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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Today, there are an estimated 21.7 million
3veterans living in the United States, the oldest having served
4in World War II; and
 
5    WHEREAS, From Illinois, there are approximately 3,000 to
64,000 veterans from World War II, 300-400 veterans from the
7Korean War, and 65 veterans from the Vietnam War; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Since the United States was founded, over 80
9million Americans have served in the United States Military;
10and
 
11    WHEREAS, Many soldiers never returned home and may still be
12classified as Prisoners of War (POWs), Missing in Action (MIA)
13or died while in captivity (POW-MIA-BNR-DCC-XX); and
 
14    WHEREAS, Currently, over 80,000 American service personnel
15are still considered MIA; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Many of the wartime missing in action, who need to
17be recovered and returned, remain entombed within the borders
18of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, North Korea, China, and Russia; and
 
19    WHEREAS, The Defense Intelligence Agency established the

 

 

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1Stony Beach program in 1986 in an effort to help resolve these
2cases; the Stony Beach mission is to achieve the fullest
3possible accounting of unaccounted-for Americans from the
4Vietnam War; it is the only U.S. government entity focused
5solely on Vietnam War POW/MIA accounting; and
 
6    WHEREAS, The United States and the DIA-Stony Beach ground
7teams need to continue to pursue any leads that could result in
8the arrest of former wartime criminals; and
 
9    WHEREAS, The wartime interrogation teams need to be
10captured and brought to justice, as there is no statute of
11limitations for war crimes; and
 
12    WHEREAS, The former Select U.S. Sub-committee on POW-MIA
13Affairs was allowed to dissolve without notification and needs
14to be reestablished; and
 
15    WHEREAS, The U.S. Senate POW-MIA committee discovered that
16a 1,000-page report was generated, detailing the many
17challenges and efforts to bring MIAs home; therefore, be it
 
18    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL
19ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we support all efforts
20to locate and return those missing in action from Illinois,
21including the reestablishment of previous committees; and be it

 

 

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1further
 
2    RESOLVED, That we urge all U.S. Military organizations to
3abide by the Department of Defense rules and policies when DPAA
4JFI-JFR teams are locked into excavating a potential grave
5site, so as not to compromise or jeopardize the site; and be it
6further
 
7    RESOLVED, That we urge the U.S. Department of Defense DPAA
8to remove those currently listed as Dead-XX and give these
9American service personnel the same privilege and opportunity
10of being reclassified onto the Master Excavation Listing (MEL)
11country by country.