"During the mission, Walter Jones, a team member was given a package containing bone fragments by a Lao. The source said they were from a crash site. He presented photographs showing himself in company with others digging around obvious aircraft debris"
About this Quote
Notice how the details are chosen. “A package containing bone fragments” is visceral, hard to dismiss, and ethically radioactive. It immediately raises the stakes beyond mere wreckage into human loss, which nudges the listener toward outrage and urgency. Then comes “by a Lao,” a phrasing that reduces a person to nationality and function, quietly turning the source into a generic local intermediary. That ambiguity does work: it protects identities, but it also paints the exchange as murky, deniable, and potentially manipulative.
“The source said they were from a crash site” is lawyerly. Gritz doesn’t vouch for authenticity; he reports what was claimed. That distance is strategic. It allows him to signal suspicion while avoiding a direct statement he can’t prove. The photos are the clincher: “showing himself ... digging around obvious aircraft debris.” “Obvious” tells you how to read the images, pre-loading interpretation. The subtext is that the scene may be staged, or at least choreographed to create a narrative of discovery.
Context matters: Gritz’s public persona is entangled with POW/MIA politics and controversial covert-mission storytelling. This line functions less as evidence than as scaffolding for a larger claim: that truth in such missions is mediated through sources, props, and photographs that can be as persuasive as they are unreliable.
Quote Details
| Topic | Military & Soldier |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Gritz, Bo. (n.d.). During the mission, Walter Jones, a team member was given a package containing bone fragments by a Lao. The source said they were from a crash site. He presented photographs showing himself in company with others digging around obvious aircraft debris. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/during-the-mission-walter-jones-a-team-member-was-154396/
Chicago Style
Gritz, Bo. "During the mission, Walter Jones, a team member was given a package containing bone fragments by a Lao. The source said they were from a crash site. He presented photographs showing himself in company with others digging around obvious aircraft debris." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/during-the-mission-walter-jones-a-team-member-was-154396/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"During the mission, Walter Jones, a team member was given a package containing bone fragments by a Lao. The source said they were from a crash site. He presented photographs showing himself in company with others digging around obvious aircraft debris." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/during-the-mission-walter-jones-a-team-member-was-154396/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.






