Soldier Missing from Vietnam War Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of a serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Army Chief Warrant Officer George A. Howes, of Knox, Ind., will be buried Aug. 5 in Arlington National Cemetery. On Jan. 10, 1970, Howes and three aircrew members were returning to their base at Chu Lai, South Vietnam aboard a UH-1C Huey helicopter. Due to bad weather, their helicopter went down over Quang Nam Province, Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.). A search was initiated for the crew, but no sign of the helicopter or crew was spotted.

In 1989, the S.R.V. gave to U.S. specialists 25 boxes that reportedly contained the remains of U.S. servicemen related to this incident. Later that year, additional remains and a military identification tag from one of the other missing servicemen were obtained from a Vietnamese refugee.

Between 1993 and 1999, joint U.S./S.R.V. teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted three investigations in Ho Chi Minh City and two investigations in Quang Nam-Da Nang Province (formerly Quang Nam Province). A Vietnamese citizen in Ho Chi Minh City turned over a military identification tag bearing Howes’ name and told the team he knew where the remains of as many as nine American servicemen were buried. He agreed to lead the team to the burial site. In 1994, the team excavated the site and recovered a metal box and several bags containing human remains. In 2006, the remains of three of the four men were identified and buried. No remains could be attributed to Howes given the technology of the time. In 2008, given advances in DNA technology, the remains were reanalyzed.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used dental comparisons and mitochondrial DNA – which matched that of Howes’ sister and brother—in the identification of the remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, call (703) 699-1169 or visit the DPMO website at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo .

Welcome Home a Hero - Maryland Edition

Are you located within driving distance of BWI airport in Balitmore Maryland?

Are you interested in doing something more than just putting a yellow ribbon magnet on your car? Then how about considering joining....

Operation Welcome Home Maryland (OWHMD)

This organization is dedicated to welcoming our troops home from the war. In 2009 OWHMD greeted 201 flights with 42, 044 personnel. If you would like to be part of this effort to make our troops feel a warm welcome on their return, then see the information below about flight dates and times.

Below are the Times and Dates for March 2010. Remember the times are NOT the flight arrival time but the time for Volunteers to arrive so we can hang posters and make goodie bags. The times CAN change so PLEASE CALL THE HOT LINE AT LEAST TWO HOURS BEFORE LEAVING FOR THE AIRPORT. The HOT LINE # 410-630-1555. Also below are some helpful hints.

There is an UNSCHEDULED FLIGHT that may come in on any day of the week Check HOT LINE (410-630-1555) after 9 AM on on any day and keep checking a couple of times on a day for a flight.


Friday March 5, 2010 at 800 PM

Wednesday March 10, 2010 at 130 PM

Thursday March 11, 2010 at 530 PM

Friday March 12, 2010 at 900 PM

Friday March 19, 2010 at 300 PM

Tuesday March 23, 2010 at 830 PM

Thursday March 25, 2019 at 200 PM


Here are the hints to help:

Please check their Hotline (410.630.1555) about two hours before coming to BWI-Marshall Airport and again just prior to leaving for the airport.. If there are any changes to the arrival schedule, the Hotline message will be updated with the new information.

We ask that you park in the Hourly Parking Garage, Level 3, Section 3H and that you remember to bring your parking ticket with you into the International Terminal for validation.

Operation Welcome Home (MD) thanks you for your donations. We are an all-volunteer organization and, without your generous donations, we would not be able to provide each returning service member with a 'goody bag'.

Operation Welcome Home - Maryland

One of the top google searches to The Thunder Run is in search of information related to the Welcome Home a Hero Program made famous by the interview of Bert Brady in Dallas Fort-Worth.

The problem encountered with these requests is that to date there just isn't a single clearing house to put people in touch with a lcoal program, so as a service, I try tolink and post about local programs. Today, I just found out about such a program in Maryland that welcomes home troops arriving at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshal Airport.

Fittingly enough this program is called Operation Welcome Home - Maryland

Hundreds of our Sailors, Airmen, Soldiers and Marines return from the War on Terror every week though the gates of the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Since March 2007, Operation Welcome Home volunteers have greeted over 160 flights and more than 33,000 Soldiers, Sailors,
Airmen and Marines.

Volunteers are always needed to give our troops the hero’s welcome that they deserve. Operation Welcome Home (Maryland) averages one welcome home event per week, and YOU could be part of the excitement. Individuals, corporations, youth groups, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, civic organizations, religious organizations, and government agencies have all participated in events since our founding in March 2007.

Volunteers help decorate the lobby with patriotic signs and banners. They also package “goodie bags” for the troops, many of whom are hungry, thirsty, and tired from their travels and will be waiting on a connecting flight. When the troops arrive through the doors of the International Arrival terminal, we shower them with praise, cheering them on, hugging them, offering them a “goodie bag,” and thanking them for their service.

If you are in the Baltimore Washington Metro area and want to take part in one of these events, just click here and join the other patriots honoring our heroes as they return home!

Pease Greeters

Most of us have seen the video of Bert Brady with the Welcome Home a Hero Program out of Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. Well I was recently informed that if you are in Hew Hampshire you can do the same thing with the Pease Greeters!

Pease Greeter Leader Ed Johnson writes on their web page:

In the Spring of 2005 the Seacoast Detachment, Marine Corps League met their first flight of Veterans returning from the Near East at the Pease Air Terminal in Portsmouth, NH. We now have flights both returning and heading overseas.

For the first few flights there were only a few Marines greeting them in a rather sterile and cavernous room. Since then the Greeters group has grown to well over 100 elders and youths all offering their thanks and greetings for these heros.

The Greeters have not missed a flight since inception, over 120 visits.

They assemble in an hours notice. Some drive as much as 100 miles to be there. They are too old to fight but young enough to care. They show respect for the troops and for their service to our Country.

First, the returning troops are processed through Customs and then set foot on US soil many for the first time in over a year. The 100 or so men and women are now home from the Global War on Terrorism.

For those heading overseas, this is their last stop in the US.

Then the troops arrive to a boisterous welcome. The Greeters are proud of them and give the troops hearty applause, sincere handshakes, and expressions of "welcome home or welcome to New Hampshire, thanks for a job well done, or we'll be here to greet you upon your safe return."

Everyone has a camera to record this happy event. Often the troops want pictures of the greeters. They hug and thank them for being there in the wee hours of the morning or late in the evening. Business cards are exchanged. Friends are made.

Soon they move on to enjoy hot coffee, doughnuts, pizza and other refreshments ON AMERICAN SOIL.

Initially cell phones were freely offered by the Greeters for the troops to call home with news of their safe arrival. Now a bank of twenty permanently mounted phones may be used free of charge exclusively for the veterans courtesy of Whaleback Systems, a company located in the Pease Tradeport.

Before leaving, all gather in the great room for group picture taking. Pictures of the heroes passing through Pease are posted on the walls of the airport in the hall aptly named "Hero's Walk".

Before boarding, the troops stand, uncover, and the Chaplain offers a Prayer of Thanks for their safe arrival and prays for their speedy and safe return to their home and families. One hundred plus voices say "Amen" in unison.

More than one has a tear in his eye.

Then they are gone.

Gone home to their families or to fight in the Global War on Terrorism.

They will always remember their welcome by the PEASE Family of Greeters.

Bravo Greeters, and Thank you for your service to OUR Country.