All things previously stated here's another question. Is it NECESSARY for a 120/240 system (or any other for that matter) to have a conductor from the "neutral" bar of the main and subsequent panels back to the xfmr tap to avoid the "lost" neutral situation? IF so why? Why doesn't the grounding electrode via the EGC accomplish this?
You are not fully understanding the reasons for having a EGC or a GEC.
The grounded conductor (usually also a neutral conductor but some cases it is not technically a neutral) is nothing more then a current carrying conductor for circuits that utilize that conductor.
It becomes "grounded" when we intentionally make a connection to earth. We don't make this connection for the purpose of extending functional parts of the system as the resistance encountered through electrodes is usually too high for successful results of using it as a circuit conductor.
As I mentioned before we ground the system to create stability in voltage to earth and to help facilitate bleeding transient currents on the system to earth. When we do have a malfunction in the system or inadvertent grounding beyond service equipment it does allow current to flow in undesired paths and can create hazards. Past decisions on how to utilize equipment and the choice to use grounded conductors as normal current carrying conductors has some drawbacks, but it is hard to suddenly say we will no longer use some of that equipment as there is a lot of it out there, especially 120 volt equipment that usually is operating on a circuit with a grounded conductor.
Equipment grounding conductors are there to provide a low resistance path back to the source should an ungrounded conductor develop a fault to objects bonded to the EGC. This in turn will allow a high amount of current to flow and will help allow overcurrent devices to respond quickly because of the rapid rise in current flow when such an event happens, which ultimately results in very short duration of time when dangerous voltage levels may exist on exposed metal components. They are not intended to carry current of the grounded conductor, and if you connect them parallel to the grounded conductor you didn't really gain anything other then some decrease in initial resistance but more potential paths for stray currents to flow when something does fail someday.