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Iraqi desert reveals truth about missing US pilot
3 Aug 2009One of the greatest mysteries of the 1991 Gulf War has been solved.
Navy pilot Michael "Scott" Speicher, shot down on a combat mission on 17 January, was called the first casualty. But no one knew if he was dead or a captive. Now the Pentagon has announced that he was killed, and buried in the desert by Bedouins. Mr Speicher's family in Florida never stopped pressing the Defence Department to find an answer after Defence Secretary Dick Cheney announced on television that the US had, with the pilot's loss, suffered its first casualty.
Ten years later, the Navy changed his status to "missing in action", saying there was no evidence he had died. In October 2002 he was declared "missing/captured".
In his home town of Jacksonville, he was never forgotten, a banner calling for him to be freed. The Navy was criticised for not searching for him. A lieutenant commander when he went missing, Mr Speicher reached the rank of captain as he received promotions.
Then information last month from an Iraqi citizen led Marines to visit a desert location believed to be the crash site. The Iraqi knew of two other Iraqis who recalled a US jet crashing. The pilot's remains were identified by matching a jawbone and dental records.
