Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 . __ . . -*- N A M V E T -*- ____/ \_ . . ( * \ . . Managing Editor \ Quangtri . . ---------------- \_/\ \_ Hue . . G. Joseph Peck \_Ashau Phu Bai . . \_* \_ . . Editorial Assistants \ * ) . . -------------------- _/ Danang . . Pete Farias \|/ ( \_*Chu Lai . . Sarge Hultgren --*-- \_ ------- \__ . . /|\ \_ I Corps \ . . Distribution Manager \ ------- ! . . ------------ /\_____ ! . . Jerry Hindle / ! \ . . ! !___ \ . . Section Editors ! \/\____! . . --------------- ! ! . . AGENT ORANGE: Martin H. Kroll, Sr. / Dak To ! . . IN-TOUCH: Ray "Frenchy" Moreau / * / . . INCARCERATED VETS: Joyce Flory ! \_ . . HOMELESSNESS: Lefty Frizzell ! Phu Cat\ . . \ * * ) . . \ Pleiku ) . . -**- N A M V E T -**- \ \ . . / / . . "In the jungles of 'Nam, some of us ( -------- ! . . were scared and wary, but we pulled _\ II Corps ! . . one another along and were able / -------- \ . . to depend on each other. That has \ \ . . never changed. Today, free of the ! * / . . criticisms and misunderstandings _/ Nhatrang / . . many veterans have endured, _/ / . . NAM VET is a shining beacon, __/ ! . . a ray of hope, and a _ __/ \ ! . . reminder that the _____( )/ ! Camranh Bay . . lessons learned / !__ ! . . at such a high / \ / . . price shall not \ Bien Hoa \ / . . be forgotten - ! Chu Chi * \ __/ . . nor the errors \_ * --------- \ ___/ . . repeated!!!" ____ \ III Corps \ _/ . . / \_____) )_(_ --------- !__/ Duplication in . . ! ( ___/ any form permitted . . _____! \__ * ___/ for NONCOMMERCIAL . . ! Saigon/ purposes ONLY! . . \___ -------- / \/ . . \ IV Corps / For other use, contact: . . ) -------- / . . / ! G. Joseph Peck (413) 442-1660 . . / ____/ Managing Editor . . / Mekong/ . . ! Delta/ This newsletter is comprised of articles . . ! ____/ and items from individuals and other . . ! / sources. We are not responsible for the . . ! / content of this information nor are any of . . ! __/ NAM VETs contributors or Section Editors. . . \_/ gjp . . . NAM VET Newsletter Page i Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 ================================================================= T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S 1. Editorials n' Things Worth Thinkin' About This is NOT "de ja vu"! ................................. 1 2. Ol' Glory n' Shiftin' Sands We are all involved in the MidEast ...................... 3 Show your support! Counter-protests: How to! ............ 5 . 7 Persian Gulf Force Facts ................................ 8 Persian Gulf Short Wave Broadcasters ................... 12 3. In a country far away... Fake Doctors Identify GI remains ........................ 13 Senate says US Abandoned MIAs ........................... 16 MIAs Widow Has Questions ................................ 18 US Veterans Group Offers POW Reward ..................... 20 They haven't forgutten US!!! ............................ 22 Captured GIs listed as "Dead" ........................... 23 POW/MIA Family Members Arrested in Hanoi ................ 25 POWs - YOU can help! .................................... 27 4. Break out the Clearasil ! Criminal Investigation of Monsanto Corporation .......... 30 Break out the Clearasil ! ........................... 36 5. From Aztec Shore to Arctic Zone COAST GUARD UNITS JOIN MIDDLE EAST OPERATIONS ........... 37 USCG in SEA - Part 2 .................................... 39 6. In-Touch In-Touch: What is it??? ................................. 45 IN-TOUCH Registration/Request Form!!! ................... 48 7. The NamVet Chapel Return to the Killing Fields ............................ 50 The Electronic Chapel ................................... 55 Vietnam, US vets seek peace ............................. 56 8. Don't Abandon 'em Writing Our Incarcerated Veterans ....................... 58 Operation Self-Help Background/Referral Checklist ....... 60 A visit or note once in awhile? ......................... 65 List of Incarcerated PenPals ............................ 66 9. Hearts n' Minds Christmas in 'Nam - Vietnam vets DO have heart! ......... 69 Combat Stress - The Forgotten Warrior ................... 70 VC Are Experts .......................................... 77 Clay Hut Builder Seeks Peace ............................ 79 10. Uncle Sam wants YOU to know Ask the Veterans' Affairs Counselor ..................... 81 No COLA .... Yet! ...................................... 84 ........................................................ 85 11. Concentrated IVVEC/NamVet Service The NamVet Service Desk ................................. 94 Vet Asks "WHY civilian and not a vet hired?" ............ 96 VETLink #1 Asks Congressman's Involvement ............... 97 Congressman says "VA can't help BBSs..." ................ 98 12. Please keep this in mind The Unknown Soldier ..................................... 100 Some Gave All... ........................................ 102 NAM VET Newsletter Page ii Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 ================================================================= E d i t o r i a l s n ' T h i n g s W o r t h T h i n k i n ' A b o u t ================================================================= This is NOT "de ja vu"! By G. Joseph Peck NamVet's Managing Editor VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 I don't see reenactment of the military draft on the immediate horizon. I haven't yet heard the word "DEROS" when members of my family or yours have been assigned to areas of the Persian Gulf. Squadrons, Companies, Fleets and Brigades are going as a UNIT and not as piecemeal replacements for others whose tour of duty has ended. Each is allowed to do his or her BEST. I don't see the thousands and thousands of protestors lining the streets as I did in the mid-to-late sixties. And, within hours after I heard the words "The Liberation of Kuwait has begun" I heard your President and mine say: "This will NOT be another Vietnam! We will not tie our troops hands behind their backs." I know that for many of you, the bombings and battle scenes we too-often see on CNN and other network news stations bring back memories that hurt sometimes beyond description. I share with you that pain and, as with many of you, that longing to get out there in the front lines and serve our best. Telephone calls to the local recruiting stations too-painfully reveal that "age" has caught up with me and I'm told "You're a little beyond the maximum age" )... What CAN we do and HOW can we serve now? Its a question that continuously intrudes upon my thoughts - especially when I'm listening to the news or thinking about my sons, my brother now in Dehrahn, my relatives now in-service. WHAT will help them the most - both now and in their future? As many of you know, we've worked hard over the past few years trying our best to build VIETNAM_VETS and NAMVET into areas where veterans from all era's can derive the services and information they need WHEN they need it. In VIETNAM_VETS we've talked about having parades for all our returning troops, about writing letters TO ANY SERVICEPERSON, about sending cookies and other mementos of home. We've also talked about paving the way NOW for those who return by doin' our best to insure that the services they will NEED are there for them WHEN THEY NEED IT. I'm including in this issue a listing of Vet Centers as published in Ralph Roberts book: "The Veterans Guide To Benefits." (ISBN 0-451-16017-7) In upcoming months, I'd like to ask each of you to post in the VIETNAM_VETS echo the name, address and contact person of any Veteran Service Agency or group near you. We'll be collecting and amassing a list at VETLink #1 for any and all who are interested. What about NOW? What can we do? Many of us, I know, are finding it extremely difficult to look beyond the sometimes- traumatic events of our pasts and the long, long, painfully-long road we've travelled from isolation and rejection to acceptance and respect. The road has, for some of us, been unfairly long and seemingly never-ending. As I've seen in VIETNAM_VETS, some of us NAM VET Newsletter Page 1 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 are having a very tough time sleeping at night and thinking beyond the jungles, valleys and paths of yesterday. We MUST, though, do our best to grow beyond what has held US back for so many years. One of those ways is helping NOW - helping a soldier's family provide the food and housing they need, doing what WE can to help carry the burden all those young (and not-so-young) families must now bear. Here at VETLink #1, we're also working to help in a massive communications project involving political, military and civilian personnel which holds the potential for involving and linking veterans, their dependents and concerned others. As we've discovered, SERVICE seems to run in more than one direction. Our troops in the Persian Gulf NEED to hear from us, NEED to hear our support and faith in them, NEED to know we believe in them. Family members here in the U.S. NEED to communicate with our troops, NEED to give and share their support and faith, NEED to have contact with our new veterans. What WILL help our returning veterans the MOST, I feel, will be OUR acceptance of them, OUR inclusion of them into OUR family, OUR taking the time to listen to THEM - and helping where we can, sharing things that soldiers know well. For a last-minute update on what we've all endured, Craig Roberts has very graciously contributed a very helpful article concerning the Post-Traumatic Stress many of us have endured. I've got to get this NamVet out to the many of you who have so long waited for it. My apologies that it IS late, but, as with so many of you, there has been a lot taking up any of my SPARE time... 'Til next month Show a brother or sister veteran That YOU care!!! Ci'ao for Ni'ao - Joe - NAM VET Newsletter Page 2 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 ================================================================= O l ' G l o r y n ' S h i f t i n ' S a n d s ================================================================= "We all are involved in the Mideast" by John Laird in the 12/23/90 El Paso Times Input by: Joyce Flory NamVet's Incarcerated Veterans Section Editor Desert Dolphin BBS - Las Cruces, NM (505) 523-2811 You don't have to be swabbing sand out of a tank turret to be involved in the Mideast crisis. The impact - if not the congressional commitment - is national. Consider what happened last month in Silver City, NM, when one man answered his country's call. Jim Hansard works as a radiologist in Silver City. He is a lieutenant colonel in the Army reserves. Previously, he served in the active military and saw duty in Vietnam. One war should be enough for one man, but if fighting breaks out in the Mideast - God forbid - it could be the second war for the 47-year-old Hansard. Shortly after Thanksgiving, Hansard's unit was called up. He now is in Oklahoma. Plans are unannounced, but we may assume that the Pentagon is not focusing on Oklahoma range wars. When Hansard's unit was called up, dominoes began falling. He and his partner are the only radiologists in Silver City. His partner now must work harder. Patient services are stretched precariously thin. That was the professional impact. CONTROLLING EMOTIONS The personal impact included a severe dent in the family income. Worse, though, is Hansard's absence, which largely was unanticipated. His wife, Nancy, and two teen- age daughters are rearranging their lives to make the adjustment as smooth as possible. "You just have to go into your practical mode," Nancy said,"and concentrate on the practicalities of life. Otherwise, emotional upheaval can drive you nuts." Nancy and Jim were married when he was in Vietnam, but that was different." We had no children, I had a job back then, I lived with my parents and we did not have the financial obligations we face now." Nancy talks to Jim regularly by telephone. They talk about their family. They talk about you and me, too. " Jim would like to see the nation stand together in this effort. If we're united in purpose, we can accomplish objectives more quickly, and then they can all come home." The big picture here is clear. Nancy didn't mention it, but I knew. For you and me, next year could bring another chance to give our military people a decent homecoming. We blew it last time. Jim Hansard and thousands of others remember. A SOLDIER WRITES Spec. 4 Scotty Dean of El Paso writes from Saudi Arabia: "I've been a 'Lairdoid' ever since you went up to the Basic Training area and acted like one of them for a week. After that, I hardly ever missed a column and now my wife Leslie mails your columns to NAM VET Newsletter Page 3 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 me in Saudi Arabia. That one about Little Billy Bubba wanting a ponytail was hilarious. "I've never written to a newspaper before, but keep up the good work. If anyone ever tries to cut you down for writing what you believe, just remember where this letter came from. And, remember, what my job represents." Dean's letter, it would seem, is to all of us." NAM VET Newsletter Page 4 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 PREPARING FOR A "COUNTER PROTEST" by Sam Thompson SeaHunt BBS - Burlingame, CA (415) 343-5904 This is an attempt to give you some assistance and ideas for countering the "Anti-War" protests that may be occurring in your area. This is not a primer for "Pro War" actions but rather for "Pro Troops" activity. 1. If a permit is required... GET ONE!!! 2. Maximum effectiveness can be obtained by using local Media. The best way to increase numbers is to notify the "local" Country and Western radio station of what is going on, and where, when, etc. 3. CB radios can be used to ask for support from "Truckers" in most cases they will gladly "Take a few Laps" for you. 4. Use "Marshals" (crowd control) give them distinctive markings (coloured duct tape for arm bands works well. Also use them to cover your six. 5. Materials; a. For "fixed signs" (leaned against trees, etc.) use drywall (also called sheetrock) takes paint real well and does not blow away. b. For "yellow ribbons" (everyone should have one) there is as very thin poly type tape used by contractors, works well and is cheap. c. Flags (US) are vital...as many as possible.... good source for cheap ones is a "Party supplies" type of place d. Use duct tape to attach signs etc to vehicles, does not mess up paint and is easy to remove. e. "Butcher" paper is very good for large banners. 6. If your efforts bear fruit you will attract large crowds of Americans, accidents and illness may occur. Try to get "medics", first aiders, Volunteer Firemen there with you, they should have basic "aid kits" with them. Have them wear RED armbands (again coloured duct tape is good). 7. Communicate with local police at scene, advise them that your efforts will be peaceful... keep it that way... control DRUNKS...one idiot driving against traffic in a pickup covered with flags will be the ONLY thing to make "The News at 11" 8. AVOID marches as they are very hard to control....DO NOT parallel "anti's"... instead be waiting at their destination... take the places that have the best "sun" or "Lighting" (media loves this, makes their job easier) 9. If interviewed, STRESS that you are NOT "PRO WAR" but rather "PRO TROOPS". STRESS the fact that the "anti's" are helping "Iraq" not stopping ANYTHING, that they are just "Helping Iraq" 10. Force the "coward issue". Remember the bumper stickers that had the "peace sign" and said "Footprint of the American Chicken"? Use that!! Make the peace sign "yellow" and the lettering Black...... 11. Short slogans in BIG PRINT are best... "HONK to support your Troops" is very effective. 12. Recon area and locate assets, convenience stores, fast food, NAM VET Newsletter Page 5 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 etc. that are close by... you will need them. I hope that this is of help to those of you that have been wanting to "DO SOMETHING". It feels good to be at one of these and with any luck the "anti's" will be discouraged by your efforts and may leave. Ours did!! LET NO ANTIWAR PROTEST GO UNANSWERED............. -- Sam Thompson -- NAM VET Newsletter Page 6 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 . For Information on our Saudi Soldiers: . . . . ARMY: 1-703-614-0730 . . 1-800-626-1440 . . 1-800-642-9254 . . NAVY: 1-800-732-1206 . . 1-800-255-3808 . . 1-202-746-5915 . . MARINES: 1-800-523-2694 . . AIR FORCE: 1-800-253-9276 . . COAST GUARD: 1-800-283-8724 . . . . Support Groups: . . National Guard Families: 1-800-356-2794 . . Army Reserve Units: 1-800-874-8451 . . . . . . xxxxx XXXXxxxxx, . . xx''xxxxxxX XX xX XXx . .xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxXX x xX' x'' XXXx . . x x xX xXX Xx . . 'x' X XXxx . . xxx X. . xX . . xX . . VIETNAM x x x xX . . VETERANS x xX X x X IRAQ . . X X X X x < VETERANS . . X X X X X Xx . . xxxxxxxxxX X X X x Xxx . . XXX'' /__X__ XX__X___xXX xXxxxxx . . xXXX 'Xxxxx xX Xxx . .XX WE SUPPORT YOU XxxxxxxxxxxxX X. .X BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN SERVICE . . . . . . "We are with you . . Wherever you may be . . We are sailing . . With you on every sea . . We are standing . . With you on desert sand . . We're your country . . Together we stand!" . . . . . . The Staff of NamVet . . . . and participants in . . . . The International Vietnam Veterans EchoConference . . . NAM VET Newsletter Page 7 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 Persian Gulf Force Facts Submitted by John Mosson Weare Nh Pc Host (USCATCOM) - Manchester, NH (603) 529-1948 The U.S.-dominated 28-nation force in the Persian Gulf is the biggest such force assembled since the Korean War. In all, more than 690,000 soldiers from 28 nations are arrayed against Iraq's estimated 545,000 fighters in southern Iraq and Kuwait. Here's a breakdown of the forces confronting each other in the Gulf: IRAQ The army has seven corps totaling 55-60 divisions, with 555,000 regular troops and 480,000 reserves, all believed to have been mobilized. Regular forces include six divisions of elite Republican Guards. Five others reportedly are being formed. Iraq claims its Popular Army militia has 8 million men, but its true strength is estimated at 850,000. In Kuwait and southern Iraq, as of Jan. 15, Iraq had an estimated 28 to 33 divisions. Here is a breakdown of forces in the war theater: ARMY 545,000 troops 4,200 tanks 2,800 armored personnel carriers 3,100 artillery pieces AIR FORCE 700 combat aircraft (including Su-24 fighter-bombers; MiG-29 interceptors) NAVY UNITS A training frigate with anti-submarine torpedoes 8 missile-attack craft 6 torpedo boats Several captured Kuwaiti missile craft. ANTI-IRAQ COALITION UNITED STATES About 425,000 military personnel are now in the region in Operation Desert Shield. That is expected to reach at least 430,000. At the peak of the Vietnam War in 1968, 545,000 Americans were involved. ARMY 245,000 troops Major Army units deployed include: 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) of Fort Riley, Kan. 1st Cavalry Division of Fort Hood, Texas. 1st Armored Division of Ansbach, Germany. 3rd Armored Division of Frankfurt, Germany 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized) of Fort Stewart, Ga. 82nd Airborne Division of Fort Bragg, N.C. 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) of Fort Campbell, Ky. 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment of Nurenberg, Germany; and the 3rd Armored Cavalry Division of Fort Bliss, Texas. There are 2,000 U.S. tanks, 1,700 helicopters and 2,200 armored NAM VET Newsletter Page 8 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 personnel carriers deployed. MARINES 75,000 troops Important Marine Corps infantry deployments include: Marine Division from Camp Pendleton and Twentynine Palms, Calif. Marine Expeditionary Brigade from Little Creek, Va. Marine Expeditionary Brigade from Camp Pendleton, Calif. 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing from El Toro, Calif. SPECIAL FORCES 1st Special Operations Command (contingent) NAVY 60,000 personnel; 108 ships in gulf, the Arabian Sea and the eastern Mediterranean Carriers: Saratoga, John F. Kennedy, Midway, America, Theodore Roosevelt and Ranger 450 warplanes (A-6 Intruders; F-A-18 Hornets; F-14 Tomcats; AV-8B Harrier jump-jets). AIR FORCE 45,000 personnel 800 combat aircraft (F117A Stealth fighter-bombers; F-111F bombers; F-16s; F-15s; A-10 Thunderbolts; F-4 Wild Weasel; B52G strategic bombers). (Not all forces listed are likely to be involved in Persian Gulf War) 150,500 troops 330 combat aircraft 800 tanks 36 major naval units EGYPT Some 38,500 troops (paratroopers, commandos, chemical warfare specialists and infantry) 3rd Armored Division (elements) 4th Armored Division (elements) 3rd Mechanized Infantry Division (elements) SYRIA 21,000 troops (Elite Special Forces units) 9th Armored Division PAKISTAN 13,000 troops 6,000 advisers MOROCCO 1,700 troops BANGLADESH 2,000 troops SENEGAL 500 troops NIGER 480 troops NAM VET Newsletter Page 9 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 BRITAIN 35,000 personnel 60 combat jets (Tornado; Jaguar) 16 warships 1st Armored Division FRANCE 10,000 personnel 6th Light Armored Division (elements) 12-14 warships (guided-missile cruiser, missile destroyers, frigates, a corvette). 3 squadrons combat aircraft (interceptors, fighter-bombers) 5th Combat Helicopter Regiment Foreign Legion's 3rd Infantry Regiment 1st Spahis Cavalry Regiment Anti-aircraft missile unit. ITALY NAVY Frigates Libeccio, Orsa and Zeffiro Corvettes AIR FORCE 14 Combat aircraft (Tornado fighters; Starfighters) CANADA 1,700 personnel NAVY Destroyers Athabaskan and Terra Nova AIR FORCE 18 CF-18 fighter jets NETHERLANDS Frigates Jacon van Heemskerk and Philips van Almonde SPAIN Frigates Nuamancia, Infanta Cristina and Diana AUSTRALIA Guided-missile destroyer Brisbane Frigate Sydney BELGIUM NAVY Minehunters Iris and Myosotis AIR FORCE (Sent to Turkey as part of a NATO air defense deployment). Four C-130 military transport planes 18 Mirage F5 fighters to Turkey ARGENTINA ARMY 100 troops NAVY Destroyer Almirante Brown Frigate Spiro SOVIET UNION Udaloy-class destroyer Admiral Tributs One anti-submarine ship. NAM VET Newsletter Page 10 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 GREECE Frigate Elli GERMANY AIR FORCE (Sent by NATO at Turkey's request to bolster air defenses in case of an Iraqi attack). 18 Luftwaffe Alpha jets DENMARK Corvette Olfert Fischer NORWAY Coast Guard cutter Andenes (supporting the Danish corvette) Supplying NATO ally Turkey with air-to-air missiles. PORTUGAL Naval support vessel Sao Miguel. POLAND Military field hospital. Hospital ship. CZECHOSLOVAKIA 200 troops (anti-chemical warfare equipment) HONDURAS 150 troops BULGARIA Small detachment of military medical personnel. NEW ZEALAND Two C-130 transports Army medical team. PHILIPPINES Small volunteer detachment of military medical personnel. SOUTH KOREA 200-member medical team. TURKEY 100,000 troops (deployed on its southern border with Iraq, tying down an equal number of Iraqis). 42-plane NATO contingent of Italian, Belgian and German jets. NAM VET Newsletter Page 11 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 Short wave broadcasters in the Persian Gulf Submitted by Charles Harper Classic City Node #2 - Athens, GA (404) 548-0726 Here are the latest schedules from shortwave broadcasters in the Persian Gulf area. Some of the times and frequencies may be different from those given in published sources before the start of the war: all times are in Universal Time (UTC) all frequencies are in kHz Time Frequency --------- --------- Radio Baghdad 2100-2300 13660 (try LSB, better audio) Radio Amman Jordan 2000-2200 9560 Radio Damascus Syria 2005-2100 12085 " " 15095 R. Baghdad 0230-0430 11830 Voice of Turkey 0300-0400 9445 " " 17880 Voice of the U.A. 2200-0000 9600 (Abu Dhabi) 11985 " " 13605 U.A.E. Radio (Dubai) 0330-0400 11940 " " 13675 " " 15400 Kol Israel 2300-2330 \ / 9435 0000-0030 \/ 11605 0100-0130 /\ 15640 Radio Amman Jordan 0500-0600 13655 Radio Cairo Egypt (unknown) 9475 (reception is poor) N.B. For Kol Israel, all three frequencies are in use during all three broadcasts. Intervening broadcasts are in French (i.e. 1/2 hour English, 1/2 hour French). All broadcasts listed are (or should be) in English. Due to the volatile nature of the situation in the area, all the above are subject to change. This is especially true of R. Baghdad. NAM VET Newsletter Page 12 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 ================================================================= I n a c o u n t r y f a r a w a y . . . ================================================================= FAKE DOCTORS FALSELY IDENTIFIED REMAINS OF GIs MISSING IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, SENATE PANEL REPORT SAYS By Peter Samuel Special to the 11/20/90 New York City Tribune Input by: Terry Hayes - Waterloo, NY VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 Washington Nov 20 - A congressional report says the Pentagon employed unqualified forensic personnel who misrepresented themselves as doctors and falsely identified the remains of missing US servicemen in Vietnam and Laos. According to the Senate Foreign Relations committee staff report, which was obtained by the New York City Tribune, a US government agency "has falsely identified as many as 80 separate sets of remains of US servicemen who were listed as MIA," and warned that "the total number of sets of remains falsely identified may be much higher." In one case, bones later inspected by a qualified forensic scientist as those of an animal, not a human, were accepted as missing in action (MIA) remains, the report said. In another case a completely, empty coffin was allegedly presented to a serviceman's family as "remains." The actions reportedly occurred at the Defense Department's Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii (CIL-HI) the staff report says. It was not clear from the report, which still appeared to be in draft form exactly when the misrepresentations occurred, but some observers have suggested that it was during the late years of the Reagan Administration. The 67-page report, titled "Issues," is described as an addendum to an Interim Report released by the committee October 28, 1990. The Senate investigators quote Dr. Michael Charney, a physical anthropologist and emeritus professor at the University of Colorado, as concluding that CIL-HI engaged in fraudulent findings "This facility entrusted with the analysis of mostly skeletonized remains of our servicemen... is guilty of unscientific, unprofessional work. The administrative and technical personnel have engaged knowingly in deliberate distortion of details deduced from the bones to give credibility to otherwise impossible identifications." The Senate investigators quote Charney as saying that the CIL-HI personnel had been "blatantly, deliberately lying" in order to close out MIA cases. He says that many of the personnel who performed the identifications lacked necessary forensic training and "had never been awarded doctorates, yet referred to themselves as doctors." Another witness, Dr. George Gill, secretary of the physical anthropology section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, made similar charges of forensic fraud against the Hawaii laboratory, telling the Senate staff that the misrepresentation of MIA remains "results either form extreme carelessness, incompetence, fabrication of data or some combination of these things." The staff paper says that to date the Defense Department has not NAM VET Newsletter Page 13 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 contested the outside experts charges of forensic fraud. But it says that two so called "doctors" at the Hawaii laboratory were replaced following the complaints by the forensic scientists. However it says the Defense Department overall has been responsible for a long term effort to discredit all live sighting reports of MIAs. Staff reviewed hundreds of these classified and unclassified live sighting reports in the opinion of staff many live sighting reports were closed prematurely (by the Defense Department) when minimal additional effort could have resolved the veracity of the report, the report explains. It says that the Defense Department has dismissed the credibility of live sighting reports based on even the slightest inconsistencies in descriptions of time, location or circumstances. It denounces such "debunking." It also accuses the Defense Department of arbitrary findings of death saying that its review at the Pentagon showed that often the facts contained in the MIA files did not support the finding of death. "The method of making a presumptive finding of death has been abused by the DOD (Department of Defense)" says the report. If the department has issued a presumptive finding of death then it is prepared to conduct ceremonial burials of non existent remains, the report notes. And it says that just last month at Arlington National Cemetery the Pentagon buried with full military honors what were described as the remains of two US airmen presumed to have died in Laos 20 years ago. It adds "However the caskets of remains of the two servicemen contained no bones, no physical matter whatsoever. The coffins contained nothing but air. The Defense Department has its own meaning for the word "remains" of US servicemen, which is not found in any English Language dictionary." A Senate Foreign Relations committee staff report released Oct. 28 says the Nixon Administration made a decision to abandon remaining US prisoners in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Subsequent administrations have resisted efforts to reopen the issue officials say. With the repatriation of 591 prisoners of was (POWs) in "Operation Homecoming," the Nixon Administration claimed April 12, 1973 that all live prisoners of war had been retuned, and subsequent administrations have insisted that reported sightings of American prisoners were false. But a government official told the New York City Tribune last month that while many of the live sighting reports are incorrect, others are almost certainly accurate. He said that for diplomatic and political reasons all administrations since the Nixon Administration have misled the public about the sightings. He said satellite photography has confirmed the presence of live US prisoners in Indochina. Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff under the direction of Sen. Charles Grassley R-Iowa and minority leader Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C. have spent the past year examining classified Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) documents on the issue. The most dramatic discovery of the Foreign Relations staff was a major DIA report dated April 1974 addressed to all service intelligence chiefs stating that there were "several hundred living POW/MIAs" being held in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. This was a year after the Nixon Administration's decision to sweep the NAM VET Newsletter Page 14 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 POW/MIA issue under the carpet. The Witmire Report is likely to be the subject of future inquiry and controversy. "The evidence indicates that American government officials made a decision to abandon US citizens still in the custody of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, at the conclusion of US involvement in the second Indochina war," the report says. NAM VET Newsletter Page 15 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 SENATE PROBERS SAY U.S. ABANDONED MIA'S WHEN A NIXON DEAL WITH HANOI COLLAPSED By Peter Samuel In the New York City Tribune Input by: Terry Hayes - Waterloo, NY VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 Washington - A secret deal was made in 1973 between the Nixon Administration and the newly victorious North Vietnamese regime that would have allowed thousands of US prisoners to be exchanged for billions in US aid, according to Senate probers But according to a copy of a report obtained by the New York City Tribune, the prisoners were abandoned and the deal fell apart when Nixon already weakened by the Watergate scandal at home could not push the package through Congress. Several thousand prisoners of war (POWS) and servicemen missing in action (MIAS) who the Nixon Administration was bargaining for with promises of $3.25 billion in aid one week were the next week written off with the adamant declaration form the Pentagon on April 13, 1973 "There are no more [US] prisoners in Southeast Asia. They are all dead," according to the report. The Nixon Administration simply writing off the prisoners is the dramatic conclusion of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee under the direction of Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who have been studying previously classified documents at the Pentagon as well as recently declassified documents at the National Archives. A new report by the committee calls the April 1973 statement a lie. As well as abandoning known prisoners in Vietnam the report says "The fact of the matter is that we left men in Laos, men the Pathet Lao publicly admitted to be holding." Following the formal US surrender in Vietnam signed January 27, 1973, President Nixon proposed in a then secret letter to Hanoi that the United States would provide $3.25 billion of economic aid over 5 years. The administration and the Vietnamese agreed on a long detailed list of items the United States would furnish in the first year including: 700,00 square meters of prefabricated housing and warehousing; 200,000 tons of steel building supplies; 50,000 cubic meters of lumber; 40 million meters of cloth. When details of the proposed aid leaked to Capitol Hill, criticism was widespread and sharp. Secretary of State William Rogers reportedly called on congressmen to exercise "restraint" in their criticism of the aid proposal at least until American prisoners were released by the North Vietnamese. By the end of March 1973 Hanoi had released 591 US prisoners, but their tales of mistreatment and atrocities in prison camps only fanned congressional determination not to authorize any aid to Hanoi. For example, Rep. Joel Broyhill R-Va. said that "not a cent of American aid should be spent on a country that is apparently run by savages." The Senate Foreign Relations Committee report quotes a source from 1973 as stating that the 592 released prisoners constituted 15 percent of the total servicemen held by Hanoi suggesting that there were in fact about 4,000 there before the release and that about 3500 were eventually abandoned The Associated Press and the New York Times quoted Nixon administration sources as stating in February 1973 that Hanoi held about 5,000 American prisoners which would mean that about 4,400 were left behind officially declared NAM VET Newsletter Page 16 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 dead. The report says the Vietnamese communist leaders always regarded the US prisoners as collateral for the promised economic aid. "Apparently the North Vietnamese were waiting for the aid that Nixon promised before they released the vast majority of the American POWs" By April 1973 the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Edward Herbert, D-La, had said he could see no justification for Nixon's request of $3.25 billion aid to Hanoi. It was then that the administration decided it had no hope of freeing the thousands of remaining POWS, so it decided to declare them nonexistent, the Senate committee says. It says that this political decision to declare all unaccounted for US prisoners dead was pursued "to extraordinary lengths." It quotes a June 1973 cable in which the US embassy in Saigon said it persuaded US reporters for United Press International, The Associated Press and NBC to omit from their dispatches a reference by a North Vietnamese defector of live US POWS remaining in North Vietnam. The report says that similar abandonments of remaining live POWS were made in the Korean War and World War II. NAM VET Newsletter Page 17 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 MIA's Widow still has many questions 1/13/91 Rochester, NY Democrat and Chronicle By Michael Ziegler Input by Terry Hayes - Waterloo, NY VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 Jane Lono was a good military wife. When her husband, Maj. Luther A. Lono, was a Marine pilot in Vietnam, she dutifully kept the home fires burning. When his plane disappeared and he was declared missing in action, she didn't doubt the government would do all it could to bring him back. Even after she learned that his plane had gone down in Laos - a neutral nation the United States was bombing secretly and illegally - she kept her silence because the government told her to. She isn't silent any more. TWENTY-ONE YEARS after her husband disappeared - and 13 years after he was declared dead - Lono is no closer to the truth of what happened to him than she was then. She believes the government lied to her about the circumstances of his disappearance and withheld evidence that her husband may have been taken prisoner and could still be alive in Southeast Asia. She is angry and disillusioned with a government she trusted - a government her husband may have died for. She regrets she didn't join the anti-war movement during Vietnam. And now, as a deadline for another war approaches and President Bush has the go-ahead to use military force, she wonders if we have learned anything from our last major bloodletting. "If Vietnam served a purpose, it was to help prevent any needless sacrifice of lives," said Lono, who lives in East Rochester. "If we get into another war, that makes Vietnam to have been in vain." "THE ANTI-WAR movement during Vietnam was not an anti-American movement," she said. "But I didn't learn that until after the fact, I think that's what makes it so painful." Lono's husband was in his second tour of duty in Vietnam when his A-6 bomber disappeared on Sept. 29, 1969. She and her four children moved from a Marine base on the East Coast to Hawaii, where she planned to stay until her husband returned. "I went there thinking I'd be there a year or two," she said. "I never thought I'd be there for 20." A portrait artist, she began taking college courses that caused her to question what the American people had been told about the war. After her husband was declared dead, her doubts were compounded by information she received from a reliable source that he might have survived and been taken prisoner. IN THE 1980s she became active in the nuclear freeze movement and made a trip to the Soviet Union. "It was totally non-political," she said. "It was just people meeting people." She left Hawaii a year ago to be close to family members in the Rochester area, her questions about her husband still unresolved. She is thinking of writing an autobiography that records her journey over the past two decades. With the rebirth of the peace movement in the past several months, Lono has been busy collecting signatures on petitions NAM VET Newsletter Page 18 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 urging negotiations. Last Sunday, she marched through downtown Rochester with 5,500 others in a candlelight vigil for peace. Given the government's track record about her husband, and the way it lied to the nation about the war in Southeast Asia, Lono doubts if it is being forthright about its goals and agenda in the Middle East. HER HUSBAND'S name, with those of others killed and missing in Vietnam, is etched on the Vietnam war memorial in Washington, DE. She doesn't consider the memorial a place to mourn. She believes it gives her resolve to help prevent another needless war. "When you look at the shiny black granite, and you see the name of someone you loved, you look at yourself and you have to ask yourself, 'What did I do to help this, or what did I do to prevent it?'" she said. "My greatest fear now is: 'Have I done enough this time to prevent another war? Have I done enough to prevent other mothers and wives and daughters and sons from going through what I have gone through?'" Michael Zeigler is the local news columnist for the Democrat and Chronicle. ^^Note from Terry Hayes^^ Prior to the peace accords of 1973 the Pathet Lao publicly admitted to holding American Prisoners. NOT ONE SINGLE AMERICAN PRISONER HAS EVER BEEN RETURNED FROM LAOS. NAM VET Newsletter Page 19 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 US Veterans Group Reaffirms POW Reward Offer -- "It Is No Rumor" National Steering Committee for American War Veterans PO Box 1713, Kinston, NC 28503 Input by Terry Hayes - Waterloo, NY from POW Network VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 FOR RELEASE 17 JULY, 1990 CONTACT: Ted Sampley - chairman - 919-527-8079 On 10 July 1990 the Reuters news wire and the Bangkok Post ran a story about attempts by Cambodians to peddle the remains of missing American servicemen in Southeast Asia. The story, written by Tom Lansner reporting from Pnomh Penh, contained a number of inaccuracies about the efforts of private American citizens and the National Steering Committee for American War Veterans to locate Americans still unaccounted for in Southeast Asia. Mr. Lansner writes that "the existence of a committee handing out cash (for the repatriation of) remains" is a popular myth and appears to have started after the committee threw bank notes into the Mekong River. In early October 1988, a group from the National Steering Committee for American War Veterans, a veterans activist group based in Kinston, NC, deposited approximately 4,000 Ziploc packets containing money from Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, the US and the Soviet Union into the Mekong River. Each bill was stamped with a reward offer in several different languages promising US $2.4 million to anyone who could produce a live American prisoner of war. It was suggested that the POW be turned over to the International Red Cross instead of the US government in order for the claim to be more expeditiously and more honestly processed. The incident was widely reported by the Bangkok Post and The Associated Press and a cursory check of your files will substantiate this. The reward is no myth. The US $2.4 million has been pledged by 21 members of the United States Congress and, according to Capt. Eugene "Red" McDaniel (US Navy-retired), a former POW in North Vietnam and a sponsor of the reward, those pledges remain in effect. What Mr. Lansner may be referring to in his article when he speaks of the "myth" about the money being offered for remains is the United States government's intense interest in repatriation of remains. This interest, which ignores the possibility that living Americans are still being held POW in Southeast Asia, has created a virtual frenzy among refugees and citizens of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to go digging for bones. It is no secret in the United States that Lao, Vietnamese and Cambodians have trashed numerous crash sites in search of salvageable metal, frequently destroying and scattering any remains present. Subsequent excavations of these crash sites by US government officials are little more than exercises in futility. The US government says it is vigorously opposed to paying for the repatriation of living prisoners or the remains of our dead. Yet, while the US government denigrates the efforts of private citizens to seek an accounting by paying cash rewards for the return of American servicemen lost during the war, it pays rewards in other ways. The US government is secretly paying rewards for the return of remains to the Vietnamese and Laotian governments in the forms of NAM VET Newsletter Page 20 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 humanitarian aid, health clinics and trade concessions. It may not pay individuals for bones, but the US government is more than willing to pay governments for those same bones. During World War II, Korea and Vietnam, many United States fliers carried "Blood Chits" written in several languages which offered unspecified rewards from the US government for return of downed fliers. World War II Flying Tiger pilots were the first to wear the "Blood Chits" on their flying jackets. Printed on silk, the "Blood Chit" was a pledge from the US government to reward anyone who helped a downed American airman return to Allied lines. Many of the airmen who fought in Vietnam carried or wore the Blood Chit, particularly the US Air Force pilots. Now, the US government is reneging on that "Blood Chit" agreement. The National Steering Committee for American War Veterans is promising to make good on the US government's promise. In addition to the US $2.4 million offer for any live American POW, the National Steering Committee for American War Veterans is offering US $50 each for the repatriation of remains of any US servicemen from the war in Southeast Asia. The money will not be paid until those remains are examined and verified by an independent forensics expert. Unlike the US government, US veterans don't renege on their promises. Anyone seeking to claim a reward should write a letter and give their name, how to be contacted, and give evidence of what they have to: AFAMO, BOX 1079, Silom Post Office, Bangkok 10504, Thailand. POW/MIA activist organizations - Homecoming II Project and Camp Brandenburg - have pledged financial support for/to these reward offers. NAM VET Newsletter Page 21 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 W W M M W W M M M M W W \ / M M M M OOOO W W W --*-- M M M IIII O O W W W W / \ M M II O O W W W W M M II O O W W M M II O O II PPPPPP O O ..... II AA PP PP OOOO . '' '' .. IIII A A PP PP ..' '.. A A PPPPPPP ..' ''. A A PP ..' '. AAAAAA PP .' ''. A A PP .' '. A A .' .:::::.. '. .' .::::::::::. ' .' .::::::::::::::. '. .' __ .::::::::::::::::;:... '. .' _- -_ .:::::::::::::::::::::::. '. .' _-_ _ _ -_ ::::::::::::::::::::::::' '. .. _- -!!___!!!-_:::::::::::::::::::::::. .. .' ==_ _- _= .:::::::::::::::::::::::: ', . =-_= _= = :::::::::::::::::::::::: . .' =-_ =_- = ::::::::::::::::::::::: '. .' = - -_ =_:::::::::::::::::::::. '. .' -_ -_- .:::::::::::::::::::;;;. '. .' _-_ ..::::::::::::::::::::::::; '. . _ _ .:;:::::::::::::::::::::;, . ' _ .:::::::::::::::::::::::::. '. Y .'.....::::::::::::::::::::::::::;' '. N ::::::::::::::::::::::::' `''' ': O `::::::::::::::::::::::: \v/ \ / :'E `:::::::::::::::::::::: =========================== :' U `:::::::::::::::::::::. /^\ \ :'T `:::::::::::::::::::: .: A `:::::::::::::::::: .:'T `::::::::::::::::::. .;' R `:::::::::::::::::. .;' T `::::::::::::::::. .;' E `:::::::::gjp::: .:' O `:::::::::::::...........'' G N O T F O R " Bring them home --- NOW !!! " NAM VET Newsletter Page 22 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 GIs "DEAD" ON SECRET VIETNAM WAR FORAYS WERE REALLY CAPTURED SENATE REPORT SAYS. By Peter Samuel Special to the 11/21/90 New York City Tribune Input by: Terry Hayes - Waterloo, NY VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 Washington Nov 21 - The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has concluded that extensive covert US operations in countries on the fringes of Vietnam resulted in many American servicemen being declared dead to cover their activities. The committee's staff investigation showed that some of those declared dead were almost certainly captured by Communist authorities, swelling unaccounted for prisoner numbers well beyond those previously published. Some of those declared dead may still be alive, the report said. Men missing on covert operations whether in fact lost, captured of killed would normally be declared dead immediately and classified Killed-in-Action, Body-Not-Recovered (KIA-BNR) the report said. A "cover story" about a training of traffic accident would be made up for his family to explain the serviceman's disappearance without revealing anything about the secret mission. The 67 page report obtained by the New York City Tribune, titled simply "Issues" is an addendum to a report released Oct. 28, that concluded the Nixon Administration made a formal decision in 1973 to abandon remaining US prisoners-of-war (POWS). Since that time the Dept of Defense (DOD) has been over eager to accept offerings of supposed human remains of servicemen missing- in-action (MIAS) from Vietnam, the report said, and too quick to dismiss reports of live sightings of prisoners. "Given some of the evidence that staff has found during the course of our investigation, it is highly probable that a number of U.S. servicemen listed and POW, MIA, or KIA-BNR (Killed-in- Action, Body-not-Recovered are alive in Southeast Asia today," the report said. Senate staff, together with the investigation leader Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, spent weeks going through previously classified Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) files at the Pentagon. The most dramatic discovery of the Foreign Relations staff was a major DIA report dated April 1974 stating that there were "several hundred living POW/MIAS" being held in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. It was signed by Admiral Donald B. Whitmire then executive director of the DIA, and classified "Secret." The assessment of "several hundred live prisoners" was a year after the Nixon Administration's decision to sweep the POW/MIA issue under the carpet by declaring all lost servicemen to be accounted for. The latest report gave new details on the extent and nature of many secret operations and losses involving U.S. servicemen, State Department officers, Central Intelligence Agency employees and company contractors in Vietnam and in nearby countries, especially Laos. It made no precise estimate, but quoted government sources as saying that the number of persons missing from covert operations "rivals" the DOD'S list of 2,302 MIA'S from U.S. military and intelligence operations. The covert operations men, known inside the system as Black NAM VET Newsletter Page 23 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 Cowboys, were involved mainly in Laos in reconnaissance and support of U.S. military operations in Vietnam, but because of the Geneva peace accords of 1962 banning outsiders in Laos, the U.S. government did not want to admit their presence in that country. The new report gave more details of one on-going covert mission in Laos that supported U.S. Air Force bombing around Hanoi and Haiphong. A group of 10 to 20 Air Force personnel and civilian technicians, officially listed as employees of Lockheed Corp. were based on the top of Phao Pha Thi mountain in Sam Neus province, just 120 miles form Hanoi, in a site code named Lima Site 85. The U.S. servicemen were rotated every 10 days out of Thailand by CIA Air America helicopters, and they had a security guard of anti-Communist Hmong tribal soldiers on the CIA payroll. In late March 1968, North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao troops made an early morning surprise attack on Site 85, eventually overrunning it. Five air force technicians were rescued by a CIA helicopter, but another 11 were lost, their status whether dead or captured being unknown the report said. However, the next day all 11 missing were declared KIA-BNR, and saturation bombing of the site was ordered to prevent secret electronic equipment being retrieved by Communist forces. "There is evidence that as many as four of the technicians left on the mountain top were taken prisoner by Pathet Lao/North Vietnamese troops," the Senate staff report said. Another on-going series of covert operations involved planes used for target-spotting in Laos along the many North Vietnamese trails and safe havens. The pilots known as "Ravens" were officially based in Thailand but operated their light planes from rough air strips in Laos. They were involved in collecting intelligence, spotting for artillery fire and providing targeting for fighter bomber operations in Laos. HIGH CASUALTIES The report said many Raven pilots were lost because of ground fire, bad weather, mechanical failures or pilot error in the dangerous mountainous flying conditions. Those missing would have been declared KIA-BNR by the U.S. government but some would actually have been captured. "Between 1957 and 1975 Army SF (Special Forces) lost large numbers of personnel in Laos and other areas of Indochina...the vast majority of KIA-BNR, loses and those individuals that vanished (MIAS) remain unaccounted for to date," the report said. It added that others involved in dangerous covert operations in nearby countries during the Vietnam was years including Air Force commandos, Marine Corps reconnaissance, Navy SEALs (Sea Air Land commandos) and other Navy and Army units. It said they were involved in what the report calls "covert ground and air operations in Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Burma, China and Thailand." "Due to the covert nature of their activities personnel losses from intelligence agencies do not appear in public documents for the Second Indochina War (1965-75). The number of persons lost during covert operations in Southeast Asia is not public. Circumstances of these losses are generally kept from loved ones, from Congress and from others." the report said. NAM VET Newsletter Page 24 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 POW/MIA Family Members Arrested in Hanoi From POW Network Input by: Terry Hayes, Waterloo, NY at VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 Special to the U.S. Veteran By Donna Long A group of Americans, including two POW/MIA family members, were arrested in Hanoi last month and threatened with a 3-12 month prison term for distributing Vietnamese currency stamped with a reward sticker offering $2.5 million for the return of a live American prisoner of war. "They said we had broken Law 81," said Barbara Birchim, whose husband, Green Beret Capt. James Birchim, has been missing in Vietnam since Nov. 15, 1968. On February 12, Mrs. Birchim, MIA sister Roni Shanley and Vietnam veterans Bill Evans and Sam Van Alstyne traveled to Vietnam on a three-week visa. About a month before the group left, Ms. Shanley, whose brother, SP5 Michael Shanley Jr., has been missing in action in South Vietnam since Dec. 2, 1969, was contacted by the U.S. Army. "The Army was real coy - they told her they were probably way out of line, but they were going to come visit her and she might want to change her mind about going to Vietnam," Mrs. Birchim said. Five days before the group left, Army officials showed up at the Shanley home and told the family that remains had been recovered from the crash site of a helicopter on which Michael Shanley had been a crew member. The family was told that although only one of the four crew members on the helicopter had been positively identified from the recovered remains, the Army had concluded all four men had died in the crash. A mass burial of the remains recovered at the crash site took place in Arlington Cemetery on April 20, and is the second mass internment of unidentifiable remains from the Vietnam War within a month. "I guess they thought Roni would cancel her trip - but it didn't work," Mrs. Birchim said, calling the Army's timing of their announcement "quite a coincidence". The stated purpose of the group's visit to Vietnam was to distribute 500 pounds of medical supplies which Mrs. Birchim, who is a nurse, had collected. "We delivered the medical supplies, but we also had a hidden agenda," Mrs. Birchim said. The hidden agenda was to pass out Vietnamese currency stamped with a sticker offering $2.5 million for the return of a live American POW. "We put them everywhere - from Saigon to Hanoi - before we got caught," Mrs. Birchim said. On March 2, the American group made an overnight trip from Hanoi to a nearby pagoda and left some of the stamped money behind. "Unfortunately, Vietnamese officials found the money and we had been the only visitors at the pagoda," Mrs. Birchim said. After being interrogated for about an hour, the Americans admitted what they had done and signed a document promising not to put the reward stickers on any more pieces of Vietnamese currency. NAM VET Newsletter Page 25 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 "We were told that would be the end of it, but that was a bunch of lies," Mrs. Birchim said. Mrs. Birchim said when the group returned to Hanoi they were visited by an official, who flashed a badge. She said the official told everyone in the group except Van Alstyne to be at the Department of Interior at 10 a.m. the next morning. The following morning, Mrs. Birchim, Ms. Shanley and Evans were interrogated for about two hours. The officials praised the group for bringing the medical supplies to Vietnam, but said they had broken the law and wanted to know the names of the provinces in which they had distributed the money and how much money they had passed out. "We told them we didn't know how much we had passed out and we couldn't remember the names of the provinces," Mrs. Birchim said, adding that the latter statement was the truth. Mrs. Birchim said she showed the officials leaflets about her missing husband and told them she had not passed them out because she did not want to do anything wrong. On November 15, 1968, Capt. Birchim, who was wounded, was being extracted out of Laos with three other wounded men. There were only three McQuire rigs on the helicopter, and Birchim, who was holding onto a man in one of the rigs, slipped off somewhere between the Tri-border area and Kontum. Mrs. Birchim said the Vietnamese told her they knew she had the leaflets and had not distributed them, but told her the group had broken Vietnamese law by passing out the currency. "They said Law 81 forbids using money for your own purposes and forbids spreading propaganda and we could be taken before a judge and sentenced to 3-12 years in prison," Mrs. Birchim said. "I told them we didn't know we were breaking the law because it was not illegal in the United States to place stickers on money or offer rewards for missing people," the MIA wife said. The Vietnamese officials finally agreed to let the Americans go, but not before the group once again signed a document promising not to distribute any more currency with the reward message. "They told us to have a nice life ... that we were welcomed to return to their country and then found us four seats on an overbooked plane to Thailand," Mrs. Birchim said. Asked if distributing the reward message had been worth the risk, Mrs. Birchim said, "You bet it was. We plastered Vietnam with reward messages - from the south to the north." Mrs. Birchim said the only regret she had was that she had been unable to travel to Kontum, the last place her husband had been stationed. "I made a promise 20 years ago," Mrs. Birchim said, and after pausing a moment added, "I may just take them up on their invitation to visit their country again." Donna Long is a POW/MIA activist and free lance journalist. Ms. Long and Vietnam Veteran Jim Copp were arrested in Laos on Oct.3, 1988, for passing out currency stamped with the reward message and spent 41 days in prison. Long and Copp were part of a program sponsored by the National Steering Committee for American War Veterans to advertise the reward inside Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Another supporter, Lynn Hampton (a Vietnam vet nurse), distributed over 3000 bills marked with the reward notice inside of Vietnam in early 1988. NAM VET Newsletter Page 26 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 NATIONAL LEAGUE OF FAMILIES OF AMERICAN PRISONERS AND MISSING IN SOUTHEAST ASIA 1068 K Street, N. W., Washington D. C. 20006 (202) 223- 6846 Input by: Joyce Flory NamVet's Incarcerated Veterans Section Editor Desert Dolphin BBS - Las Cruces, NM (505) 523-2811 YOU CAN HELP Write Letters: To Members of Congress urging them to help in making the American people aware of the POW/MIA issue and to offer bipartisan support for the U. S. government's current high priority on accounting for over 2,400 missing Americans. (Name of Representative) (Name of Senator) House of Representatives US Senate Washington D. C. 20515 Washington D. C. 20510 To editors of local papers in an effort to draw responsible public attention to the missing men. To the Vietnamese, thanking them for increased efforts and urging fulfillment of their commitment to cooperate fully with the US government to resolve the POW/MIA issue within two years. Send your letters to: SRV Mission to the United Nations 20 Waterside Plaza New York, New York 10010 PUBLIC AWARENESS: Distribute factual POW/MIA information to friends, co-workers and at meetings of civic, fraternal, business and veterans groups. Request update articles from the League to include in national and local organization publications. Obtain engagements for POW/MIA speakers, particularly at national and state conventions and other large gatherings. Remember POW/MIAs in appropriate ceremonies - including Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Christmas services and National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Public Awareness Overviews are available for advance planning. SUPPORT THE LEAGUE: Help raise funds to continue this important work. As suggestions: 1) Participate in the Adoption Program. Individuals or organizations can adopt a missing man for $5 a month. 2) Wear a POW/MIA logo lapel pin ($3 each or two for $5). 3) Fly a POW/MIA Flag, available from the League office at $40 each, prepaid. For more information and assistance in implementing programs, contact the League's National Public Awareness Coordinator: Kathi Neal Parsels 108 N. 26th St.,W. Bradenton, Fl 33505 813-749-0398 Fund raising note: Those who sponsor projects to raise funds for the National League of POW/MIA Families, should convert any cash NAM VET Newsletter Page 27 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 to checks before sending to the office. The League is a non-profit organization, tax exempt #23-7071242, incorporated in the District of Columbia. IMPORTANT NOTE: Call the League update line: 202-659-0133, for current information, 24 hours a day." VETERANS CAN HELP (Joyce's note: Backside of the leaflet) Along with the " YOU CAN HELP" information on the reverse side, the following are suggestions particularly appropriate for use by veterans groups in support of the POW/MIA issue: APPOINT A POW/MIA CHAIRMAN FOR THE CHAPTER OR POST: Request this person be put on the League's mailing list to keep the membership updated and coordinate POW/MIA activities. POW/MIA ADOPTION PROGRAM: For a donation of $ 5 a month or more, a group can " adopt" a POW/MIA. Responsibility for the adopted man includes: praying frequently for the man and his family; writing letters to Congress and the Vietnamese in his behalf; and telling others about him. Following are some other ideas: - Re-name the post, chapter, or unit for the POW/MIA. - Have an empty chair at all meetings to symbolize the missing man - Send cards on appropriate occasions (birthdays, Christmas, etc.) to the missing man through the SRV Ambassador to the United Nations. Urge people in the community to do the same. SPEAKERS: Obtain a knowledgeable speaker about the POW/MIA issue for district meetings, state conventions and national events. Appoint someone in the group to study the POW/MIA issue in detail and to be available to speak to clubs and organizations in the area. (A speakers bureau guide and speech outline are available.) COMMUNITY PARADES: Participate in local parades. Floats can be made depicting POWs in captivity and using posters and other material available from the League offices. SILENT PARADE: An ideal way to graphically focus on the issue is a "Silent Parade." It consists of flag bearers, men in chains to depict Americans in captivity, a lone drummer and columns of concerned friends. A rough sketch of this type of event can be provided through the League's national and special projects offices. BOOTHS AT MEETINGS: Attempt to set up a table or booth at district, state or national meetings where POW/MIA information can be made available. (Brochures, POW/MIA decals, flyers and posters can be obtained cost free from the League office.) Also, items such as logo pins can be sold as a fundraiser for the League. A group may also want to have items made locally such as t-shirts, buttons, key chains, etc. A vendor's list is available from the League office. AND ... Ask for proof of POW's from those who claim to have it and turn it over to responsible government authorities. NAM VET Newsletter Page 28 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 ... Adopt resolutions that encourage further Vietnamese/ Laos Cooperation. ... Counter Misinformation. REMEMBER: Americans still missing in Indochina need a string, unified voice from Veterans that they support the President's priority and the POW/MIA Families. 1/86 NAM VET Newsletter Page 29 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 ================================================================= B r e a k o u t t h e C l e a r a s i l < t m > ! ================================================================= Criminal Investigation of Monsanto Corporation Input by Terry Hayes - Waterloo, NY VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 [Text downloaded from POW Network] UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WASHINGTON D.C. 20460 OFFICE OF SOLID WASTE AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE MEMORANDUM DATE: November I5, 1990 SUBJECT: Criminal Investigation of Monsanto Corporation - Cover-up of Dioxin Contamination in Products - Falsification of Dioxin Health Studies FROM: Cate Jenkins, Ph.D., Chemist Regulatory Development Branch (OS 332) Characterization and Assessment Division TO: John West, Special Agent in Charge Office of Criminal Investigations National Enforcement Investigations Center U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Building 53, Box 25227 (303) 236-5100 Denver, Colorado 80225 Kevin Guarino, Special Agent Office of Criminal Investigations National Enforcement Investigations Center, EPA As per our meeting yesterday, I am summarizing information available to me supporting allegations of a long pattern of fraud by Monsanto Corporation. The fraud concerns 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin (dioxin) contamination of a wide range of Monsanto Corporation products, as well as health studies of Monsanto's dioxin-exposed workers. You indicated that you would contact me regarding the specific documents which would be useful to your investigation. SIGNIFICANCE OF MONSANTO'S DIOXIN FRAUD You stated that pursuing a criminal prosecution against Monsanto would require a prior determination of the significance of the fraud. In order for proceedings to be initiated by EPA, the fraud would need to have affected the regulatory process at EPA and Monsanto would need to have knowing submitted the falsified data and health studies to EPA in order to affect the regulatory process. Monsanto has in fact submitted false information to EPA which NAM VET Newsletter Page 30 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 directly resulted in weakened regulations under RCRA and FIFRA since these regulations do not take into account tetrachlorinated dioxin contamination in tri-, tetra-, and pentachlorophenols, as well as 2,4-dichlorophenol and its phenoxy acetate (2,4-D, a currently used herbicide). In addition, Monsanto's failure to report dioxin contamination of the disinfectant in Lysol has prevented any ban or other alleviation of human exposures to dioxins in this product. The Monsanto human health studies have been submitted to EPA by Monsanto as part of public comments on proposed dioxin rules and Agency-wide dioxin risk assessments by the Office of Research and Development. These Monsanto health studies are continually relied upon by all offices of EPA to conclude that dioxins have not caused cancer or other health effects (other than chloracne) in humans. Thus, dioxin has been given a lesser carcinogenic potential ranking, which continues to be the basis of less stringent regulations and lesser degrees of environmental controls. The Monsanto studies in question have also been a key basis for denying compensation to Vietnam Veterans exposed to Agent Orange and their children suffering birth defects from such parental exposures. (1) Monsanto would not be able to support a claim that independent researchers were responsible for the falsifications, because Monsanto personnel compiled all data utilized by these researchers. In addition the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences partially funded one of the Monsanto studies in question providing a basis for charges of the fraudulent use of governmental funds. DIOXIN CONTAMINATION OF MONSANTO PRODUCTS Monsanto covered-up the dioxin contamination of a wide range of its products. Monsanto either failed to report contamination, substituted false information purporting to show no contamination or submitted samples to the government for analysis which had been specially prepared so that dioxin contamination did not exist. The earliest known effort by Monsanto to cover-up dioxin contamination of its products involved the herbicide used in Vietnam Agent Orange (2,4,5-trichlorophenoxy acetate, 2,4,5-T). Available internal Monsanto correspondence in the 1960's shows a knowledge of this contamination and the fact that the dioxin contaminant was responsible for kidney and liver damage, as well as the skin condition chloracne." Early internal Monsanto documents reveal that samples of 2,4,5-T and other chlorinated herbicides and chlorophenols submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the 1970s were "doctored." In other words, highly contaminated samples were not submitted to the government, and Monsanto samples of penta tetra-, tri-, dichlorophenol, and associated herbicides never contained tetrachlorinated dioxins. These analyses were subsequently adopted by EPA in a 1980 publication and were used without any data from other sources as the basis for 1984 regulations under RCRA. As a result, these regulations do not control the chlorophenol/phenoxy acetate products as acutely hazardous due to their contamination of tetrachlorinated dioxins. Monsanto also submitted assertions to EPA that process chemistry would preclude the formation of tetrachlorinated dioxins in any NAM VET Newsletter Page 31 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 chlorophenolic product other that 2,4,5-tetrachlorophenol or its phenoxy acetate. Evidence from the Kemner v. Monsanto proceedings revealed that the process chemistry claimed by Monsanto was not always used. In fact, off-specification dichlorophenol, known to be contaminated with tetrachlorinated dioxin, was being used as a feedstock to make pentachlorophenol and other chlorinated products. The result of this alternate synthesis route is the introduction of dioxins as a contaminants. EPA also relied on these "process chemistry" arguments by Monsanto as a basis for not regulating most chlorophenols and 2,4-D for their tetrachlorinated dioxin content. Another Monsanto document introduced as evidence in the above proceedings shows cross-contamination of a range of Monsanto products with tetrachlorinated dioxins by the following mechanism: The same production equipment is used without cleaning for all chlorinated phenolic products. In 1984, when promulgating the dioxin regulations under RCRA, EPA was only made aware of the cross contamination problem in the event that 2,4-D was made on equipment previously used to make 2,4,5-T. Thus, EPA again was subverted from promulgating adequate regulations for products other than 2,4-D that were cross- contaminated with dioxins. Members of the Canadian Parliament recently directed investigations by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and government scientist into the dioxin contamination of disinfectants such as Lysol containing Monsanto's Santophen (ortho-dichloro-para-phenyl phenol), and directed laboratory analyses of existing stocks. This disinfectant uses the ortho-dichlorophenol, discussed above, as a feedstock, which would introduce any dioxins present into the disinfectant. In a 1984 letter to the Canadian government, Monsanto asserted that their disinfectant contained no dioxin. This was later refuted by testimony by Monsanto's chemist. FRAUDULENT DIOXIN HEALTH STUDIES As you indicated today, demonstrating criminal fraud in the epidemiological studies performed by Monsanto on its dioxin- exposed workers would necessitate bringing in appropriate groups in EPA capable of performing scientific study audits.(3) You indicated, however, that NEIC did not believe this would be a barrier to the investigation. The following are a few key instances where obvious fraud was utilized in the conduct of these studies: Dr. Raymond Suskind at the University of Cincinnati was hired by Monsanto to study the workers at Monsanto's Nitro, West Virginia plant. Dr. Suskind stated in published studies in question that chloracne, a skin condition was the prime indicator of high human dioxin exposures, and no other health effects would be observed in the absence of this condition. Unpublished studies by Suskind, however, indicate the fallacy of this statement. No workers except those having chloracne were ever examined by Suskind or included in his study. In other words, if no workers without chloracne were ever examined for other health effects, there is no basis for asserting that chloracne was "the hallmark of dioxin intoxication." (4) These conclusions have been repeatedly utilized by EPA, the Veterans Administration, etc., to deny any causation by dioxin of health effects of exposed citizens, if NAM VET Newsletter Page 32 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 these persons did not exhibit chloracne. The results of Dr. Suskind's studies also were diluted by the fact that the exposed group contained not only individuals having chloracne (a genuine, but not the only effect of dioxin exposure), but also all workers having any type of skin condition such as a chemical rash. The workers could have had no or negligible dioxin exposures, but they were included in the study as part of the heavily exposed group. This fact was revealed only by the careful reading of the published Suskind study.(5) Further, Dr. Suskind utilized statistics on the skin conditions of workers compiled by a Monsanto clerical worker, without any independent verification.(6) Dr. Suskind also covered-up the documented neurological damage from dioxin exposures. At Workers Compensation hearings, Suskind denied that the workers experienced any neurological health effects. In the Kemnmer, et al v. Monsanto proceedings, however, it was revealed that Suskind had in his possession at the time examinations of the workers by Monsanto's physician, Dr. Nestman, documenting neurological health effects. In his later published study, Dr. Suskind denied the continuing documented neurological health effects suffered by the workers, falsely stating that symptoms "had cleared." All of the Monsanto dioxin studies also suffer another fatal flaw. The purported "dioxin unexposed" control group was selected from other workers at the same Monsanto plant. An earlier court settlement revealed not only that these supposedly unexposed workers were exposed to dioxins, but also to other carcinogens, One of these carcinogens, para-amino biphenyl, was known by Monsanto to be a human carcinogen and it was also known that workers were heavily exposed. Another Monsanto study involved independent medical examinations of surviving employees by Monsanto physicians. Several hundred former Monsanto employees were too ill to travel to participate in the study. Monsanto refused to use the attending physicians reports of the illness as part of their study, saying that it would introduce inconsistencies. Thus, any critically ill dioxin- exposed workers with cancers such as Non-Hodgkins lymphoma (associated with dioxin exposures), were conveniently excluded from the Monsanto study. There are numerous other flaws in the Monsanto health studies. Each of these misrepresentations and falsifications always served to negate any conclusions of adverse health effects from dioxins. A careful audit of these studies by EPA's epidemiological scientists should be obtained as part of your investigation. The false conclusions contained in the Monsanto studies have recently been refuted by the findings of a recent study by the National Institute of Occupation Safety and Health (NIOSH). This NIOSH study, recently circulated by Dr. Marilyn Fingerhut for review, found a statistically significant increase in cancers at all sites in the Monsanto workers, when dioxin exposed workers at Monsanto and other industrial locations were examined as an aggregate group.(7) NAM VET Newsletter Page 33 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 Please do not hesitate to contact me regarding documents to support your investigation, which include testimony and evidentiary documents from the ongoing Kemner v. Monsanto litigation, earlier litigation in West Virginia brought by the Monsanto workers, ongoing investigations by the Canadian government internal Monsanto documents, as well as documentation of the submission of the fraudulent data and studies by Monsanto to support the rulemaking process under RCRA and other EPA authorities. CC: Admiral E. Zumwalt Senator Thomas Daschel Congressman Ted Weiss American Legion National Vietnam Veteran's Coalition Oklahoma Agent Orange Foundation Independent International Agent Orange Network Vietnam Veterans of New Zealand Greenpeace, U.S.A Earth First Natural Resources Defense Council Environmental Defense Fund Lennart Hardell, M.D., Ph.D. Mikael Eriksson, M.D. Olaf Axelson M.D. Friedaman Rohleder, M.D. Mike Petruska Chief, Regulatory Development Branch Carrol G. Wills, Acting Director, NEIC, EPA/Denver ------------------------ (1) The American Medical Association, concerned about the veracity of one of the Monsanto studies published in its journal, stated that a reassessment would be undertaken if the outcome of appeal of the Kenmer v. Monsanto litigation did not reverse the verdict impugning the credibility of the Monsanto studies. (2) You indicated that NEIC would be reticent to receive documents of this nature suspected to be under a court protective order, but assured me that you would pursue legal routes to obtain them independently. (3) You should be cautioned regarding any consultation with Dr. Renate Kimbrough at EPA regarding the review of the Monsanto studies. Dr. Kimbrough was contacted by Monsanto during the Kenmer v. Monsanto litigation and provided expert testimony, while an employee of the Centers for Disease Control, on behalf of Monsanto. Dr. Kimbrough has provided expert testimony on behalf of other defendant corporations responsible for dioxin pollution even coauthoring papers with these defendants. (4) Suskind examined only one worker without chloracne (Mr. Kiley), and dismissed this individual's health complaints as being those of a complainer. (5) Later studies by the Centers for Disease Control have demonstrated that any manifestation of chloracne in humans is not correlated with the blood dioxin levels. In other words, individuals with lower blood dioxin have been observed to develop chloracne, those with higher blood levels did not. NAM VET Newsletter Page 34 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 (6) The deposition of Ms. Jan Young of Monsanto, previously under a protective order, is in the process of release pursuant to a motion by Greenpeace, USA (7) This NIOSH study does have an inherent design weakness that would diminish the capability of detecting excess cancers. This is because Monsanto and the other dioxin-producing companies were allowed to independently select the group of dioxin-exposed workers to be studied by NIOSH. --------------------------- UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 ENFORCEMENT CONFIDENTIAL ------------------------ OCT 23 I990 OFFICE OF SOLID WASTE AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE MEMORANDUM SUBJECT: Providing Information to NEIC FROM: Michael J. Petruska Chief Regulatory Development Branch TO: Cate Jenkins, Chemist Regulatory Development Branch It has come to my attention that you are in possession of information concerning certain health studies performed by Monsanto Corporation on dioxins. Accordingly, I am directing you, as part of your assigned duties, to meet with Special Agent Kevin Guarino of NEIC to describe the information in your possession, and if Special Agent Guarino thinks the information would be helpful, to provide the information including copies of documents, etc., to him. Please let me know how much time will be involved after you have met. CC: David Bussard Kevin Guarino, NEIC NAM VET Newsletter Page 35 Volume 5, Number 1 January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xxx _ -. . - .-. - . . . . - XXXXXxxXXXXXXXXXXXx -. - .- . - . . XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-. .--. - .- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX -.- - -.- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX -. -. -. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx .g -. -. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX .- j. .- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX . p .-. XXXXXXXX ]XXXXXXXXX ]XXXXXXXX .- - -. XXXXXX XXXXX XXXXXX -.- - -- XXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXX -- - XXXXXXXXX X'`XXX XXXXXXX Y Y XXXXXXXXX XXXXX XXX XXXXXXX X X XXXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXX XXXXXX XXX XX X XXX XX XX XXXX XX XXX XX XX XX XXXX XXX]XXXXXXXXXXXX XXX[ XX XX XXX XXXXXXXXXX " I t ' s o n l y t e e n a g e a c n e ! " -Robert Nimmo- NAM VET Newsletter Page 36 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 ================================================================= F r o m A z t e c S h o r e t o A r c t i c Z o n e ================================================================= COAST GUARD PORT SECURITY UNITS JOIN MIDDLE EAST OPERATIONS Article from the December, 1990 issue of "RETIREE NEWSLETTER" US COAST GUARD HEADQUARTERS. Story by Photojournalist 1st Class Mike Price & Photojournalist 2nd Class Steve Blando Input by: Jack Hawkins SCPO, US Coast Guard (Retired) VETLINK #1 - PITTSFIELD, MA (413) 443-6313 Six weeks after multinational troops began pouring into Saudi Arabia, Coast Guard Reservists were called to action with the deployment of two Port Security Units (PSU) from the 9th Coast Guard District. (NOTE: the 9th Coast Guard District encompasses the Great Lakes areas of New York, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.) In mid-September, the first unit, a 117 person detachment from Reserve Group Milwaukee, deployed from Toledo, Ohio. A few days later, another PSU from Reserve Group Buffalo followed suit. Stateside, the third and final PSU from Cleveland was standing by for orders to ship out. To date, more than 700 Reservists have been called up in the first involuntary overseas mobilization of Coast Guard Reserve units in their 50 year history. An important factor in the decision to call up these citizen- sailors was the confidence in the PSU's ability to do the job. This unit's high level of competence in the result of about six years of very specialized training, the most recent of which was at Camp Perry, a National Guard base on Lake Erie, near Toledo, Ohio. The training at Camp Perry was conducted in two one-week periods during August and September and involved PSU's from both Group Milwaukee and Group Buffalo. CAPT Carmond Fitzgerald, the 9th District's Chief of Readiness and Reserve, held an all-hands briefing to provide the Reservists with some idea of what they could expect in the next few weeks of training. The tone of the briefing was very frank. "The training you receive here at Camp Perry may be the toughest you've ever had in the Coast Guard," he said. "And then shortly thereafter, everyone may be going on a trip to the Middle East." The training at Camp Perry covered many subjects. It was administered by a handpicked group of Coast Guard instructors from the Coast Guard Reserve Training Center Yorktown, Va. and a special team of instructors from the Ohio National Guard. The team from Yorktown put the Reservists through their paces with extensive instruction in boat operations. This training including several hours of practice on how to protect a secured area from hostile traffic. While the boat crews were busy on the water, other Reservists on shore were receiving some special instructions in maritime security. With full combat regalia - M-16s, helmets and NAM VET Newsletter Page 37 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 camouflaged uniforms - they looked more like combat infantry troops than members of the nation's oldest continuous seagoing service. While all the training at Camp Perry was important, there was one subject that was mandatory and critical for everyone to learn: CBR - chemical, biological, and radiological - instruction detailed the use of special clothing and gas masks, in the event of a chemical warfare attack. Under the guidance of CBR specialists from the Ohio National Guard, the Reservists were given a full day of comprehensive instruction in the many dangers of various chemical agents, and the proper use of equipment required for protection. More training followed on how to properly wear the charcoal- lines protective suit and the CBR mask. This meant learning how to properly clear the mask of any possible toxic agents, while also ensuring that there was an airtight seal around the face. All this had to be accomplished in a period of 15 seconds. Suit training turned into a sweaty ordeal. After getting into the suit, the instructors took the class for a walk, which also included a 50 yard sprint on the beach. With temperatures in the mid-80's - and with very high humidity - CBR training was not at all enjoyable, but was viewed by everyone as something that could mean the difference between life and death. On September 14, all speculation was over. The word spread like wildfire and in a matter of minutes, everyone knew that Milwaukee had been called up. On the last day of training at Camp Perry, the troops were visited by RADM Fred Golove, the Senior Reserve Officer in the Coast Guard. RADM Golove was intrigued by the wide array of personalities before him. After querying some Reservists on their background, he discovered the myriad of talents that made up the Reserve force. He found plumbers, electricians, doctors, lawyers, college professors, teachers, TV reporters, photographers, nurses, salesmen, police officers, and firefighters - just to name a few. He found what he already knew. They were people from all walks of life, brought together under circumstances that seemed both impossible and improbable just a few short months ago. NAM VET Newsletter Page 38 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 U.S. Coast Guard in South East Asia/Vietnam Conflict; Part 2 By: Jack Hawkins, USCG (Ret) - Staten Island, NY VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 ------------------------------------- From Aztec Shore to Arctic Zone To Europe and Far East Our Flag is carried by Our Ships In Time of War and Peace Verse from "SEMPER PARATUS" The Coast Guard Marching Song ------------------------------------- In Part 1 of Coast Guard Operations in South East Asia during the Vietnam War,(NAMVET NEWSLETTER, VOLUME 4 EDITION 12) we saw the establishment and operations of the inner barrier patrols with Coast Guard Squadron 1 and 2, consisting of 82 ft patrol boats. In Part 2, we will see the operations of the Outer Barrier units, the seagoing cutters of Coast Guardron Three, and the Coast Guard Port Security and Waterways detail. ------------------------------------- Aye we been always ready to do to fight or die To write glory to the shield we wear in letters in the sky "SEMPER PARATUS" ------------------------------------- AND A STORY OF THIRTY Early in 1967, the Navy forces assigned to Market Time and other operations were being stretched thin. As a result, the Navy requested that the Coast Guard provide five High Endurance Cutters (WHEC) for duty with the Coast Surveillance Forces. On 24 April 1967, Coast Guard Squadron Three was formed at Pearl Harbor. Two days later the squadron sailed from Pearl Harbor arriving at Subic Bay on 10 May. The Cutter BARATARIA left Subic Bay a few days later and on the 22nd of May fired the first WHEC Naval Gunfire Support Mission (NGFS) mission of the war. The HEC's continued their peacetime duties with the Cutter HALF MOON acting as On Scene Commander in the search for survivors from the sunken ship SHINAGAWA MARU. The YAKUTAT took a young girl aboard for inpatient treatment after she sustained a gun shot wound in the leg. Almost immediately the cutters started conducting MEDCAPS, but these will be discussed in a later chapter. On 1 October 1967, Commander, Task Unit (CTU) 70.8.6 (RONTHREE) consolidated with CTU 70.8.5 (Navy Escort Squadron). The new unit was designated CTU 70.8.5, commanded by the senior Coast Guard officer, and given the additional duty as "Commander, Cruiser- Destroyer Group Seventh Fleet Representative, Subic." Besides the normal squadron administrative duties, CTU 70.8.5 was also tasked with scheduling, equipment pools, boarding briefings, message handling, yeoman and storekeeper services, casualty report control, material expediting, personnel routing, and so on. An almost immediate result of this consolidation was the decision to include RONTHREE cutters in the Senior Officer Present Alfoat Administrative (SOPA ADMIN) HONG KONG rotation. Vessels assigned NAM VET Newsletter Page 39 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 as SOPA ADMIN provided administrative support for other naval units visiting Hong Kong including coordinating arrivals, departures, services and activities, liaison with the Royal Navy authorities, the American Consulate, and SOPA HONG KONG. The BERING STRAIT was the first cutter to perform these duties. Due to their shallow draft the cutters of Squadron Three were primarily assigned to the Gulf of Thailand. Not long after their arrival they started to provide 5"/38 gunfire support. The primary NGFS aid was given to the village of Song Ong Doc near the Ca Mau peninsula. Song Ong Doc had a small United States Special Forces base and was located in the middle of a VC controlled area. The village was practically adopted by the Coast Guard as we shall see later. Another support measure provided by the high endurance cutters was to supply logistic support to the WPB's and PCF's on patrol. The PCF is a rough riding boat with few amenities. To allow the PCF to remain on patrol for extended periods two crews were assigned, with the off-duty crew living aboard the outer barrier cutter. Frequently personnel from the cutter replaced the sick, wounded or tired personnel of the PCF. In order for the high endurance cutters to resupply, they had to either load at one of the support bases or receive it from one of the oilers, ammunition ships, food and stores ships transiting the coastal waters. The latter proved the most feasible and the cutters embarked on a new way of life. Besides, the supply ships also carried mail from home. On 29 February 1968, the cutters WINONA and ANDROSCOGGIN engaged enemy infiltrating trawlers and destroyed them with the aid of WPB's and Navy units. The MINNETONKA turned back another. These engagements have been previously described in the WPB story. Providing medical treatment for other military personnel was a constant activity. Wounded U.S. Navy and Army personnel were treated aboard the cutters, along with other friendlies. USN, USCG, and VNN vessels who knew that the cutters carried medical officers would transfer their sick to the cutters for treatment. The ANDROSCOGGIN's medical officer performed four hours of major surgery on a Vietnamese soldier wounded by a grenade. Spring and early summer of 1968 provided action for the cutters CAMPBELL and ANDROSCOGGIN. The ANDROSCOGGIN participated in an amphibious operation conducted by ARVN troops, with other cutters participating in similar operations at later dates. The cutter CAMPBELL was on patrol near the DMZ and came across a derelict junk which she blew up so it would not be a hazard to navigation. A few days later, the PCF 19 which was attached to CAMPBELL was sunk near the Cua Viet river by friendly aircraft. The cutter POINT DUME recovered the only two survivors. ANDROSCOGGIN a month later provided emergency damage control assistance to a PCF while ANDROSCOGGIN was providing NGFS. The OWASCO, a few months later, saved a PCF from sinking after it had been hit by enemy fire. In June 1969, the ANDROSCOGGIN conducted hydrographic survey of previously uncharted area. This type of operation became routine with the cutters charting the proper position of lights, islands, and so forth. The Cutter MORGENTHAU frequently transmitted chart corrections and even located an uncharted pinnacle when she struck it. The INGHAM provided a similar chart correction when she grounded. The Song Ong Doc area was in a constant state of battle and as was mentioned before, frequent assistance was given by the cutters. This being repeated to accentuate the gravity of the situation and the amount of support given. Eventually, due to the NAM VET Newsletter Page 40 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 extreme situation a cutter was assigned almost full-time to support of Song Ong Doc especially with NGFS. WINNEBAGO and DALLAS deserve special recognition for all their support. Services were also provided to PCF's making sorties into VC controlled areas. The cutter would provide NGFS, logistics, damage control, and medical support. At the other end of Vietnam the cutters patrolling near the DMZ had the additional mission of preventing lost vessels from straying over the 17th parallel. Gunfire support was not a prime duty in this area, but on one occasion when an Army post was in danger of being overrun the cutter OWASCO provided illumination while the USS NEW JERSEY provided destructive fire. On 16 May 1969, the Navy personnel of CTU 70.8.5 were withdrawn. as the duties were only slightly lessened, the Navy provided one officer and six enlisted on TAD to fill in the gap. A month later, the RONTHREE staff worked nearly full-time on salvaging gear from the stricken USS FRANK E. EVANS. July 1969 proved exciting for the cutter SPENCER when she caught fire in Sasebo, Japan. The fire damage was not extensive and she was soon underway. The same month SEBAGO extracted 5 ARVN's from an enemy controlled area using a landing party accompanied by the ship's doctor. One hour after extracting the five ARVN's they returned to rescue the spotter pilot who was shot down in the rescue attempt. The cutters of RONTHREE consisted of pre-World War II and World War II vintage cutters. Though their performance was outstanding they were handicapped by age, partial obsolescence, and relatively low speed. On 1 October 1969 the Cutter HAMILTON arrived in Subic Bay. She was the first of a class of Coast Guard cutters (commissioned 1967) endowed with high speed, improved gunfire control, habitability, and a large flight deck. The flight deck made the cutter extremely versatile allowing helicopters to use the ship for refueling, transferring supplies, transporting personnel, and evacuating wounded. Less than one month after arriving, the HAMILTON landed a large twin rotor helicopter. These new cutters felt they were being underutilized and after holding briefings ashore had a substantial jump in activity. In March of 1970 the SS COLUMBIA EAGLE was taken over by mutineers, the crew set adrift, and the ship taken into Cambodia. The Cutters MELLON and CHASE participated in the successful resolving situation, with the CHASE providing transportation for the crew to return. The Coast Guard cutters appeared to be the constant keepers of the Gulf of Thailand and so gathered considerable knowledge about the area which they would impart to arriving Navy ships when not engaged in NGFS, MEDCAPS, patrol or other duties. As the cutters would normally return to the area after an R & R port, they frequently took in-country personnel with them on these port visits which proved to be a tremendous morale booster for in- country troops. Vietnamese naval personnel were also taken, and on some trips it was SRO. We have now returned to the Gulf of Thailand and April 1970 when an ARVN unit was in danger of being overrun. The cutter DALLAS responded with NGFS providing a path for the ARVN's and routing the enemy. The DALLAS' medical officer treated eight wounded Vietnamese soldiers on board until they could be evacuated to a hospital. During the operation, DALLAS covered the landing and the subsequent extraction of the troops. It was determined that the Vietnamese Navy should obtain NAM VET Newsletter Page 41 Volume 5, Number 1 January 21, 1991 offshore patrol units and the Cutters BERING STRAIT and YAKUTAT were selected. They arrived in Subic Bay in June 1970 with a small cadre of Vietnamese aboard, which was supplemented by another contingent at Subic. The VNN personnel were taught the operations of the ship and soon took over important positions in CIC, Boarding parties, NGFS details, and repair crews. The VNN also performed the external functions of the ship, especially boarding. The VNN officers soon became underway and in-port OOD's. Teams assumed full responsibility for engineering watches. did the navigation and piloting, and provided all the control and most other positions in the NGFS teams. Their training became apparent when a combined USCG/VNN rescue and assistance party from the YAKUTAT extinguished a serious fire and performed post-fire support on a USN landing ship. Rumors had been circulating that Song Ong Doc was going to be overrun and in October 1970 the village and the base were hit hard by the VC and most of the base destroyed. In November, the base and village moved inland to New Song Ong Doc and the Coast Guard support requirements lessened. However, a month later the Cutter RUSH and an Australian destroyer conducted emergency gunfire support for New Song Ong Doc killing 64 of the attackers. A trawler attempted to infiltrate on the 21st of November 1970. After being hailed to stop, she resisted and was destroyed by gunfire from the Cutters RUSH and SHERMAN, and USN units. November 1970 saw the BERING STRAIT and YAKUTAT in Subic Bay being painted gray except for the Coast Guard identification markings. In December, the cutters underwent refresher training with nearly an all Vietnamese crew. After completion of the training, the ships departed for Saigon. There they were turned over to the Vietnamese on 1 January 1971 in a colorful ceremony where the invocation was given by a Navy chaplain and the benediction by a Buddhist monk. On 28 February 1971, after dropping of a MEDCAP party, the Cutter MORGENTHAU struck an uncharted rock pinnacle in the Gulf of Thailand causing extensive underwater damage. After being towed to Subic Bay. The Ship Repair Facil