June 2, 2001                  

First Lady, Laura Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mrs. Bush:

Like millions of other Americans, I am grateful for the grace, honor and dignity which your presence restores to the White House.

As First Lady of this great nation, you have a unique ability to influence the opinion of millions of American citizens. A traditional role for the First Lady has been to champion various causes, and to set this country on the correct moral path. I would offer to you the challenge of addressing the plight of hundreds of un-accounted for American servicemen. Those who are more commonly referred to as POW-MIA's.

There is overwhelming evidence that American Prisoners of War are still alive in Southeast Asia. 

In the years following the withdrawal of United States forces from Vietnam, there have been hundreds of eye-witnesses who have said that they have personally seen them.

I have sent a letter to your husband, the President, regarding the fate of Randolph Ard, whose helicopter crashed on March 7, 1971, inside the Laotian border.  It was verified by eyewitnesses to the incident, that  he was alive after the crash.

Randy Ard's case is representative of so many of those who have been abandoned by the country they served.

Nearly 600 Americans were lost in Laos alone during the war in Vietnam.

Although the Pathet Lao stated on several occasions they held "tens of tens" of American prisoners, Laos was not included in the agreements ending American involvement in the war, and the U.S. has not negotiated for the freedom of these men since that day. Consequently, not one American held in Laos has ever been released.

These Americans, too, were abandoned.

I urge you to take up the banner of these forgotten heroes, and seek a full accounting of our missing servicemen.

Sincerely, Larry Marino