The Coalition‘s Vice President, John Zimmerlee, Retires
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John Zimmerlee has been one of the Coalition’s most active members for twenty-five years. As he now moves on to retirement, we extend our deepest appreciation to him for his dedication to the POW/MIA accounting mission.
In 1998, John became the Coalition’s first new member. For many years, he has regularly attended government briefings and devoted countless hours at the National Archives, and elsewhere, to researching the fates of Korean War POW/MIAs, one of whom is his father. Along the way, John developed a detailed analytical database that suggests possible, and often likely, connections between unidentified remains and men who have yet to be accounted for. Every year at the annual government briefing in Washington, D.C. he has met with individual family members and provided information that might assist them in their search for answers. In addition to this invaluable contribution to the accounting effort, John has been a dedicated member of the Coalition’s Board of Directors. Over the years we have tackled various aspects of the accounting effort—sometimes piece by piece, sometimes with an eye to the effort as a whole. Regardless of the issue, John has been there with, and for, the rest of us, offering opinions, ideas and perspective. John has lent himself to the mission because he, like other families of missing servicemen, understands the impact of having lost a family member without answers as to his fate. Was he killed in action? Was he taken prisoner? Was he transferred to the Soviet Union and exploited for his knowledge and expertise? These are questions we all face. They bind us together because we share a collective wound. John’s contributions to the accounting effort over these many years will not be forgotten. He has partnered with us all in the search for answers. And so, we offer our thanks to our dear friend and fellow POW/MIA family member, John Zimmerlee, for all he has done on behalf of our quest for closure. |
'Database at Ready'
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