The Missing Man Formation
Pilots fly this magnificent and solemn aerial maneuver for presidents, potentates, astronauts, and other pilots of note as a tribute and showing of love, respect, and camaraderie for a brother pilot.
This maneuver is sometimes flown with the wingman spiraling off or it is flown consistently with a hole where another should be.
The USAF Thunderbirds were the first military aerobatics unit to ever perform the maneuver. They flew it for the first time to honor the men and women who were then POWs in Vietnam. Aerial demonstration squadrons have now adopted the formation and perform it during ceremonial events such as National POW-MIA Recognition Day, Memorial Day, during funerals and at interrment of repatriated remains of Prisoners of War and Missing in Action.
Welcome Home:
Col James E. Dennany
Major Robert L. Tucci
1st Lt Robert F. Dees
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I Got The News Today (IGTNT) , which is among the oldest continuous series on Daily Kos, provides members of this community a venue to pay their respects to those who have died as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The IGTNT title is a reminder that nearly every day the family of an active duty service member receives the terrible news that their beloved has died.
It has been the IGTNT tradition, when feasible, to cover the news of the remains of those service members who became missing while in service of our nation. To date, more than 88,000 Americans are missing from World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the 1991 Gulf War. For more detailed information please visit the Defense Prisoner Of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO).
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If I Could Be Where You Are
~ Lyrics written by Roma Ryan
~ Performed by Enya
Where are you this moment
Only in my dreams
You're missing, but you're always
a heartbeat from me.
I'm lost now without you.
I don't know where you are.
I keep watching,
I keep hoping,
but time keeps us apart.
Is there a way I can find you?
Is there a sign I should know?
Is there a road I could follow,
to bring you back home?
Winter lies before me,
Now you're so far away
In the darkness of my dreaming
The light of you will stay
If I could be close beside you,
If I could be where you are,
If I could reach out and touch you,
And bring you back home.
Is there a way I can find you?
Is there a sign I should know?
Is there a road I could follow,
to bring you back home?
To me...
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The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of two servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
Air Force Col. James E. Dennany, 34, of Kalamazoo, Mich., and Maj. Robert L. Tucci, 27, of Detroit, will be buried as a group Jan. 14, in the Dallas-Ft. Worth National Cemetery.
~Full DoD announcement
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Colonel James Eugene Dennany, 34, of Kalamazoo, Michigan
Col. James E. Dennany Sr., who graduated from Mattawan High School in 1953, was a decorated Air Force major serving as a navigator on a Phantom F-4D fighter jet that was downed by anti-aircraft fire during a night-time attack on an enemy truck convoy on Nov. 11, 1969. He was listed as Missing In Action on that date and nine years later his status changed to Killed In Action.
Dennany was among 32 members of the class of 1953 at Mattawan High School, where he played varsity football and was a member of the student council. He joined the military out of high school and qualified for officer’s training and to become a pilot.
While taking classes in Harlingen, Texas, Dennany met Emily Hon. They were married in August 1956 and began their family of seven children. Meanwhile, Dennany was being transferred to Riverside, Calif., K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base in Michigan, Laramie, Wyo., where he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering in 1968 from the University of Wyoming, and Florida.
Dennany's daughter, Melissa Harrington of Dallas, said:
Dad was assigned to Harlingen for training. He and a buddy went on an outing to Brownsville, and that's where he met my mother. They met on the steps of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Before Dad left for Vietnam, he moved us all back to Brownsville so my mom could be with family and friends.
My mom was very proud of Dad's service. I would have loved to experience this with my mother. But she's in heaven with Dad right now.
Dennany’s son, James E. Dennany Jr., of Humble, Texas, near Houston, said he and at least three of his four sisters, all of whom still live in Texas, where Dennany met and married his wife, Emily, would be in attendance at Friday’s ceremony.
Dennany’s two other sons, Brian and Sean, died in 1983 and 1985, respectively, and Emily Dennany died of cancer in 2002.
Son, James E. Dennany, Jr. said:
It took the family years to finally accept he would not be coming home alive from the Vietnam War.
The Pentagon said anti-aircraft fire struck the plane. Tucci was the pilot and Dennany the weapons system officer.
His last words were, "There's fire."
Col James E. Dennany was posthumously promoted from Major to Colonel.
~ Source ~ Source ~ Source
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Major Robert Leon Tucci, 27, of Detroit, Michigan
Major Robert L.Tucci was the only child of Leon and Jean Tucci. His father Leon was an Air Force pilot in World War II and the Korean War.
After failed air searches for his downed F-4D Phantom, Bob and his weapons system officer, Col. James E. Dennany, 34, of Lansing, were declared Missing In Action and nine years later their status was changed to Killed in Action.
A series of conflicting government reports fueled hope that Tucci and Dennany may have survived the crash, and were being held captive by the communist regime in Hanoi. These reports spurred Tucci's father Leon and Nelson Amsdill, then commander of the Fraser VFW, to contact Macomb Daily to enlist help at promoting a petition drive for signatures urging Hanoi to give us news about the missing airman.
For reporter Mitch Kehetian, this began what he referred to as a life learning experience.
Mitch became instrumental in assisting the Tucci family in their search for their son Bob. So much was his involvement that he was asked to speak at a memorial service held in 1968 at St. Germaine Church in St. Clair Shores where Bob’s uncle, the Rev. Italo Tucci, served as pastor.
Though he and Dennany were given full military honors at their burial Friday at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, his mother Jean is asking the government to re-bury her son’s remains at the Tucci family plot at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Detroit.
My son belongs at his father’s burial site. Leon died last year. He suffered for so many years. Our Bobby belongs by his father. Then we will have full closure.
Jean Tucci declined to speak to anyone in the press except for Mitch Kehetian. He has chronicled the incredible journey of a father's search for his son here.
The Virtual Wall: Robert Leon Tucci
Major Robert L. Tucci was posthumously promoted from Captain to Major.
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The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, has been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
Air Force 1st Lt. Robert F. Dees, 23, of Moultrie, Ga., will be buried Jan. 22 at the Longstreet Historical Cemetery in Ozark, Ala.
~ Full DoD announcement.
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First Lieutenant Robert Franklin Dees, 23, of Moultrie, Georgia
The son of the late Charles Clayton and Ola Land Dees, Robert was born October 16, 1928 in Moultrie, Georgia. He graduated from Colquitt County High School in 1945. While at Colquitt County High School, he was active in academics, athletics and Future Farmers of America.
Upon graduation, Robert Dees was awarded the Margaret Pidcock Citizenship Award and a scholarship to Georgia Military Academy in College Park, Georgia. After graduating from Georgia Military Academy, he enlisted into the United States Air Force.
1st Lieutenant Dees was sent to North Korea where he became a member of the 430th Fighter Bomber Squadron (196th FBS) 474th Fighter Bomber Group. He was a pilot of an F-84E Thunderjet fighter. On October 9, 1952, while in North Korea on a combat mission, his aircraft received a direct hit by anti-aircraft fire. On December 31, 1953, 1st Lieutenant Dees was listed as missing in action and presumed dead.
Robert Dees' niece, Linda Dees was told in December that the Air Force had found her uncle's remains and had made positive identification from a DNA sample collected from Linda's father in 1999.
The lieutenant was the oldest of three sons raised in the country near Moultrie. Linda Dees said her father, Charles Harry was the middle son, and her uncle John was the baby of the family. Both men died without knowing the fate of their sibling.
The trio had a very close bond.
"Family history says that where you saw one of them, you saw all of them," Linda said. "Their mother died when they were young men."
First Lieutenant Robert F. Dees was buried on January 22nd at Longstreet Historical Cemetery also known as (Ebenezer Baptist Church Cemetery), in Ozark Alabama.
Among those officials present during the full military honors ceremony were Billy Blackwell, Ozark mayor; Martha Roby, U.S. Representative for Alabama's 2nd Congressional District; and Brig. Gen. Anthony G. Crutchfield, U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Rucker commanding general.
"I am here because I am one of his brothers," said Crutchfield, who spoke of the link between those who serve in the military.
Crutchfield recalled his time in Korea and meeting a Marine of Dees' generation while a battalion commander from 1998 to 2000 in South Korea. The Marine, a Korean War veteran, asked him for help in reaching a hill where he had lost four friends during the war.
Crutchfield provided a helicopter to fly that man to the hill.
"I arranged to take him there in a helicopter because it was the right thing to do. There, three decades later, the veteran reached down and retrieved a eagle, globe and anchor insignia that had long been buried beneath the battlefield rubble.
"Neither he nor I will ever forget that day...we are brothers," Crutchfield said.
"That is why I am here today, to honor a brother warrior," he said.
A family photo gallery can be viewed here. A Moody Air Force Base photo gallery of 1st Lt. Dee's funeral can be viewed here.
~Source ~Source ~ Source
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In Honor of Col James E. Dennany, Major Robert L. Tucci, 1st Lt Robert F. Dees and those to follow:
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About the IGTNT series:
"I Got the News Today" is a diary series intended to honor, respect, and remind us of the sacrifice of our US troops. Click here to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and which is maintained by Sandy on Signal, noweasels, monkeybiz, blue jersey mom, Chacounne, twilight falling, joyful, roses, SisTwo, SpamNunn, TrueBlueMajority, CalNM, Wide Awake in Kentucky, maggiejean, racheltracks, and me, JaxDem. These diaries are heartbreaking to write, but are an important service to those who have died, and show our community’s respect for them.
Fallen service members whose names have been released by the US Department of Defense will usually be diarized two days after the official announcement on the DoD website. This allows the IGTNT team to cover each person more fully, but still in a timely manner.
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POW/MIA: Afghanistan & Iraq
Two U.S. soldiers are currently listed as captured or Duty Status -- Whereabouts Unknown as of December 1, 2009.
Spc. Ahmed K. Altaie 41
and
Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl 23
Never forgotten - please keep good thoughts and prayers for these two men.
On December 8th new photos were published of Pfc Bowe R. Bergdahl in captivity. The article and images can be seen here.
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Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and family of the service members mentioned here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.