U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Paul Hasenbeck has been missing for 50 years.
At 9 a.m. Tuesday - the day after what would have been Hasenbeck's 70th birthday - the state Senate's Rules, Joint Rules, Resolutions and Ethics Committee will hold a hearing on state Rep. Tom Hurst's resolution asking the federal government's Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) to "prioritize finding" Hasenbeck and 14 other Missouri servicemen still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War - but presumed dead - "and bring closure to those families."
The Osage County Commission declared Friday, the actual anniversary of Hasenbeck's disappearance, as "Paul A. Hasenbeck Day" in the county.
Hasenbeck, of Freeburg, was drafted at age 18 and went missing along with three others near Chu Lai, South Vietnam, after he volunteered for a mission and was assigned the lead machine-gunner on the second of two sampans - a flat-bottomed wooden boat - that had been commandeered to take the troops back to their base camp.
Members of the Paul A. Hasenbeck American Legion Post 317 observed the anniversary Thursday night with a dinner and special ceremony.
Gov. Eric Greitens issued a proclamation honoring Hasenbeck for his service and urging "all citizens to join in honoring and remembering all who valiantly served our country and those families that hope for closure as to the fate of their loved ones."
A separate House resolution, sponsored by Hurst, R-Meta, and state Rep. Mike Bernskoetter, R-Jefferson City, was presented to the Freeburg Legion post and honored Hasenbeck and Marine 1st Lt. Bernard Plassmeyer, another Freeburg resident whose jet was shot down Sept. 11, 1970.
A state Senate resolution recognized Plassmeyer's widow, Carol Eckert, who now teaches nursing at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, near St. Louis.
Hasenbeck's sister, Jeanie Hasenbeck, worked for the American Red Cross in Vietnam for a couple years, hoping to learn more about Paul's disappearance.
She told the House Veterans Committee in March that Paul was a member of "the 196th light infantry brigade, which at that time the members had a life expectancy of 90 days. They were in constant combat, taken from one location to another in support of the Marines as they took the various hills around Vietnam."
She testified last month it has been very frustrating dealing with the Vietnamese government, which for years displayed 16 of Paul's personal papers - including his Social Security card - in the Hanoi war museum, "but they can't remember what they did with my brother."
Editor's Note: This story was changed at 12:55 p.m. Saturday, 4/22/17, to reflect that Lt. Bernard Plassmeyer was a Marine.