I am the sister of Major Samuel N. Busch. My brother's B-29 was shot down in the Sea of Japan on June 13, 1952. For the past forty-six years my family has been looking for closure.

It isn't easy to find the words to express what has been in the hearts and minds of my family, and the families of thousands of POWs and MIAs of WWII, the Korean War, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War. Over the years family members have worried, I am sure like mine, about their loved ones; wondered if they were alive, if they were well, or if they were ever coming home. Time after time we have asked the government to help us with our search for the truth. All we had received in the past were lies, half-truths and misinformation.

All that we have ever wanted was to know the fate of our loved ones. In August of 1944, one of my brothers, at age 21, was killed on the battlefield in France: he is now buried in Beverly National Cemetery in New Jersey. Upon hearing of his death my family was devastated, but there was no uncertainty about his fate. He was dead, and we mourned him, and that is the normal response.

How do you morn a POW/MIA ? You can't. You don't. What you do is you pray, you unite with others, you question, you become assertive, you become aggressive, and obnoxious. You push your Senators and Congressman and investigative reporters. And maybe, just maybe, you will get people to listen to you.

That is what some veterans and family groups like the Coalition of Families of Korean and Cold War POW/MIAs, The Chosin Few, National Alliance of Families, and The Korean/Cold War Family Assoc. of the Missing have done. And it has worked. It's hard work, but it does work. We have had our successes, although small: declassification of some, not all records; the POW~ MIA Stamp, issued Memorial Day, of 1995; researchers to help those of us searching records; the discharge of an Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW /MIA Affairs who we felt was not working in the best interest of the families; and our participation in an inquiry by the Inspector General's Office into the DPMO.

We must never stop in our pursuit for what is right. There is so much more we the families need to do and need to know, so our hearts and minds can be put at ease after all this time. We must insist that our government make North Korea, China, and Russia accountable as to what happened during the 50's, 60, and 70's to our men.

There are people out there who say "enough is enough, give it up already. Do you know how much this POW/MIA thing is costing our government? " My response is, "these men paid the ultimate price, their lives. The cost was not too great for those men or their families to pay. To get closure is the least our government can do for them."

I would like to close with a few lines from the "Gates of Prayer ":

In the rising of the sun and in it's going down, we remember them.
In the blowing of the wind and the chill of winter, we remember them.
In the opening of buds and the rebirth of spring, we remember them.
In the rustling of leaves and in the beauty of Autumn, we remember them.
When we are weary and in need of strength, we remember them.
When we are lost and sick at heart, we remember them.
When we have joys we yearn to share, we remember them.
So long as we live, they too shall live, for they are now part of us, as we remember them.

Charlotte Busch Mitnik
Sister of Major Samuel N. Busch
Sea of Japan 06/13/52 MIA
S/SGT Morris H. Busch, France KIA 07/27/44