VIDEO: Ricketts Highlights Nebraska Story for POW/MIA Recognition Day TomorrowVIDEO:
September 14, 2023
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Earlier this week, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) highlighted the story of Chief Warrant Officer 3 Larry Alfred Zich in honor of POW/MIA Recognition Day tomorrow. Zich, a Nebraska native who had been Missing in Action since 1972, was laid to rest earlier this year following the identification of his remains. Ricketts’ office helped connect Zich’s widow to the Department of Defense when the news of his identification broke.
“Tens of thousands of other service members have still not come home or been identified,” said Ricketts. “The friends and family of these women and men deserve our prayers and our thanks for the sacrifices they have made. They also deserve our tireless commitment to bring their loved one’s home.”
“Nebraska plays a pivotal role in this work,” Ricketts continued. “The Offutt Air Force Base is home to one of three Defense POW/MIA accounting agency labs in the U.S. Through partnerships with the University of Nebraska, the labs do incredible work to analyze and inventory skeletal remains, identify bones, and determine a biological profile to identify unknown service members who died in previous wars.”
Ricketts made the comments during a conference call with Nebraska media. You can learn more in his recent weekly column, “Getting Answers for our POW/MIA Families,” here.
Watch the video here.
TRANSCRIPT
Senator Ricketts: “National POW/MIA Recognition Day is this Friday.
“Americans who are prisoners of war or missing in action and their families deserve to be honored and recognized for their sacrifices on behalf of our nation.
“I’m going to take a moment to highlight a Nebraska story that reminds us of those sacrifices.
“Chief Warrant Officer, Larry Alfred Zich, was a native of Lincoln. He was a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War.
“On April 3rd, 1972, his Huey helicopter went off the radar and was never heard from again.
“It was his 24th birthday. For 51 years, Zich’s family and friends lived in a world of unknowns.
“Last October, the U.S. Defense POWMIA Accounting Agency conclusively confirmed that the remains found by a Vietnamese refugee 35 years ago actually belonged to Zich.
“In March of this year, they publicly announced the identification of Zich’s remains.
“When his widow, Debbie Jensen, saw the news in Nebraska, she had no idea of how to get a hold of the Defense Department, so she reached out to my office for help.
“Our team connected her with the appropriate contacts in the Department of Defense.
“Following that connection, on June 6th of this year, Chief Warrant Officer Zich was properly laid to rest with full military honors, at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery.
“Tens of thousands of other service members have still not come home or been identified.
“The friends and family of these women and men deserve our prayers and our thanks for thesacrifices they have made.
“They also deserve our tireless commitment to bring their loved one’s home.
“Nebraska plays a pivotal role in this work. The Offutt Air Force Base is home to one of three Defense POW/MIA accounting agency labs in the U.S.
“Through partnerships with the University of Nebraska, the labs do incredible work to analyze and inventory skeletal remains, identify bones, and determine a biological profile to identify unknown service members who died in previous wars.
“The National Defense Authorization Act I recently supported would authorize funding for the planning and design of a new lab facility in Offutt, so more families like the Zich’s can get the answers they deserve.”