As a child, every morning in school, we stood, put our hands over our hearts and recited the Pledge of Allegiance, we then sang the Star Spangled Banner. As a child, We believed in the integrity of our government and all that it stood for. Then the government came to my family and told us that our uncle was a deserter and defector, and even then we knew they lied, because we knew that the man who had visited us recently, proudly wearing his uniform would not betray all that he believed in. The years passed and the pain faded. Then in 1996 we were told that our uncle was living in North Korea. The government had known this for almost 14 years but did not see fit to tell us. We got very little information at that time. Then October of 2002 and the release of the Japanese kidnap victims from North Korea and once again our uncle is in the limelight. Some of you have followed the stories about these five men and women and their families still being held in North Korea. If so then you know that the husband of one of these victims is our uncle, he married Hitomi Soga in North Korea while both were teaching at the North Korean spy school. She and the Japanese government have made efforts to get our uncle released, and a major holdback in this is the fact that if released, our uncle would face charges as a deserter and defector. Japan would have to hand him over for military trial. This would be a crime of the utmost proportion. Why would we say this The facts are as follows, while leading a patrol in January 1965,Sgt. Charles Robert Jenkins heard a noise. Telling his troops to wait for him, he went to investigate and did not return. That