Remains of Scott Speicher Found

Iraq Pilot Update: New details on the recovery of the remains of the first U.S. casualty of the first Gulf War in 1991

by Chad Petri

Published: Sun, August 02, 2009 - 7:34 am CST Last Updated: Sun, August 02, 2009 - 2:34 pm CST

This is a re-post of copy from the Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - The nearly two-decade-old question of what
happened to Navy Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher has
been answered.
The military says remains found in the Iraq desert have been
identified as those of the pilot, whose plane was shot down on the
first night of the 1991 Gulf War.
The Pentagon says the remains were found after officials
received new information from an Iraqi citizen last month, and were
positively identified yesterday by the Armed Forces Institute of
Pathology.
The Pentagon initially declared Speicher killed, but changed his
status to "missing in action" and later "missing-captured." His
shattered plane was found in 1993.
The 2003 invasion finally gave investigators the chance to
search inside Iraq. That led to a number of new leads, including
the discovery of what some believed were the initials "MSS"
scratched into the wall of an Iraqi prison.
Sen. Bill Nelson, a friend, was among those who pushed for a
search for Speicher. Today, the Florida Democrat said, "We all
clung to the slim hope that Scott was still alive and would one day
come home to his family."

The following is a press release from Sen. Nelson's office, which provides additional details about Capt. Speicher's recovery.

WEST CENTRAL IRAQ - U.S. Marines have unearthed a remote desert grave in this war-torn country and found the remains of long-missing Navy pilot Capt. Michael Scott Speicher of Florida, according to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

The military unearthed the remains last month and flew them to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for identification. The discovery brings to an end a mystery that began in January 1991, on the first night of the first Gulf War.

That was the night Speicher’s plane was shot down. It was the night then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney took to the airwaves and declared him the first casualty of the battle to get Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait.

“My heart goes out to the family, again,” said Nelson, the Florida senator who was instrumental several years ago in getting the Navy to renew a search for the missing pilot. “We all clung to the slim hope that Scott was still alive and would one day come home to his family.”

Nelson said the pilot’s family – Speicher’s wife and two children are from Jacksonville, Fla. – were prepared for the alternative.

Speicher, 33, disappeared while flying a mission launched from the USS Saratoga. He was piloting a Navy F/A-18 Hornet that was struck by a missile fired by an Iraqi aircraft. He went down on Jan. 17, in a remote desert area of West Central Iraq.

Cheney declared the downed pilot dead during a soon-after televised news conference.

Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq twelve years later, Nelson pressed the Pentagon to renew a search for Speicher, based on evidence the pilot may survived the crash and been imprisoned. A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Nelson once visited a Baghdad prison cell where it was thought Speicher may have carved his initials in the wall.

Over the years, the military changed Speicher's status from dead to missing-captured, interviewed hundreds of Iraqi officials, and even excavated a different gravesite in Baghdad in 2005.

Only recently, a new informant told U.S. military officials in Iraq of another possible location of Speicher’s grave – a site very near where his shattered airplane was found in 1993.

Acting on that information provided by an Iraqi in early July, Marines went to a location in the desert believed to be the crash site of Speicher’s jet. The informant told them he knew of two other Iraqis who recalled an American jet crashing in the desert and the pilot being buried there.

One of those Iraqis claimed to have been present when Bedouins found Speicher dead at the crash site and buried his body there. Speicher's remains were recovered over several days during the past week and flown to Dover Air Force Base for scientific identification by the military's medical examiner.

According to the Pentagon, the remains include bones and multiple skeletal fragments. Positive identification was made by comparing Speicher’s dental records with the jawbone recovered at the site.

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rmseek1234 Says:

Sun, Aug 02, 2009 at 2:56 pm

This gives me chills. I am glad he was found, but saddened that he lost his life and was missing for so long. My thoughts and prayers to his family,friends and the brave military men/women who protect us.

turnipman Says:

Sun, Aug 02, 2009 at 8:20 am

Closure, being sad but an ending to a long ordeal for the family. I have followed this chain of events since his disappearence, having worked at NAS JAX and Cecil Field, and living in the Orange Park area. Today is just such a sad ending. My thoughts and prayers will be with the family today and hereafter. Just glad that he will be returning home for proper burial. RIP Scott

bobcat Says:

Sun, Aug 02, 2009 at 7:53 am

As sad as this story sounds, I would imagine this news is giving the family a wonder of relief and the ability to give closure to all of the speculation of Scott’s disappearance.
At least now he can finally come back to his home land to be laid to rest.