As plans for recognition of the “San Diego 22” began to unfold, the call went out from a Dago Chapter member for help to locate the families of these American Heroes who have been lost to us some 30-40 years.
The task is not an easy one…in many cases the parents of these brave men are elderly or now deceased, the widows are remarried and carry different surnames, siblings are grown and sometimes relocated to different parts of the country, and information about living survivors is not always public record.
In some cases, the pain of losing a son, husband, brother or father, is just too painful for survivors to revisit after so many years.
In the early stages of the search for the families of the “San Diego 22“, a handful of individuals gladly volunteered their time and talent to search various databases for any hint of relation to one of our MIA’s, in hope that we might actively involve the family in the recognition event by presenting them with a POW/MIA flag with the name embroidered on it.
This group of individuals included both club members and individuals with the “NEVER FORGET” viewpoint, and became affectionately known as the “MIA Posse”. They are researchers who work in various fields of interest including but not limited to: bounty hunting, information technology (IT), genealogy and data entry.
The MIA Posse uses all resources available to them in order to track down still living family members for the purpose of notifying them that their MIA’s will be recognized in an upcoming flag raising ceremony. If possible, the MIA Posse hopes to award the POW/MIA flag from that ceremony to the family of that particular MIA.
Charter Members of the MIA Posse were awarded a Red and Black “MIA Posse” patch by Dago Chapter after the Veteran’s Day “Forgotten Warrior Run” 2006 event for recognition of their hard work in locating the family of John H. Hoeffs.
If you are interesting in joining the MIA Posse, would like information for establishing your own local MIA Posse, or need information on research resources, please contact the webmaster for more information.