WEBVTT

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(somber music)

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- My story goes back to the 10th of January 1973

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^and my dad was in the Navy.

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^His name was at that time Lieutenant JG,

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^so that's Lieutenant Junior Grade

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Robert Allen Clark and he was a bombardier navigator

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in the A-6 Intruder.

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My father's jet was the last Naval aircraft,

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combat aircraft lost in Vietnam.

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When they sent out a search party,

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they could not find any wreckage.

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The jungle of course is very thick

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and they couldn't find any debris,

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anything that would indicate

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that the aircraft impacted the ground.

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The Navy

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declared my dad and the pilot missing in action.

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In 2003, they found a particular site

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that had some metal debris,

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and they excavated that particular area

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and they were able to retrieve several parts

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and they confirmed it was an A-6A Intruder.

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And there were a few bone fragments

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that they were able to find.

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And then they did the DNA testing

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and in fact they were able to confirm

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that my dad and his pilot,

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they confirmed that those were their remains.

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There are a lot of folks that have a similar story.

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Whether their spouse, loved one, father,

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grandparent, relative was either a prisoner of war

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or declared missing in action.

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I can't think of any other country in the world

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that puts that much emphasis on making sure

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that everyone's accounted for.

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And that speaks volumes of I think our nation's

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character and integrity

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in making sure that families know that

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that service member's service

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actually counts for something.

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They are fully committed to bringing people back home.