More detail on this person: Helicopter accident in Nicaragua. Possible mercenary mission. James P Powell 2 NICARAGUANS DEAD IDENTIFIED AS U.S. VETERANS Two Americans killed when their helicopter was shot down in Nicaragua on Saturday were identified by associates today as Vietnam veterans and members of an anti-Communist group formed to assist the Nicaraguan insurgents. The associates, three former American serviceman, said at a press conference here tonight that the two men killed on Saturday and four other Americans who traveled with them to Honduras last week volunteered their help and received no pay. The former servicemen, one of whom was in Nicaragua when the helicopter was shot down, said one of the victims was a Huntsville police detective, Dana H. Parker Jr., who had taken a leave of absence to assist the rebels. They said Mr. Parker, a member of the Alabama National Guard, served for many years in Vietnam with the Army Special Forces, better known as the Green Berets. The other victim, they said, was James Powell, a flight instructor from Memphis. Mr. Powell, the former servicemen said, was wounded three times in Vietnam, where he was an Army helicopter pilot. The two men and their associates were members of a group called Civilian Military Assistance that was formed last year by American military veterans to help the rebels. The group, the three veterans said, has a total of about 1,000 members in chapters in Huntsville, Memphis, Birmingham and other Southern cities. The organization, the former servicemen said, has sent 15 to 20 Americans to Nicaragua in the last year to advise the rebels. The Americans have helped train rebel airplane and helicopter pilots, they said, but have not taken part in military operations against the Government. The organization has also provided medical supplies, clothing and other equipment to help the rebels, they said. The three identified themselves at the news conference as Thomas V. Posey, a produce wholesaler from Decatur, Ala., Donald D. Gilmore, a chemical technician from Memphis, and Cisco Blanton, from Sheffield, Ala., who said he was unemployed. ''It's not just the Sandinists we're trying to stop, it's Communism,'' Mr. Blanton said Mr. Posey declared, ''If we don't stop Communism down there it will be threatening us at our border.'' The press conference was organized by the main rebel group, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force. One of its leaders, Mario Calero Portocarrero, introduced the three veterans. They said the two men were killed on Saturday when their helicopter flew over Nicaragua on a rescue mission. Mr. Blanton, who was in Nicaragua, said Mr. Powell and Mr. Parker were training rebel pilots when they suddenly announced they had to go on a rescue mission, the nature of which they did not describe. Nicaragua said the helicopter was shot down after it and four small planes had attacked a military training school in Santa Clara, near the Honduran border, killing four children. Nicaragua has also charged that the men worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. The three veterans said they and their associates have no connection with the Central Intelligence Agency, which has supported the insurgents since 1981. They said they had no connection, direct or indirect, with the United States Government while they were assisting the insurgents. The Reagan Administration has also said that the men, described by White House and intelligence officials as mercenaries, were not associated with the Government. Mr. Posey said he had been questioned earlier this year by the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the group's activities in Nicaragua. The bureau, he said, did not pursue the matter. Mr. Posey said the group was invited to help the rebels last December by Gen. Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, the commander of the Honduran military and a close ally of the United States who has since been ousted by fellow officers. ''We wrote him a letter and he said to come talk,'' Mr. Posey said. ''That's the way it started.''
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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024
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