Loved ones seek clues on missing servicemen

Southeast Las Vegas resident Cynthia Overbay watched as her mother sifted through stacks of yellowed newspapers and brittle letters searching for the fate of a brother lost more than 50 years ago. Francis Stroup has been collecting information about her brother, Pfc. Robert Haynie, since she was 13.

Families from all over Nevada, California, Utah and Arizona gathered at the Alexis Park Hotel on Jan. 19 for an update presented by representatives from the Defense Department's Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office.

"They are doing everything that they can possibly do to find out what happened to these boys," Stroup said.

Stroup's brother joined the Army and shipped out to Korea on July 2, 1950. One month later the 17-year-old soldier was listed as missing in action.

"My grandmother wrote letters every day of her life to try and find out what happened to him," Overbay said.

After Stroup's mother died, the Reno resident vowed to continue the search. Haynie would be almost 70 years old now, but Stroup still holds on to hope of seeing him again.

"In her heart she knows that he is gone," Overbay said. "But in her mind she has hope."

The family has heard several accounts of what may have happened to Haynie. In one account he was killed in the first skirmish his unit encountered in a rice paddy. Other accounts had him captured and held as a POW or killed in a railroad tunnel after a train escape.

Stroup sat outside the hotel conference room unfolding the Western Union telegrams that announced her brother's loss. She adjusted her glasses and squinted at the fading newspaper photos of men in POW camps.

"I keep thinking if I look hard enough, I'll see him in one of these pictures," she said.

Through tears she said no matter what happened, she would prefer to know.

"I'm the last one left. The rest of my family is up there. So they all know what happened. I'm the only one left who doesn't know. I would like to have the closure."

Defense Department representative Peggy Marish-Boos said local presentations keep families up to date with government efforts to account for missing service members. At the Las Vegas update, families were giving information on DNA searches, document research and political efforts to expand the search in previously hostile countries.

While information is helpful, Marish-Boos said just gathering together can be healing for many.

"Just being with other people who have experienced the same loss is healthy," she said. "Suddenly people aren't so alone anymore."

"It helps to be with others," Overbay said. "I bawled my eyes out last night listening to all the stories."

The conference rooms were full of stories.

Northwest Las Vegas resident James Saavedra came to the update with his uncle, Joseph Saavedra Jr.

James Saavedra was 2 years old when his father, Cmdr. Robert Saavedra's Navy plane went down in the jungles of Southeast Asia on April 28, 1968. His mother was left with four children ranging in age from 1 to 8.

"I never really knew my father, but as I was growing up my mother was very open and talked about him and what he had done and accomplished," Saavedra said.

After seven years as an MIA, Saavedra's father was declared killed in action and a military funeral was held.

After the funeral Saavedra's mother remarried and the family went on, never knowing exactly what happened to his father.

Joseph Saavedra Jr. never gave up the search for his little brother. Surrounding pilots didn't see a parachute, but the remains were never uncovered, so he doesn't know what to think. The North Las Vegas resident has attended several conferences in Washington.

"I have to keep up with it, "Joseph Saavedra Jr. said. "We were very close."

Marish-Boos said recovery in Southeast Asia has been challenging, since many remains were burned up on impact in fiery crashes.

Saavedra is confident government officials are doing all they can to help with recovery.

"Some people feel the government isn't doing enough, " he said. "I really believe they are dedicated. They want closure themselves."

More information on the efforts to account for missing service members is available on the defense department web site at www.dtic.mil/dpmo.