Briefs
Advertiser Staff and News Services
AIR FORCE
Remains to arrive Friday
A ceremony will be held at Hickam Air Force Base at 9 a.m. Friday for arrival of the remains of what are believed to be three servicemen who died in the Vietnam War.
The arrival ceremony will include joint honor and color guards.
Remains believed to represent one person were recovered by the 68th Joint Field Activity, which had six recovery teams in six Vietnam provinces. The teams consisted of about 95 people, mostly Hawai'i-based U.S. military personnel from the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawai'i, and Joint Task Force-Full Accounting based at Camp Smith.
The remains recovered in Vietnam were from the site where an F-4B Phantom aircraft is believed to have crashed in 1967 in Nam Dinh Province. Another set of remains was turned over by government officials. A third set of remains was recovered by one of four teams that went to Laos in February. It was recovered from the site of a UH-1D helicopter crash site. The aircraft went down in 1968 in Savannakhet Province.
ARMY
Brigade change to be assessed
The Army is expected to begin soon the process of preparing an Environmental Impact Statement to assess the effects of transforming the 2nd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division (Light) into an Interim Brigade Combat Team.
The impact statement will begin with a series of public meetings on O'ahu and the Big Island to explain the plan and provide an opportunity for input. Dates and times for the meetings have not yet been given.
The fast-responding combat teams are based around armored troop carriers. Schofield Barracks is expected to receive 435 of the troop carriers.
The transformation will require construction and possible changes to facilities and infrastructure on O'ahu and the Big Island, the Army said in a release.
The Army is expected to hold meetings for a similar EIS for live-fire training in M?kua Valley at about the same time. Times and dates for the M?kua meetings also have not been given.
Teams to go to Pacific island
Two search and recovery teams from the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawai'i, will leave Thursday for Papua New Guinea on 45-day missions to recover American service members unaccounted for from World War II.
One of the 10-person teams will deploy to the mountainous jungles of the Lae region, where a B-24 bomber crashed in 1944. The other team will head to the mountains of the Kokoda Pass, where a B-25 bomber went down in 1942.
In 1995 and 2001, the laboratory excavated the site and recovered possible crew remains and personal effects. Because of water drainage problems, further recovery was postponed.
Stamp to honor West Point
A new postage stamp marking the bicentennial of the U.S. Military Academy will be issued Saturday, the Postal Service said.
Ceremonies for the issuing of the 34-cent stamp will be held at West Point, N.Y., during the Academy's Founder's Day celebration. The stamp will go on sale nationwide.
The stamp was designed by Derry Noyes of Washington, D.C. It features a color photograph of the West Point coat of arms, including an American bald eagle atop the United States shield. On the shield is a helmet of Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, learning and warfare.
