in Vietnam.

“When daddy was shot down we were told not to give up hope,” said Karoni Forrester.

But after years of waiting, Karoni’s hope was shattered when all service men missing in action in Southeast Asia were presumed dead.

“There are over 80,000 unresolved cases from our past conflicts,” said Dr. Debra Prince Zinni, deputy director of the lab. “It’s a really humbling mission to be a part of.”

In 1991, DPAA teams started searching a rice paddy where a U.S. plane may have crashed in 1972.

The investigation continued for over 30 years, until last December.

“The casualty officer said, ‘We got a match.’” Karoni recalled.

Her dad, identified by a gas card with his name on it, and a single bone fragment that matched his DNA.

After a journey spanning five decades and crossing the world, Karoni brought her dad to his final resting place, bringing closure for a daughter who vowed never to give up.MSN

51 years. Longer than many of us have been alive. Think about it.

Next up, March 1, 1942. Three months after Japan tried to make itself the preeminent Pacific power at Pearl Harbor, and for one isolated destroyer, it must have seemed like it. The USS Edsall was sunk with over 200 aboard. On Veteran’s Day, it was announced that her final resting place on the floor of the Indian Ocean had been located.

“Capt. Joshua Nix and his crew fought valiantly, evading 1,400 shells from Japanese battleships and cruisers, before being attacked by 26 carrier-dive bombers, taking only one fatal hit,” Caroline Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador to Australia, said in a joint video statement recorded with Vice Adm. Mark Hammond, head of the Royal Australian Navy.

Hammond said the 314-foot destroyer held a special place in naval history. “The USS Edsall served valiantly during WWII, most notably in the early Pacific campaign. She operated alongside Australian warships protecting our shores and played a role in the sinking of the Japanese submarine I124 off Darwin,” he said.

Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the chief of U.S. naval operations, said in a statement, “The wreck of this ship is a hallowed site, serving as a marker for the 185 U.S. Navy personnel and 31 U.S. Army Air Force pilots aboard at the time, almost all of whom were lost when Edsall succumbed to her battle damage.”

The Edsall managed to evade shells from Japanese warships on the day it was sunk by undertaking some extreme maneuvers and using smokescreens — which led at least one Japanese combatant to describe the Edsall as a “Dancing Mouse,” according to the U.S. Navy’s official history of the ship, referring to a popular pet at the time.  NBC News

Makes you wonder whether this, as much as Yamamoto’s grim prediction, should have told the Japanese something. Takes over a thousand rounds to sink one of the oppos – this may not be as easy as they thought.

Fourteen HUNDRED  shells. “Dancing Mouse” indeed.

Moving from our hallowed dead, a bit of good news (well, I consider it so.)  Jack Texeira, that Massachusetts Air Guard who leaked classified documents (on a social media site!), having pled guilty to six counts of “willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act, got sentenced to fifteen years in prison Tuesday.

The security breach raised alarm over America’s ability to protect its most closely guarded secrets and forced the Biden administration to scramble to try to contain the diplomatic and military fallout. The leaks embarrassed the Pentagon, which tightened controls to safeguard classified information and disciplined members found to have intentionally failed to take required action about Teixeira’s suspicious behavior.  MSN II

The air is getting crisp in Leavenworth this time of year. Gets a bit chilly in months to come…and pretty warm come summertime. Enjoy, Jack.

Category: Air Force, Navy, Vietnam, We Remember, WWII