Son finally gets to bury father

Web posted Wednesday, November 1, 2000

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By Heidi Coryell
Staff Writer

Chris Rich has waited more than 33 years for his father's funeral.

And despite the decades-long wait, he still considers himself lucky to be attending a service for his father on Election Day at Arlington National Cemetery.

Chris Rich has been searching for his father, a pilot in the Vietnam War, for as long as he can remember. After 33 years, Mr. Rich will bury his dad's remains Tuesday. JEFF JANOWSKI/STAFF

``It's hard to give closure to something that has taken over 30 years,'' Mr. Rich said recently from his River Creek apartment.

In May 1967, Mr. Rich, his three brothers and his mother received a telegram from the military informing them that an F-4B Phantom jet believed to have been flown by Navy Cmdr. Richard Rich had been shot down over Vietnam by enemy fire. It was only 15 days before the pilot was scheduled to return home. Officials have been searching for the crash site ever since, and in the intervening years, the commander was promoted to captain, posthumously.

The Department of Defense will make its official announcement concerning the identification of Capt. Rich's remains today.

But Mr. Rich already has been presented with scientific evidence - studied at the Army's Central Identification Lab in Hawaii - that proves scattered remains unearthed last spring at a crash site about 20 miles southwest of Hanoi are those of his father.

Identifying MIAs The process of identifying recovered remains can take months and sometimes years. Forensic anthropologists with the Army's Central Identification Lab in Hawaii must go through the following steps before a positive identification can be made:  Dental X-ray experts attempt to establish identities using computers and an electron microscope.  Unusual characteristics and restorations are carefully examined.  Dental records are compared to the remains.  Forensic anthropologists develop a biological profile for skeletal remains and compile a profile that can include age, sex, stature and indication of injuries. Source: U.S. Army

The government recovered 30 bone chips and a single tooth from the site. And dental records indicate that the tooth matches a right pre-molar from the Navy airman.

``As hard as it is to live with these bone fragments as him, to hold and to touch them is almost the same thing as being able to go to the casket,'' Mr. Rich said. ``I'll be able to close this chapter of my life.''

The Pentagon reports that there still are 1,991 soldiers listed as missing in action from the Vietnam War, and excavations of crash sites continue to take place throughout the countryside.

Capt. Rich's case received an unusual amount of attention last spring when Secretary of Defense William Cohen made a visit to the Rich excavation site in March. It is the only site the government official has been to since he was sworn in to office in January 1997, Pentagon spokesman Larry Greer said.

``The commitment that the government has spelled out is, we will seek the fullest possible accounting of all missing in action from all conflicts,'' Mr. Greer said. Vietnamese workers and U.S. forensic specialists reported recovering bone fragments amid thousands of scraps of wiring and metal from Capt. Rich's excavation site before it was closed March 22. Within days, the remains were formally turned over to the United States and shipped to the Hawaiian lab for testing.

It took nearly six months to complete the tests that concluded the crash site was that of Capt. Rich.

The U.S. Department of Mortuary Affairs and the Navy's casualty office presented Mr. Rich with a blue, bound report detailing his father's death just a few days after his marriage Oct. 7 to Dianne Moore Rich, the daughter of missing in action Air Force Tech Sgt. Thomas Moore. The two moved to Augusta from Oakland, Calif., last year.

``Three decades is a long time to wait to have to bury someone,'' Mrs. Rich said. ``It's something we wait for - you live for the day to come so you can say goodbye.''

Mr. Rich will fly out of Augusta early Thursday morning and is scheduled to arrive in Hawaii at about 3 p.m. He will visit the identification lab that compiled the report on his father, and then pick up the wooden urn containing his father's remains and escort it to Washington.

It is unclear if any high-ranking government officials plan to attend the funeral ceremonies Tuesday.

But family members, members of Capt. Rich's squadron and several other sons and daughters of MIA men will be there. Mr. Rich said he hopes to keep the event closed to the media and the government so his family can mourn.

The services will include a 21-gun salute, a playing of taps and a Navy flyover. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier guard will escort a flag-draped casket containing Capt. Rich's remains through Arlington Cemetery as it is transported by horse-drawn carriage.

Mr. Rich was recently given an old MIA bracelet with his father's name engraved on it. The bracelets were designed to bring awareness to missing soldiers and came into vogue in the early 1970s.

The bracelet will be broken in two. One half will be buried with Capt. Rich; the other half placed by the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall.

And on that same day, Mr. Rich will remove the copper bracelet that he has worn for 20 years as a memorial to his father and place it in a shadow box.

``That bracelet is a man,'' Mr. Rich said. ``These were made to remind people they were a prisoner of war or missing in action. When they come home, there's no reason to wear them anymore.

``He's home.''

Reach Heidi Coryell at (706) 823-3215.

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