Time running out for sister in search of Vietnam MIA
Whenever people pass through Macon’s interchange at Interstates 75 and 16, Jo Anne Shirley asks that they say a little prayer, because she needs a miracle.
The interchange is named for her brother, Bobby Jones, who is the only person from Macon still listed as missing in Vietnam. She started looking for him more than 40 years ago, and she believes time is running out.
Jones, an Air Force physician, was a passenger on an F-4 fighter jet thought to have crashed on a remote mountain during a non-combat mission. Starting in 1997 U.S. investigators have made three trips to the suspected area of the crash and have found no remains.
Due to the acidic nature of the soil in Vietnam, Shirley said, within about five years there likely will be no bone fragments left to be found. If there are, there probably won’t be enough for a DNA sample. She does not hold out much hope her brother’s remains will ever be found.
“The government says they’ve done everything they can do, and basically they have,” Shirley said, as she stood Thursday by the POW/MIA monument at the Museum of Aviation. “That’s the problem. There’s really nothing else they can do. But I think miracles do happen, and I think that’s a possibility.”
The plane Jones was traveling in disappeared from radar on Nov. 28, 1972. Rescuers weren’t able to go to the crash site at the time due to enemy activity.
About a year later Shirley and her parents became actively involved with the American League of POW/MIA Families. She would serve as chairwoman of the board of directors for 15 years, and she is now the league’s coordinator for Georgia. Last week she traveled across the state, including a stop in Warner Robins, for ceremonies held in connection with National POW/MIA Recognition Day, which was Friday.
Her father, who never missed a league meeting, died in 1994. Her mother will soon turn 98 but still remains involved as much as she can.
“I love my brother, but I learned very quickly that this issue is not just about Bobby,” Shirley said. “It’s about all of our guys that are missing and unaccounted for and the obligation that we have to never leave them behind.”
She has made four trips to Vietnam and surrounding countries through the years, not just for her brother but to promote better cooperation to find all of the missing. She has been present at about a dozen site excavations.
After decades of frustration with her brother’s case, it might seem Shirley would be downtrodden, but quite the opposite is true. She speaks about the POW/MIA issue with vigor and enthusiasm.
“It’s been an amazing experience, and it’s blessed me in so many ways,” she said. “Every time we get an answer for somebody, whether it’s World War II or Korea and Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, that is a victory.”
The closest they have been to an answer is the discovery of her brother’s “blood chit” during a search of the crash area in 2008. The blood chit is a segment of silk sewn into the uniform that, in varying languages, identifies the person as an American and asks that any civilian who finds it render assistance to the person wearing it.
The number on it confirmed that it belonged to Jones. For Shirley, it was a little too convenient. It was found easily at the base of a tree, and did not appear as eroded as would have been expected.
She believes someone who knew of the visit, which has to be approved by the Vietnam government, including the specific location, put the blood chit there perhaps to give some resolution to the case.
That and the fact that a diligent search of the site turned up no bones and only some small aircraft parts, leads her to believe someone removed the bodies. Therefore, she believes, the best hope in finding her brother is in finding the person whom she believes put the blood chit there.
SHE’S NOT SHY
Michael Keith came to know Shirley when he worked as a B-1 bomber crew chief at Robins Air Force Base. Once he learned about her cause, he became an ardent supporter and has been to Washington with her many times to lobby Congress.
Now retired, he said Shirley is not shy about telling people of any office or rank what she thinks about the importance of bringing home missing troops.
“She’s tenacious, diligent ... she just never stops,” Keith said. “She has no problem putting foot to butt when needed. She has no problem telling somebody when they are doing something right or doing something wrong.”
Since the Vietnam War ended in 1975, 942 of those missing in action have been accounted for. That leaves 1,641 still missing.
For World War II, there are 73,539 still missing, and for the Korean War there are 7,882, Shirley said. She also listed 126 for the Cold War and four for Iraq and Afghanistan.
She said the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which was the primary responsibility for recovery, does a good job. However, she said the problem is that the unit is underfunded.
On average the remains of about 70 missing in action are recovered each year. The 2010 defense spending bill, she said, mandated that 200 be recovered each year. The problem was that it included no additional funding to achieve that. Then sequestration cut funds.
“It sounds good and it looks good,” she said, “but we need increased funding to accomplish this issue.”
To contact writer Wayne Crenshaw, call 256-9725.
This story was originally published September 19, 2014 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Time running out for sister in search of Vietnam MIA ."