JPAC Refuses To Bring Col John O'Grady Home Due To Daughter's Interference | Guardian Of Valor

We posted an article earlier today from the Review Journal that stated JPAC(Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command), had found the remains of Col John O’Grady and that he was being brought home.

Col O’Grady, a Naval Academy graduate who became an Air Force pilot, was a major at the time he ejected. He radioed on April 10, 1967, that his F-105D jet had been hit by enemy fire while on a bombing run, his body was never found.

The article posted earlier today stated that the eldest sister,  Patricia said that his body had been found by a few Vietnamese men, and that JPAC was bringing him home. You can view the original article here: Father, missing in Vietnam for decades, coming home, posted by the Review Journal.

Soon after this article went up, the other sister, Tara contacted us. She said that due to her eldest sisters interference, JPAC refused to exhume the remains and bring him home.

She stated in an email to us:

“There are 7 children in my family, and my oldest sister traveled to Vietnam & refused to leave the excavation site. JPAC clearly stated they suspended the recovery mission of my father because of her interference. It has been almost 16 months & they have not gone back. I have started a campaign to get him HOME.. My mother & 5 of my siblings are UNITED in wanting JPAC to go back & we have promised them my sister will not be allowed.”

U.S. officials from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) said that no remains were recovered during a dig that was suspended because of interference from the daughter, Patricia O’Grady.

A statement from Patricia O’Grady, said that “an unofficial and undeclared recovery process that did not include any U.S. personnel recovered a full skeleton with dog tags from the grave site as expected.” The statement said she was the only American on site in the Minh Hoa District when the remains were recovered by a team from Vietnam’s Office for Seeking Missing Persons.

Her statement came in response to comments from a JPAC spokeswoman in Hawaii. “The JPAC and Vietnamese team had only made initial steps in working the site. No evidence was recovered before the suspension. Furthermore, excavations were not conducted prior to JPAC arriving at the site, nor did any excavations occur after the team suspended the site,” JPAC spokeswoman Elizabeth Feeney wrote in an email to the Review-Journal on Wednesday.

Previously, Feeney said JPAC suspended a recovery operation in Quang Binh Province “due to increased concern about the safety and well-being of a family member.”

Terry O’Grady, one of three brothers responded and said:

“I believe JPAC. I believe our government. JPAC has confirmed and the State Department and the Vietnamese Embassy has confirmed personally to me and my brother, Jack, that no remains have been extracted from the alleged burial site at any point in time. JPAC and the Air Force Casualty Office indicated that the reason for the termination of the excavation was due to the conduct and behavior of Patricia O’Grady at the site, and it was described as ‘belligerent, disruptive and interfering.’”

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John O’Grady’s name on the Vietnam Memorial

This is the Official press release from JPAC:

JPAC SUSPENDS RECOVERY OPERATION IN VIETNAM
Safety for family member cited in need to pause excavation efforts

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii (May 24, 2012) – JPAC suspended a recovery operation in Quang Binh province, Vietnam, due to increased concern about the safety and well-being of a family member of an unaccounted-for Vietnam War service member.

Maj. Gen. Stephen Tom said, “If JPAC recovery operations somehow contributed to creating an environment that may cause significant problems for this family member, then the only responsible decision was to pause operations with the intent to alleviate any undue stress.”

The recovery team is working to close and preserve the site for a future mission and will then move to an alternate site to work. Currently there are five other JPAC recovery teams and two investigation teams active in the country.

There are approximately 1,200 unaccounted for Service Members believed to be in Vietnam.

The ultimate goal of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, and of the agencies involved in returning America’s heroes home, is to conduct global search, recovery and laboratory operations in order to support the Department of Defense’s personnel accounting efforts.

Tara tells us she is doing everything she can to get JPAC to resume bringing her father home, she asked us to share this with you.

“Col. O’Grady was shot down over Vietnam in 1967 and went missing, leaving behind a wife and seven children. Colonel John F. O’Grady USAF POW/MIA; A pilot, an engineer, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy & the father of 7 .O’Grady earned the Silver Star, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Bronze Star Medals, and a Purple Heart.

I am the youngest daughter of the seven children and after over 30 years of not knowing the fate of my dad, and wondering if he was alive or dead or if he suffered; I finally received some answers on Memorial Day 2012.

The government interviewed two Vietnamese soldiers that recalled my father’s last day upon this earth. He had survived the plane crash with just a broken leg and a small scalp wound, he landed in a tree and was entangled in in his parachute rendering him helpless.

As a result he was captured by two villagers that later handed him over to two Vietnamese soldiers. The soldiers did not have a vehicle to transport him to a hospital so they carried him on a liter. Hours later, after requesting water,(which the soldiers did not give him claiming they did not have a cup) he died before they reached the hospital. The soldier recalled O’Grady clinging to a photo of his wife and family more specifically remembered a picture of at least two young daughters.

One soldier stated he remembered the photo so vividly because of O’Grady’s great reluctance to give it up. After O’Grady died the soldiers used a Star Fruit Tree as a reference point for burial so someday his body could be returned to the family and claim they buried him with his I.D. tags.

JPAC started excavating the site, near the Star Fruit Tree but they stated they were forced to suspend the operation due to interference by one family member. The family deserves closure and they desperately seek it. It has been over a year and still JPAC has not resumed the excavation.

It is Time to bring this Hero Home…

I was 6 years old when my father was shot down & the last letter he ever wrote, was to me.
The following is a quote from that letter;

“”Daddy is flying a lot and the more he flies the sooner he will be home for good and that’s what he wants more than anything else in the world, so he can give out great big hugs and kisses to everyone, but especially to little girls in the first grade whom won’t be in the first grade much longer.”

Help me to fulfill his last wish & Bring him Home.”

So I am not sure exactly what happened with the older sister, but it would seem JPAC had reason to leave. They stated the plan was to stay on site for 30 days, try to find and exhume the Colonel, but due to this interference they were forced to stand down.

She has also started a Facebook page to help with her campaign, you can view it here Colonel John O’Grady A Lost Hero. Visit her page and give her the support she needs.

UNTIL THEY ALL COME HOME!

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