defense secretary rumsfeld has a usn cold war era mia friend

[tom d. friedman]

in sunday's paper here there was an article telling about donald rumsfeld's efforts to locate a naval aviator / old friend that has been mia since 8/23/56 while flying a martin p4m-1 mercator on a night time spy mission over the east china sea near the chinese mainland. there were no survivors among 16 crewmen. rummy's friend was named lt. j.g. james b. deane jr. china has aknowledged the shoot down by it's fighters of the time, but nothing as to the survival of lt. deane, although wide speculation abounds otherwise to the contrary. deane was rumsfeld's friend while stationed together in florida in 1954 & 55. the remains of 4 crewman were found, 2 by a u.s. ship & 2 by china. the remaining 12 unaccounted for. rumsfeld has made a concerted effort to find deane going clear back to the mid 70's when he was president ford's chief of staff. now 30+ years later, he still has not given up his efforts. he was recently in china & is still pushing for answers as to his friend's demise. rummy has taken a beating in the media lately, but i've always liked him. he may have his faults, but you can't deny that he cares!!

[k5083]

Nobody ever accused him of not caring about his own personal friends.