Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 . __ . . -*- N A M V E T -*- ____/ \_ . . ( * \ . . Managing Editor \ Quangtri . . ---------------- \_/\ \_ Hue . . G. Joseph Peck \_Ashau Phu Bai . . \_* \_ . . Distribution Manager \ * ) . . -------------------- _/ Danang . . Jerry Hindle \|/ ( \_*Chu Lai . . --*-- \_ ------- \__ . . Section Editors /|\ \_ I Corps \ . . --------------- \ ------- ! . . IN-TOUCH: Ray "Frenchy" Moreau /\_____ ! . . INCARCERATED VETS: Joyce Flory / ! \ . . VETERAN BENEFITS: Jim Hildwine ! !___ \ . . AGENT ORANGE: Jim Ferguson ! \/\____! . . NEED-TO-KNOW: Lefty Frizzell ! ! . . MIA/POW: Marsha Ledeman / Dak To ! . . VETERAN EMPLOYMENT: Fred Sochacki / * / . . KEEPER OF THE LIST: Charlie Revie ! \_ . . ! 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 12 December 17, 1991 ================================================================== T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S 1. Editorials & Comments Holiday Lights ........................................... 1 Copyright Notice ......................................... 5 Vietnam Veterans Incarcerated - Seasons Greetings! ....... 6 A Lone Soldier ........................................... 7 Institute for Study of American Wars ..................... 9 December 7, 1941 ......................................... 11 Veterans' Day - 1991 ..................................... 12 Dear Daddy's of the Vietnam War .......................... 13 NamVet Distribution Survey Form .......................... 14 To You and Yours ......................................... 15 2. Drums be not Silent POW/MIAs - A workable plan... at last! ................... 16 The Bunk ......................................... 19 The POW-MIA Myth ......................................... 20 They haven't forgotten US!!! ............................. 23 Soviets involved in MIA/POWs ............................. 24 Please don't forget... ................................... 28 Remember? . 29 Politicians Lax n' Lazy re our MIA/POWs .................. 30 Freedom Now! ............................................. 35 POW Items Available ...................................... 39 3. Sister Vets VWMP's Sister Search ..................................... 40 Monumental Difference .................................... 41 VWMP's Sister Search Form ................................ 42 Silent Night, Holy Night ................................. 43 4. In-Touch It's Not Finished Yet .................................... 44 Quiet Afternoon .......................................... 46 In-Touch: What is it??? .................................. 47 IN-TOUCH Registration/Request Form!!! .................... 50 Friends of Vietnam Vets Needs Your Help .................. 52 The Electronic Chapel .................................... 54 5. Don't drink the water! Background on Agent Orange Class Assistance Program ...... 55 Break out the Clearasil ! ............................ 59 Night Before Christmas - RVN-style! ...................... 60 6. Questions answered! Nam's most famous saying??? .............................. 61 Hands Across Time ........................................ 63 When Remembering is too much ............................. 64 7. Uncle Sam & NamVet want YOU to know Chartered Veteran Service Organizations .................. 68 Ask the Veterans' Affairs Counselor ...................... 70 For The Special Wives .................................... 74 8. Forgotten - again? Incarcerated Vets: Out of sight, out of mind? ............ 75 Jungle to Jail - Part 3 .................................. 78 Viet Cons - Part 3 ....................................... 79 A visit or note once in awhile? .......................... 82 From Felon To Freedom .................................... 83 9. NamVet/IVVEC Concentrated Service NamVet/IVVEC Service Department! ......................... 94 Grass Roots POW/MIA Activism ............................. 98 A deal is a deal ......................................... 99 You know who you are... .................................. 101 10. Charlie's Angels VIETNAM_VETS: Where? ..................................... 102 NamVet Distribution Survey Form .......................... 106 Some Gave All... ......................................... 107 NAM VET Newsletter Page ii Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 ================================================================== Editorials & Comments ================================================================== Holiday Lights By G. Joseph Peck NamVet's Managing Editor VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 "Don't let me die, Dan. Don't let me die!" As each holiday light cruelly transformed itself into the piercing, painful memory of an infrared dot flashing across his starlite scope, blurring his vision, and then settling on Paul's chest, Dan heard the words over and over and over again. "Don't let me die, Dan. Don't let me die!" CRACK!!! CRACK!!! He would never forget the sound of that AK47. December 24, 1966 in the Happy Valley area of Vietnam - and Paul's last moments were spent cradled in Dan's arms, tears streaming down the faces of both. Both orphaned early in life, they'd grown up in the same foster home, got their first jobs together, shared their first apartment, and even the purchase of a powder-blue 1965 Ford Mustang. Half- jokingly, yet as a symbol of the friendship between them, they'd had a small gold plate engraved with the words "Together we can do anything!" cemented to the dashboard. It was only natural they'd join the service together. After BASIC training, the two buddies were assigned different units and both eventually found their way to Vietnam - Dan, a sniper, base-camped at Khe Sanh; Paul, a radioman near Qui Nhon. It was when the "short-timer" in Paul's platoon DEROS'ed out and Dan was reassigned to replace him that they were reunited. A number of firefights and patrols later, they became an inseparable team that could accomplish almost anything their CO wanted done. VC activity had been reported on the trails leading to Pleiku. Dan and Paul were on the scout team that was sent out. Shots rang in the darkness and they found themselves sharing the same fallen log. "Time for the starlite! Let's find out where they are. Tell HQ what we've found..." The hair on the back of his neck bristled as the little red dot played across the lens of his scope. Quickly he lowered himself and, too late, turned to warn Paul. The spot of light on Paul's chest almost instantly became a fountain of blood, flesh and bone. "Don't let me die, Dan. Don't let me die!" "I won't, Paul. I won't! C'mon, buddy. Hang in there!" "Medic! Medic!" called Dan, half-whispering, half-shouting. NAM VET Newsletter Page 1 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 "I've bought it. You'll get to do for both of us now, Dan. Take good care of the car; start that business we were planning to, and tell Sherry that I'll love her forever. Marry your girl and if ya have kids, name one of 'em after me. Don't let me die, Dan. Don't let me die!" "I won't, buddy, I wont! Don't you dare die on me! You're all I got!" Moments - yet an eternity - later, Dan reached over and closed Paul's glazed eyes. The Mustang still sounded as good as the day they'd driven it home from the showroom as Dan headed toward the canyon road, the little golden plate now dim and tarnished. At the top of the canyon was a turnout that overlooked the entire city. It was "his" place - a place where he could be alone, yet still a part of everything around him. The hurt today, December 24th, was just a little more than he could bear. He could hardly breathe and his tears came without control. "Don't let me die, Dan. Don't let me die!" As each traffic light cruelly transformed itself into the piercing memory of that infrared dot flashing across his scope, blurring his vision, and then settling on Paul's chest, Dan heard the words over and over and over again. "Don't let me die, Dan. Don't let me die!" A thousand times over, he'd hear himself reply: "I won't, buddy, I wont! Don't you dare die on me! You're all I got!" A thousand times over he would call himself a liar. The gravel underfoot crunched and popped as he walked from the car to the edge of the mountainside overlook, city lights far below still taunting, still hurting him. There was no escape tonight. Lost in thoughts of remorse and sadness, body wracked with sob after sob, he barely heard the movement in the nearby brush. CRACK!!! CRACK!!! From underneath a discarded cardboard box thrown into the brush, barely able to move, crawled a tiny kitten, meowing pitifully. "I HATE cats! Leave me alone! Get lost!" he shouted at the pathetic kitten. "Get out of here!" He returned to his thoughts and watched as the lights of the city below turned kaleidoscopic in the blur of his tears. It was just recently that he'd began checking the box that said "Are you a veteran?" on his employment applications. When the city held a parade on the 4th of July, he'd finally been able to stand on the sidelines and proudly hold a flag. It wasn't until Veterans' Day and all the honor given to America's veterans that he began to feel his sadness at being a veteran become replaced NAM VET Newsletter Page 2 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 with an inner, lasting pride. "Don't let me die, Dan. Don't let me die!" Paul's last words returned again to haunt and hurt him, fill him again and again with guilt and pain and sorrow and deep remorse. There wasn't ANYTHING happy about Happy Valley. Not for him. The sobbing started again... "Why do I have to keep living this!@! Why can't I just die and put it all behind me!@! Why does it hurt so bad!@!" he shouted to the ink-black sky. "Why!!@#!#" A warm little body interrupted his pain. The tiny kitten had dragged itself across the clearing to nestle against him. "M-m-mm-e-e-e-ooo--p-p-pp. M-m-mm-e-e-e-rr--o-p-pp!" "Hold me! Hold me!" it seemed to be saying. "M-m-mm-e-e-e-ooo--p-p-pp. M-m-mm-e-e-e-rr--o-p-pp!" . "Hold me!" He NEEDED something to hold right then. Dan picked up the kitten and began stroking it gently, tears flowing down his face in torrents. He held the kitten close and sobbed into its fur. He could later give no reason for it - it just happened. Crying, he was looking at the reflection of the city lights in the kitten's eyes when he began to feel a deep inner peace. He could almost hear what he thought angels of long ago sounded like when they'd said "...and on earth peace among men of good will." He could FEEL the peace! And the triple-canopy darkness seemed to disappear as new thoughts flooded his once-painfilled mind. "Behold! I bring you glad tidings!" he imagined the purring of the kitten to be saying. "Behold! Paul is NOT dead as long as you continue to remember him and the things you did together. When you stand on the sidelines holding a flag; when you answer YES when asked if you're a veteran; when you stand tall and proud and help a fellow veteran, Paul and the many like him - and what they fought for - is NOT dead but LIVES in you and in all that you do! Behold! I bring you glad tidings!" Dan cried and sobbed a little while longer. The space between car lights in the city below him lengthened to many-block lengths and traffic signals were on flash when he climbed back into the Mustang. Gently he placed the little kitten in the seat next to him. A bond had formed between the two - something like a bond of many years ago. Turning the key in the ignition, he noticed it. The golden plate was shining brightly! No longer tarnished, an extra brightness seemed to surround the words: "Together we can do anything!" The kitten stirred, looked at him, meowed, and then crawled into his lap. "I know what I'm going to name you!" said Dan. "LZ English! That's where Dan and I first arrived in 'Nam. Wait'll Paul, Jr. sees you!" NAM VET Newsletter Page 3 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 Looking up at the early-morning sky, Dan half-sobbed "Yup... 'Together we CAN do anything'! And we will, the car, the kitten and me! I'll keep my promise, Paul! I won't let you die, buddy, I won't!" "M-m-mm-e-e-e-ooo--p-p-pp. M-m-mm-e-e-e-rr--o-p-pp!" ... and LZ English, the tiny kitten, snuggled a little closer. 'til next month Show a brother or sister veteran that YOU care!!! Ci'ao for Ni'ao - Joe - "...and on earth peace among men of good will." NAM VET Newsletter Page 4 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 > * - Copyright Notice - * ____/~~\_ < < ( * \ > > \ Quangtri < < Prepared by G. Joseph Peck \_/\ \_ Hue > > NamVet Project \_Ashau Phu Bai < < Berkshire Veterans' Center, Inc. \_* \_ > > Copyright (c) 1987, 1988, \ * ) < < 1989, 1990, 1991. _/ Danang > > ( \_*Chu Lai < < All rights reserved. \_ ------- \__ > > \_ I Corps \ < < NamVet is a collective volunteer \ ------- ! > > effort comprised of articles and /\_____ ! < < items sharing veteran-related news, / ! \ > > experiences and resources amongst ! !___ \ < < veterans, their family members, ! \/\____! > > concerned others and health, ! ! < < educational and correctional / Dak To ! > > institutions. / * / < < ! \_ > > ! Phu Cat\ < < Segments of this newsletter may be \ * * ) > > excerpted for counseling, self- \ Pleiku ) < < help, dissemination amongst veteran \ \ > > organizations and groups, and for / / < < scholarly purposes without further ( -------- ! > > permission; it is requested only _\ II Corps ! < < that proper credit be given to the / -------- \ > > author of a particular article and \ \ < < the contributor who submitted it. ! * / > > _/ Nhatrang / < < Any other use requires the _/ / > > written authorization of __/ ! < < _ __/ \ ! > > Berkshire ____( )/ ! Camranh Bay < < Veterans' / !__ ! > > Center, / \ / < < Incorporated. \ Bien Hoa \ / > > ! Chu Chi * \ __/ < < \_ * --------- \ ___/ > > . ____ \ III Corps \ _/ < < / \_____) )_(_ --------- !__/ > > ! ( ___/ < < _____! \__ * ___/ > > ! Saigon/ < < \___ -------- / \/ > > \ IV Corps / < < ) -------- / CONTACT: > > / ! < < / ____/ Berkshire Veterans' Center, Inc. > > / Mekong/ ATTN: G. Joseph Peck < < ! Delta/ Managing Editor - NamVet > > ! ____/ Post Office Box 2056 < < ! / Pittsfield, Massachusetts 01202 > < ! / (413) 442-1660 < < ! __/ > < \_/ gjp < NAM VET Newsletter Page 5 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 Vietnam Veterans Incarcerated - Seasons Greetings! By Joyce Flory NamVet's Incarcerated Veterans Section Editor Desert Dolphin BBS - Las Cruces, NM (505) 523-2811 Tis the season to be jolly, carols are being heard all around, tinsel, glitter, and brightly lit trees amaze our eyes, bustling shoppers appear with their arms filled with packages, Santas ring bells and delight children with their Ho-Ho-Ho's, and the Vietnam Veterans, incarcerated sit lonely and forgotten in their cells. Some have family and friends that have abandoned them. Some are in for life, others due for parole any day. Some suffer from injustice, others from Agent Orange and/or PTSD. Most all think themselves, your brothers, as the other Forgotten Warriors. At this time last year I was able to send over 70 Christmas cards out to our incarcerated and received over 60 replies (three had no forwarding addresses and two had been paroled and answered after the Holidays). I heard over and over again "Thank you for thinking of me." This season's cards have already started to arrive. From Colorado (and my first contact for the pen-pal program), "I haven't forgotten you or your family, I've just been moved around four times this year. How's the program going?" From Indiana, "Sorry I haven't written, but my case is going to the State Supreme Court and the research has kept me busy. I did want to remember you and your family for the holidays." From Michigan, "Another year has passed me by and I just re-found your address. Forgive me for not writing? I hope all is well with you and yours and please wish Kristen a Happy belated Birthday and Ken an early one." A twenty-nine cent stamp and a simple Christmas card sent can bring such joy and happiness to these vets. You don't have to start a correspondence with them, just sign your name and add "a fellow [Viet] vet". If the thought of sending a card to someone who's incarcerated worries you, simply don't enclose a return address. These are not strangers, they're your brothers (I've yet to find any of your sisters, but I *am* trying). I usually put this appeal into the newsletter but thought to try the Echo this year in an attempt to get more cards sent. Need a name and address to send one to? Ask me. I've got a listing of over 300 names in 19 different states across the country. Spread a little Christmas cheer, send a card. To all of you out there, a very Merry Christmas and a bountiful New Year. Joyce NAM VET Newsletter Page 6 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 A LONE SOLDIER Input by Jim Hildwine NamVet's Federal Benefits Section Editor VETLink #4 BBS - Shady Side, MD (301) 261-5644 In the field of battle, each man becomes of himself at that point in time, and at that place, a different person. After the first battle, the first sight of death, the stench of burning flesh, air thick with death and a haze of hell. He, the Newbie, becomes a "A Lone Soldier". He, for the first time in his young teenage/adult life has come face-to-face with death, and lived to talk about it. The lone soldier this day has changed. He has changed in the mental sense of he had to kill or be killed, nothing like this from kindergarten thru college. His mind is perplexed, his focus on life is now more real, and his right to exist is even stronger. The lone soldier also sees his life now something more precious than it was before stepping off that Pan Am flight coming into country. For this young soldier who received a "Greetings from the President of the United States", life has now become more important than anything. Staying alive. As a new man, it seems no one really cares if he lives or dies, for he is referred to as the "FNG", the F****** New Guy. The lone soldier finds himself trapped between a rock and a hard place. No one really wants to know him or show him anything, no one cares if he lives or dies. It's a strange feeling. He thought that in combat there was a fellowship. That was true of other war's in other places. In those wars, you left as a unit, and stayed as a unit with your fellow soldiers until the end. But not this war. This war is measured in days, and short-timer attitude's. For the lone soldier has more than 300 days to go. But somewhere, and only good god really knows were, the "Lone Soldier" undergoes a mental change. He knows somewhere in the tour that its half over, and only 180 to go. He is numb to the feelings of pain, and heat, and sweat, and stench. He becomes more into himself with the sole purpose of getting out and staying out alive. He knows now, that in the midst of 1,000,000 men, he is still a lone soldier. He longs for home, and welcomes all stand-downs. The lone soldier is just a person in a tread mill, he has no saying as to what missions or details he pulls. He takes his somewhat time off just cooling and blowing smoke, and drinking canned Bud. He lets no one close, and no one near. He does not want to make friends - when friends are killed, a pain comes upon him, and the pain is as unbearable as his tour in Nam. The lone soldier only wants one thing more than anything in life. For his time to be up, and going home on a freedom bird. The thought of that is the most driving impulse he has ever experienced in his life. The lone Soldier just wants to LIVE. There are many many more items that can be added. But the end result is getting out in one piece. It's a shame, even the movies like Platoon, and Hamburger Hill point to the plight of the Newbie. But, in the movies it was true, not fiction. Well, we were all at one time in Vietnam the "lone soldier". We can admit to this fact. So for all us "Soldiers" who were in it, and made it, lets not forget the "Loneliest Soldier" of all: Our brothers and sisters whose names are on that wall. We have a mission now, and that NAM VET Newsletter Page 7 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 mission is one of unity, brotherhood, and fellowship. Our mission now is not to have a lone soldier - not even in the Echo. For the guys and gals on The Wall paid the highest price of all - that of eternal darkness. Each of us standing in front of The Wall comes to grips with himself. Other like me have had the same feeling. My names not there. I have a purpose. Finding that purpose among our fellow vets, wives, lovers, and friends is hard, and even pressing. But, we Lone Soldiers are not alone any more, there are no FNG's in our ranks, for the new guy is welcomed with open hands, heart and mind. Like the 1st Infantry Divisions motto "No Mission Too Difficult, No Sacrifice Too Great"! We are not the unsung warriors of late, we are not the hero's of the past, we are just a bunch of guys who, when called, went and done the best they could with what they had. Let no US Serviceman again in history be the *FNG* or Lone Soldier. Let the mistakes of our past be the doorway to their future. Note from Jim: This was passed to me via a conversation with some fellow vets while attending an outreach program in Colorado Springs Colorado. It's not word for word, but I hope the meaning is there. -- Jim -- Dak To West NAM VET Newsletter Page 8 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 Institute for the Study of American Wars (ISAW) Input by: Ray "Frenchy" Moreau NamVet's IN-TOUCH Section Editor HBX Veterans Memorial Gateway/VETLink #2 - Herndon, VA (703) 471-8010 Retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Raymond J. Moreau, of Herndon, Virginia - technical manager at EDS Eastern Headquarters in Herndon joined General William C. Westmoreland and General Richard G. Stilwell, U.S. Army Retired, with veterans' groups and members of Congress to announce support for a national Veterans' Museum and a Center for the History of the Vietnam and Korean Wars. These projects will be built by the Institute for the Study of American Wars (ISAW); a non-profit educational research organization dedicated to preserving U.S. history during times of conflict, and the history of the veteran contribution in the defense of human rights and freedom. Generals Westmoreland and Stilwell commented that the Vietnam and Korean eras were unique in our country's history, and were instrumental in holding the line against communist aggression. According to ISAW Chairman, John Radell, the goal of the Institute is to build a facility where scholars have the opportunity to study America's wartime experiences in Vietnam and Korea in order to produce educational materials for all levels of education. The museums will provide a "time travel" experience in which visitors can visit a war era and have the experiences of that time brought to life. "This is not a glorification of war," Radell stressed, "it is a celebration of the commitment of the United States to freedom." Radell stated that ISAW will rely on corporate and individual contributions and foundation grants to finance the $126-million Phase I which will include the Vietnam and Korean museums and the educational center and create 500 jobs. Additional phases of the project will span the entire history of conflicts entered into by the U.S. from the Revolutionary War through Operation Desert Storm. Senators Dennis DeConcini and Joseph Biden announced that they will co-sponsor a joint resolution recognizing the ISAW project and its value to the American people. Ray Moreau, a 5-tour Vietnam veteran was recently appointed to the ISAW Advisory Board Group. His role on the board will be to provide automated solutions for the myriad of data that will be collected over the period of time and serve on the fund raising committee. Moreau, recipient of this years 1991 FOSE Award for his design and development of the "In Touch" program for the Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial also operates a data center from his home. This data center provides services to our country's veterans by connecting into thousands of computer nodes which forms the International Vietnam Veterans Echo Conference throughout the United States and some overseas countries. Also a dedicated and committed veterans advocate, Moreau serves as the Secretary for Berkshire Veterans Center, Inc., a non-profit organization which has spearheaded the drive for "UNITY" within the veteran commUNITY" by sponsorship and technical support of numerous computer-based VETLink's throughout the United States and now rapidly expanding into Canada and Australia. The November 14, 1991 press conference was concluded with a videotape message of support from Bob Hope featuring General NAM VET Newsletter Page 9 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 Westmoreland, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, Jr. and Lt. Gen. Frank Petersen and a question and answer session conducted by John Radell. More information about the ISAW project can be obtained by writing to: Raymond J. Moreau, 12711 Nureyev Lane, Herndon, VA 22070 and ISAW, PO Box 25005, Wilmington, DE 19899. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= More to follow on what ISAW will be doing and the assistance required from each veteran... we will have a big say-so of what could be incorporated at the ISAW facility in Arizona. Ray "Frenchy" Moreau USN Retired NAM VET Newsletter Page 10 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 December 7, 1941 By Joan Renne NamVet Guest Editor Friends BBS - Omaha, NE (402) 896-2669 50 years ago I was just a kid, but I remember all too well what happened on December 7, 1941. We had just come home from church and mother was getting dinner ready. My sister had been visiting with friends in the Black Hills, and heard the news on the way home. When she came in the door she went directly to the radio and turned it on, quite loud. She asked if we had heard the news about Pearl Harbor. We hadn't, and she tried to fill us in. We listened to the news as it came through, and waited for the president to speak. Both my mother and sister were crying and I didn't understand why. Jean (my sister) was a senior in high school and would graduate in May. She had been accepted by a nursing college in Denver. She was dating a young man who had graduated the year before, who had just completed training as a fireman. The day drug on, and it became more and more clear to me that my family was going to be very involved in whatever happened. A lot of fear was going on inside of me, because I really thought the United States had been attacked, and that we were all going to die at the hand of the Japanese. When you are only nine years old, it's hard to realize the difference between a group of Islands in the Pacific which were territories of the US, and where I lived in South Dakota. I was just flat scared. My sisters boyfriend left on December 9th to join the Navy, along with many of his friends, as well as the brothers of many of my friends. It was a time of many tears for all of us. I didn't know how many of them wouldn't come home, as that was a little more than I could understand at that time. Unfortunately it didn't take long to realize the terrible price we would pay. The Day of Infamy as President Roosevelt called it, was just the beginning of a very broad education in geography for those of my generation. Every day in school we had discussions about the war, map reading, histories of the countries we were fighting, and things we could do to help the war effort. I remember saving tin foil, cans, paper, and whatever else was needed. I remember rationing, War Bond drives, and listening to the radio throughout the war. My sister went to nursing school at one of the military hospitals, and her graduation. She went on to the college in Chadron and brought a whole carload of cadets home with her at Thanksgiving and again at Christmas and New Years. I don't know how my mother did it, but she put on the best feed I can remember... ever. Rationing or not. The guys brought pup tents, and mattresses of some sort and slept on the floor. What a wonderful time we had. I was so proud. Those cadets went on to become pilots, most of them in the Navy and Marine Corp. It's hard for me to realize that was fifty years ago. It still stands out much too clearly in my mind. It's also hard for me to realize how old I am now, and the places I've been in those fifty years. I've seen the Arizona, before it was made a memorial site, and since. I've also seen the Cemetery of the Pacific, in the Punch Bowl volcano crater on the island of Hawaii. I've heard Taps, and haven't been able to keep a dry eye. I think of this great country and I'm so proud I'm an American. NAM VET Newsletter Page 11 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 Veterans' Day - 1991 By Aaron Schmiedel The Chai Way - Dallas, TX (214) 239-7607 Today is Veterans Day. Most people know the name of the holiday, and realize the inconvenience it causes by the banks being closed and the postman not covering his appointed rounds. For me, however, it is a day of great joy and a day of great pain. As is rapidly becoming a custom in our household, I bundled up the family and went down to the state fair grounds to the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial. In the early morning sun, we walked to the memorial sat and looked. So many years, so many friends, so many names. Row after row after row the names on the stones glare out - comrades fallen many years ago. Row after row of shattered dreams. Row after row of the silent testimony of the horrors of war. Row after row of my brothers in arms, lying cold beneath the whims of the politicians. All stilled by the strike of the enemy's vengeance; killed by society's cruelty. And yet, here I stand in sad memory, angered by those who belittle us, patronized by those who sent us. But then, I see my daughter climbing on the walls, sitting and watching in confusion as her daddy cries. What god has destroyed the lives and dreams of these 2,000 men? What cool ire resulted in the death of my brothers? It is the same G-d who has brought my child to me by a miracle of birth. My brothers... my brothers. I love you and miss you intensely. Some nights I cry silently as the memory of your screams tears at the depths of my soul. But each morning I awaken.... Beside the stones stand some birch trees. Leaves turning a golden hue before floating gently to earth, to decay unnoticed by everything but time. And yet, there is a certain melody in the trees. They sing of the dreams of those of us who live - they foretell our future that we shall live to see another year. But yet, they also shed their leaves in order to grow, just as my brothers shed their lives for you and I. But weep not for those who cannot speak. Weep not for those who cannot see. Their voices can be heard on the winds, the lives can be seen in the leaves, and their names shall ever be remembered engraved in the cold stone left as a monument to their sacrifice. So, drink a drink of life to my brothers. But tonight, pour just a bit out onto the barren earth and make a toast to my brothers dear. "To G-d, to life, to liberty.. and to our brothers that are not here." My brothers, my comrades, I pray that the messiah will come soon that no one else need suffer your fate. AM YISROEL CHAI! WE WANT MASHIACH *NOW*!!! - Aaron Schmiedel 11-11-1991 NAM VET Newsletter Page 12 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 Dear Daddy's of the Vietnam War - Anonymous - [Note from Joe: Found this letter stuffed in my mailbox, dated not too long ago. There was something special about whoever wrote it and the words that s/he used that stopped me short, caused me to spend an extra minute or two with my own kids. Thought I'd share it with you... (It WAS marked: For Publication in NamVet.] There is a woman that didn't know her father for that long because of the Vietnam war. This woman, though her dad was killed in the war, she still loves him. It's not because she didn't know him before he died. Its because her father was proud enough to die for this country that, to me, is full of spoiled brats. We take everything for granted as if God owes us a life when it is US who owes Him for caring. This woman knew that and knew that her daddy knew that too. I was this type of person until a friend's mother killed herself. Then I knew that life is more than other people dying; people you know can also die and it is scary to think of. But people like what I used to be need to snap out of it or, if you go into the service, you might die just because of a cocky attitude. Now I know fear. Its probably not like what you would feel or what you felt in the war... but I know I know a little about the war. This letter is to all the Daddy's that were in the war and to the ones that were lucky enough to survive it, the ones that were going but didn't make it for one reason or another. THIS IS TO ALL OF YOU T H A N K Y O U ! Dad.... I'm lucky that I still have you! I love you! Be thankful for what God has given you because just think of the woman whose Daddy died in that cruel war. She still loves him and she is just as thankful for at least knowing of her Daddy. So be like that woman and be proud of what you have and then everything should be all right! NAM VET Newsletter Page 13 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 NamVet Distribution Survey Form NamVet's editorial staff would like to know where YOU received this copy of NamVet. Please take a few moments to complete and return this page (or a copy) to us. NAME_____________________________________________________________ ADDRESS__________________________________________________________ CITY_____________________________________________________________ STATE & ZIP______________________________________________________ Where did you obtain/read the NamVet Newsletter? ________________ _________________________________________________________________ Do you make NamVet available to others? _________________________ If YES: Individual / / Educational / / Vet Groups / / What do you find most/least helpful about NamVet?________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ What other information would you like to see in NamVet? _________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Additional Comments _____________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ YOUR poem, letter, article about the veteran Experience - whether you were in Vietnam, in the military or not - is extremely welcomed by the editorial staff of NamVet. We invite you to include one (or many) with your return of this form. Thank You for your time and help in making NamVet *-THE-* electronic newsletter by, for and about veterans and the issues that concern them! Please return replies/articles/poems/etc. to: Mrs. Joyce Flory NamVet Distribution Survey 1825 Evelyn - Las Cruces, NM 88001 -or- Berkshire Veterans' Center, Inc. PO Box 2056 - Pittsfield, MA 01201 NAM VET Newsletter Page 14 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 To You and Yours * * * * * * * * Happy Holidays * * * * * * | From The NamVet Staff | | | * * | | * | | and all its contributors | | * | | * | | \\=====// \\=====// m=============================================================m H/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////H H/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////H H/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////H H//| |/////////////////////////| |//H H//| MIA/POWs |/////////////////////////| MIA/POWs |//H H//| - - - - - - -|/////////////////////////|- - - - - - - |//H H===== =============================== =====H HHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHH HHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHH HHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHH HHHH `HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH' HHHHH HHHH `HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH' dHHHHH HHHHb ,' `. dHHHHHH HHHHHHb....... ' Happy Hanukah '.......dHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH Merry Christmas HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH Happy New Year !!! HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH . HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH . :. . HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH .,`: .: .`:. .: HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH O ::: `:.. :.. ::..: . O HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH O*O ,:.:: :::.`: :: .: ::. O*O HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH OoO ``'::: : :.:::..: ::`:. OoO HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH ||| `;: '::: :`:.:. ::`:`:::.||| HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH ||| `;:: ::::\\/::\::`:\\::; ||| HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH ||| `:\/.//.//\ \.\\\/|\\\\ '||| HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH ||| /////|/ //\\\ \\\ \\\|\\ ||| HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH |||//\|\/\/\/| /\\ \/\\\\ \\\||| HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH (O|O)//\/\///\///\\\|/\\|\\\\(O|O) HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHH HHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH /// ... and the Peck Family \\\ // Joe, Georgia, Michael, David, Kimberly, George & Rosa \\ - 1991 - NAM VET Newsletter Page 15 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 ================================================================== Drums be not Silent ================================================================== POW/MIAs - A workable plan... at last! By G. Joseph Peck NamVet's Managing Editor With "interruptions" for documentation VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 The letter opens... "Florida House of Representatives - 1991 CS/HB 1023 By the Committee on Transportation and Representative Bronson A bill to be entitled An act relating to road and building designations; designating U.S. High 1 from the City of Key West to the Georgia state line as the POW-MIA Blue Star Highway; amending sections 5 and 6 of chapter 90-368, Laws of Florida, designating the bridge over the Suwannee River on U.S. Highway 27 at Branford as the Frank R. Norris Bridge at Branford; designating the transportation complex on Marion Street in Lake City as the Jay W. Brown Transportation Complex; designating a portion of N.W. 54th Street in Miami as the Jefferson Reaves, Sr., Boulevard; directing the Department of Transportation to erect appropriate markers; providing an effective date. WHEREAS, it is fitting and appropriate that the noble service and costly sacrifices of the men and women of Florida serving in the United States Armed Forces who are now prisoners of war or missing in action as a result of actions on behalf of our nation around the world be recognized, and WHEREAS, Jay W. Brown, a native Floridian and career employee of the former State Road Department and current Department of Transportation, has completed 45 years of distinguished public service, and WHEREAS, he is recognized as one of the most outstanding graduates of the University of Florida School of Engineering, and ....." The "dream" is catchy. "Highways that crisscross America reminding travellers of another cost of war, each mile urgently echoing the now-famed words, 'Bring Me Home' 'Bring Me Home' 'Bring Me Home', each glance at a road-sign silently shouting 'Do something NOW!' 'Do something NOW!' 'Do something NOW!', and each turn of an automobile key gently reminding its holder 'Have you done anything?' 'Have you DONE anything?' 'Have you done ANYTHING?' A living memorial; a living focus and concentration of all our energies to "Bring them home - NOW!", and a beacon to those whose families were told: "We can keep them forever!" Man Paving Way to POW/MIA Memorial Roads By Thomas Jewell The Intelligencer Wheeling, W.VA - Thursday, August 8, 1991 Monuments have been built to commemorate every war and many of the battles that have taken place, as well as the heroes that have NAM VET Newsletter Page 16 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 taken their places in American history. "There's even one for the Unknown Soldier, but we do not have a memorial for Prisoners of War or those still Missing in Action," noted Jose N. Proenza Sanfiel, who has been working in recent years on a remedy for this conspicuous omission. The Cuban refugee and former U.S. Marine is proposing the creation of a living memorial by renaming two transcontinental highways the "POW/MIA Interstates," north-south and east-west, criss-crossing in the "imaginary heart of America." One of the prospective highways is U.S. 64, which runs through West Virginia, although Sanfiel pointed out that proposed routes for the "paths of honor" are tentative at this point, and could swing through Ohio as well. Sanfiel, who recently earned his registered nursing degree, is taking his first vacation in three years, visiting the family of his wife - the former Judy Schafer - in Hammondsville. After an initial brush-off at the state and federal levels, "Corporal Pro" took his campaign to his hometown of St. Cloud, Fla., near Orlando, and to his own street, formerly known as Hunting Lodge Drive. Along with the half-mile stretch of road running in front of his house, there has since been another dedication, this one for U.S. Highway 1 from Key West to the Georgia State Line, now designated the POW-MIA Blue Star Highway. Now he's back to "going national" with Project Interstate, which will take an act of Congress. But aside from the new road signs and highway markers to serve as a reminder, that's about all it would take, given enough of a groundswell of support. "I don't ask for money and I don't take donations," said Sanfiel, noting that this is a cause for consternation with many politicians. "I'm not a 'Patriot for Profit.' I'm asking people to put their money and effort into a 29-cent stamp and a letter to their respective congressmen. And to expect an answer from them." Coming to this country in 1968 at the age of 14, Sanfiel described himself as a "gung-ho" Marine, joining the corps in 1974. "I understood what freedom and communism meant, and I was willing to go that extra step, as these individuals had done," Sanfiel said. "And it made me think that if I had become the POW, I would only hope that somebody back here would be doing the same for me. It's a big disappointment that not everybody has made it back home yet." In addition to the remains of soldiers killed that have been withheld, Sanfiel is convinced that there are still survivors being held in captivity in Indochina. Citing reports kept classified for years by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, Sanfiel said he hopes the recent controversy involving an alleged photograph of MIAs will compel a more concentrated effort by the government, which he feels has "downplayed" the issue. But he noted that his POW-MIA recognition effort encompasses soldiers from all wars, not just Vietnam. Another law passed in Florida requires state-owned buildings to display the POW-MIA banner along with the American Flag. Accordingly, Sanfiel has been making a lot of flag presentations of late, many of them to schools. "It's getting to where kids look up and see that black flag and know what it's all about," Sanfiel said. "I'm getting old and I might forget, but I want to make sure the future doesn't. I'm NAM VET Newsletter Page 17 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 just one voice, but if others join we could become a choir. I'm trying to be a voice but it needs to be echoed." Project POW & MIA's Interstate will send a free decal to anyone who sends a stamped, self-addressed envelope to 4230 POW/MIA's Memorial Drive, St. Cloud, Fla., 34772-8142. * * * * * Not bad, Jose... not bad!!! In fact, I think if our readers out here in NamVetLand could get hold of a sample of the letter you'd suggest writing to their Congressmen/Senators, I think you might really have a workable idea to channel the energies of so many who've tried so hard to accomplish something that would both be a reminder and a LOUD SHOUTING to those who continue to hold our proud American soldiers. I've just read in our VIETNAM_VETS echo where you're also proposing a "Wake Up, America" event during 1992's Memorial Day events where those who wish to remember our MIA/POW's ("I" usually put MIA *-FIRST-* because our soldiers are MIA *-FIRST-*) by bringing a white carnation to The Wall in Washington, DC and taping it to the name of an MIA/POW. The story is told about the young soldier who was brought to the firing range by his D.I. where he was shown a round of ammunition which was used for his M16. Carefully breaking the round open, the D.I. poured its gunpowder-contents onto the ground in front of the soldier. "Soldier," said the D.I., "Take a match and light the powder." Not truly familiar with weapons and what makes them work, the soldier somewhat-fearfully hesitated as he began to obey. "Light it - NOW!" ordered the D.I. The soldier followed orders. A puff of black smoke - and the gunpowder was gone. "So is it to be," said the D.I. "If you take your energies and scatter them around, apply your resources in one area after another, empty yourself wholeheartedly into whatever you're doing at the moment, you will be like the gunpowder you just wasted - you and your efforts will go up in a harmless puff of smoke." Following the D.I. to his weapon, the soldier watched as a fresh round was chambered. "Now if you take your energies, concentrate them - like we've done with the gunpowder in the chambered round, watch what happens to your target, your objective." The D.I. squeezed the trigger - and a silhouette down-range vanished. The soldier finished his BASIC as Platoon Honorman. I have a feeling, Jose, that you might have crossed paths with that D.I. NAM VET Newsletter Page 18 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 THE BUNK -- Anonymous -- His name was Don. He was gone when I got there. I never knew him. He was part of my war. Reporting for duty, Assigned to his bunk, "He won't need it again; He was shot down last night." The shock of that moment, Heartless and hopeless, Like an ice-water dagger Welcomed me to the war. The first night in his bunk, With twelve months before me. What was he thinking The last time he lay here? Was he dreaming of home, Of his family and future? Or did he lie awake knowing That his time was too short? Would some other new guy Sleep here tomorrow? Would he get the same greeting, "He won't need it again." And each time I lay down In the bunk of a stranger A ghost whispered softly. "One day at a time." The last night in Don's bunk, Twelve hours before me, War safely behind me, I said my goodbye. I finally met Don A half-lifetime later. Panel 25E, Row 113, I said my hello. NAM VET Newsletter Page 19 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 The POW-MIA Myth Submitted by John Mendes POW/MIA BBS - Port Monmouth, NJ (908) 787-8383 November 27, 1991 The Atlantic Monthly 745 Boylston Street Boston, Mass. 02116 Re: "The POW-MIA Myth" Gentlemen: If H. Bruce Franklin wants to write a cultural critique panning Hollywood flicks on Vietnam, pulp novels, sartorial fads and Richard Nixon, that's okay by me, but what I don't understand is why he feels the need to incorporate slipshod, incomplete research on the facts of the continued detention of American POWs in Indochina into his review. He tells us there is a "numbers game" being played with the possible total of claimed POWs. Problem is, these numbers can be moved up, as well as down. (One activist recently obtained a Lao propaganda tract claiming that they received 369 US prisoners as "war booty." The bottom line is: the US and the Pathet Lao had publicly stated that the latter were holding into the hundreds of POWs, not a single one of whom was returned. Franklin shuffles the numbers to make it look like we received more POWs from Laos than we claimed were there; in fact, the seven (or 9) POWs in question were prisoners of the Vietnamese fraudulently passed off as Pathet Lao captives. If Franklin had bothered to read the Department of Defense POW-MIA Fact Book, which he cites, he would know this. Every "responsible" investigation, we are told, has reached the conclusion there is no "credible evidence" (or "conclusive" evidence) that POWs are still alive. Two key points: the "credible evidence" (aka. "usable proof") standard is a term of art, not to be confused with the plain, ordinary meaning of the words. The test is so rigid it will never be satisfied (an escaping POW who eyewitnessed other POWs in captivity wouldn't meet this particular test). Even if it could be satisfied, the intelligence analysts have a "mindset to debunk" - a charge initiated by Lt. Gen. Eugene F. Tighe, Jr., retired in 1981 as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and continued through this spring by Col. Millard Peck, just resigned as head of the POW-MIA special office at DIA. Solid intelligence will never surmount the barriers erected. As for the supposed merits of the "investigations" cited: 1) why should anyone continue to accept the conclusions of the 1976 Montgomery Report, when it predates almost all of the live sighting reports, which fuel the current debate, and when its panel did not have access to quite a few other pieces of since revealed intelligence? 2) since Franklin complains that the POW issue has been politically manipulated, why doesn't he apply this same analysis to the Montgomery Report? The select committee actually deadlocked 5-5, but the vote to release the report was adroitly scheduled when two Montgomery opponents were out of town. 3) If a book, "Politics of the Missing Man," by Douglas Clarke, NAM VET Newsletter Page 20 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 counts as one of the investigations, why don't other books, such as "First Heroes," by Rod Colvin, various works by Larry O'Daniel and David Dimas, or "The Bamboo Cage," by Nigel Cawthorne (this last considered by many activists to be the best book published on the subject)? 4) Hasn't Franklin ever heard of the 1986 Tighe Report? (If anyone condescends to respond to this letter, I'd recommend reading the hearing record of the House Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs on this report, before regurgitating whatever Pentagon whitewash of the embarrassment to the party line). 5) What about the Helms-Grassley reports? Or the Interim Report's reference to the 1974 Whitmire Report (currently denied by the Pentagon). 6) How does the Final Interagency Report of the Reagan Administration qualify as a true investigation, when it's nothing more than the aforementioned "Fact Book," coupled with a special section on how difficult it is to collect intelligence? Note also: why doesn't it mention the Tighe Report at all? And there are numerous lesser errors in Franklin's piece. To pick a few: the Nham Marrot raid didn't "discover" that the "Fort Apache" site "was not a POW camp after all" - as related in "First Heroes," the suspected POWs had been discovered in an interior compound; the ground reconnaissance team was never informed of this fact, and therefore only photographed the exterior camp: they didn't even look in the right place. We're told that Col. Charles Shelton is "known to have died a quarter of a century ago," although the documentation for this assertion (assembled by "debunkers") only "indicates" this; meanwhile, there is plenty of evidence (in the normal meaning of the word) that Shelton may have survived to this date. Citation of authority upon request. One has to be uniquely myopic today to act as if Korea and World War II MIA problems prove the triviality of the Vietnam issue. In the past five years, a torrent of long ignored data in the National Archives suggests that even more POWs were held back by the Communists at the end of both wars. See, e.g., the Helms- Grassley Report. Ultimately, I can't really reconcile Franklin's image of Ronald Reagan recklessly plunging the nation into a frenzied search for live POWs, to protect the honor of Sylvester Stallone, with the mundane realities of his Administration policy: the continuation of the "usable proof" standard, the rapid writeoff of remains cases in disregard of forensic science, the propaganda campaign that tarred all critics as necessarily favoring "private, irresponsible cross border forays," the blatant meddling in the internal politics of POW-MIA organizations, etc. Believe it or not, Professor Franklin, most of us didn't come to our positions by watching made-for-TV movies (I haven't even seen some of the ones you list). We did it by reading declassified intelligence reports, reading well-researched articles and position papers, noting the discrepancies between government rhetoric and action, and, yes, occasionally following pied pipers. One final question: if there's really nothing to this issue, why has the Senate just set up a very active select committee, including twelve senators and a growing staff? Sincerely, NAM VET Newsletter Page 21 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 William T Bennett General Secretary P.S. Has Professor Franklin ever even heard of: the Gaines Report Bill Paul the CIL Report David Hrdlicka Jerry Mooney "discrepancy cases" Tracy Usry ... ? NAM VET Newsletter Page 22 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 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 23 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 Input by Marsha Ledeman NamVet MIA/POW Section Editor VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 11/09/91] by John Fellows, Minnesota COMMENTS On Sunday, October 27,1991, the Los Angeles Times Magazine published a story written by the same man who wrote the script for the BBC documentary "We Can Keep You Forever" -- Edward Tivnan. The story had been anticipated for some time but had a rocky road to publication. It had been purchased in July by the New York Times, edited and prepared for publication in September, but was pulled at the last second by Max Frankel, the Executive editor of the Times. He was reportedly "uncomfortable" with the story. The story details Soviet involvement in the interrogation and trans- portation of American Prisoners of War during and after the Vietnam War. It quotes a Soviet KGB Major-General who stated that he personally participated in such interrogations as late as 1976 -- 3 years after the war ended. It quotes two career intelligence analysts who said they monitored the movement of American POWs in Vietnam as late as 1979. It quotes NSA intelligence analyst Jerry Mooney, who said he had collected info about 1,000 men who had been captured by war's end, and knew of 290 men who were prisoners at the end of the war who were not released. Mooney is not new -- he surfaced in 1987 when he learned that the government was lying to families concerning its knowledge of their loved-ones, turning over alleged remains from excavated crash sites. Mooney knew for a fact that these men had not died in the crash, and that the government knew it also. Mooney's statements had been quickly forgotten by most of Congress and the Press, after the government denied they were true. Tivnan was able to support Mooney's statements in the person of Terrell Minarcin -- another career NSA intelligence analyst who retired in 1986, and worked for Mooney at one time. Minarcin said that he and his associates continued to monitor the movements of American POWs in Vietnam into 1979 -- about the time Robert Garwood managed his release. Minarcin said he monitored the transport of planeloads of Americans via Soviet aircraft, to KGB controlled areas in Siberia. Minarcin said he talked to some of his former associates at the NSA and some indicated they would be willing to testify, but only if they are first granted immunity from prosecution. Tivnan was able to quote others in his story, including Roger Shields -- former deputy assistant Secretary of Defense, and head of the POW/MIA Task Force at the end of the war, and retired Air Force General Eugene Tighe, who was head of Military Intelligence (DIA) during the Carter Administration Mooney said the collection of intelligence about the POWs was a matter of highest national priority during the Carter years, in spite of the fact that Carter was moving to declare the men dead publicly at the time. Tighe said he talked to Congress about the men about every six months at that time. Tighe led a commission investigating the DIA shortly after Reagan was elected, and testified before Congress concerning his NAM VET Newsletter Page 24 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 findings. His report was classified and not even available to other members of Congress until recently, but Tighe has stated publicly on many occasions that he was absolutely convinced that there were still living American prisoners in Vietnam while he was DIA head. Tivnan's story was expected to generate some public controversy when it was finally published, but most people outside of Los Angeles never learned of it. None of the wire services picked it up, and none of the television networks. Ted Koppel had been negotiating with Tivnan for an appearance planned for October 28, Nightline representatives reported recently that had no plans to schedule him. The Soviet General quoted in the article is KGB Major-General Kalugin. He said that while the military generals had a hands-off policy regarding American prisoners, assumably because of diplomatic concerns, KGB head Yuri Andropov (a future Soviet leader) approved a clandestine program conducted by KGB personnel. The story was supported by Soviet journalists who co-operated with Tivnan, interviewing ot her KGB sources. They confirmed that the Soviets monitored the interrogation of Americans (interrogations actually conducted by the Vietnamese). They did not confirm the movement of Americans to the Soviet Union, nor the existence of American prisoner after the war ended. There is a strong suggestion in Tivnan's story that many men were held back, or transferred to Soviet custody, specifically because they had been interrogated by the Soviets, presumably because the Soviets did not want witnesses to their participation. Ti said that not one of the men released by the Vietnamese reported being questioned by Soviets, something he found incredible because the knowledge these men had about electronic warfare and countermeasures systems would have been of vital importance to the Soviets. Government knowledge of this was recently suggested when a U.S. Senator told the son of one MIA that his father had recently been sighted "in and around Moscow". He did not reveal the source of his information, saying he had learned of a letter -- however he has close ties with Senate intelligence sources. Both Mooney and Minarcin are career intelligence analysts, and retired after 20 years service. Their specialties were airborne defense communications systems, and as such they monitored Vietnamese communications and decoded message traffic. Mooney said that for 18 months beginning in 1968, U.S. personnel broke a top Vietnamese code and had access to the highest levels of Vietnamese communications. Both have impeccable service records. Mooney never received less than the highest marks available for his work, and was described in those reports as "a perfectionist" and "one of the most outstanding intelligence analysts I have ever had the pleasure of supervising". Both Mooney and Minarcin had personal knowledge of the fate of the crew of an intelligence-gathering plane that was shot down after the peace accords were signed. One crew-member, Peter Cressman, had been drinking with Minarcin the night before he was shot down. Both traced the movement of the crew after they bailed out and were captured. They had knowledge of vital interest to the Soviets. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who negotiated the end to the war with the Vietnamese, has indicated that the Vietnamese refused even to discuss the men (presumably because NAM VET Newsletter Page 25 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 they were shot down after the accords were signed, and the flight was in violation of the agreement). The men's names were removed from the list submitted to the Vietnamese of men who were expected released. Roger Shields later apologized to the Cressman family and said the names were dropped against his strong objections. Minarcin made one comment supporting allegations made in the recent report released by the Minority Staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee -- that the actual number of MIAs may be double the number reported, because men on covert operations were automatically declared dead if they failed to return from a mission. The entire war in Laos was a covert operation. Minarcin said he noticed in the late 60's that captured flyers and "captured covert operators" were ending up in camps where intelligence had placed Soviet personnel. Minarcin said his department knew which prisoners were being transported to the Soviets because they were escorted by "white hats" -- Vietnamese jargon for special State security units who "only accompanied prisoners who were not taken to the Hanoi Hilton". The Hilton was the showplace for American prisoners in Hanoi. All of the prisoners there released at the end of the war. They included, among others, the pilots who were shot down near Hanoi. Minarcin and Moody said that prisoners were routinely divided into three categories: one was the Hanoi group, but two others were designated for slave labor, or execution. Minarcin recounted two instances of traffic about POWs after the war. One was in 1978 when he intercepted a message concerning a helicopter flight of 12 American prisoners who were taken to pick up wood which had been cut by another group of American prisoners. Another 1978 incident involved the complaints of a Vietnamese who had been sent to get rice after disastrous floods destroyed the rice crop. The man complained in his conversation that he had gone to Bai Thong, where he saw American prisoners who were drier and better-fed than he was. A former high-ranking Vietnamese propagandist, Bui Tin, was brought in to testify before the Senate Select Committee on Tuesday, November 5,1991, and supported the story of the two NSA analysts. It was obvious from stories leading up to the hearing that he had come to say that thoughts of live Americans are silly, and that normalization of relations would quickly resolve these questions. This, despite the fact that he is supposed to be a defector, having left Vietnam last Fall for Paris. He is the man who, as the highest ranking officer at the scene, accepted the surrender of South Vietnam in Saigon in 1975. He was editor of the Communist party newspaper and the Army newspaper, and was quoted as a government spokesman by the Press during Operation Homecoming, saying the Pathet Lao were holding Americans and wanted to negotiate for them. Tin read his initial lines as expected, appealing for brotherhood and a new era in relations. But as soon as Tin's formal statement was finished, he began to put his foot in his mouth. First, he stated that some American prisoners had been inter- rogated by Cubans and Soviet personnel. This was a misstep because it contradicted a statement made minutes before by Senator McCain that none of the men who were returned were ever interrogated by Soviets. Tin's statements indicated that some men were held as prisoners, but never returned, and that Hanoi should be able to account for NAM VET Newsletter Page 26 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 them. Tin said he had no knowledge that any men were sent to the Soviet Union. He insisted that he would have been informed if they had, though he described himself only as a journalist. He said the Soviets were extremely interested in men who had knowledge of electronics systems. Unwittingly, his statement verified what NSA agents Mooney and Minarcin have stated. McCain said he was very interested in this area because he was aware that the electronics systems crew members of B52s were not returned. Tin said voluminous files were required to be maintained for each prisoner, with entries each day indicating the prisoners attitude, and details such as what he ate. He said these records were in excellent condition, and kept today in the Defense Department Propaganda Department. Tin assured the committee that if there had ever been any Americans kept in Vietnam after the war, he would have known about it, because it was a special responsibility of his. He had access to all of the prisoner of war camps during the war and visited them regularly to interview the prisoners. He was editor of the military newspaper, and was gathering material for a book on the POWs. He outranked the camp commanders, as a Lt. Colonel. His good friend and former classmate was responsible for POWs, and his office was less than a block away. The existence of any Americans would not have been kept from him, he said. Tin was questioned in detail about men shot down over Laos. He said if a plane was shot down over Vietnam, but crashed in Laos, the Pathet Lao would turn the pilot over to the Vietnamese. He said they would do it willingly as relations were good between the two groups, and the Pathet Lao were very disciplined. Tin's explanation for the capture of so few pilots bailed out over Laos is that the jungle is very thick, and they could not be found. NAM VET Newsletter Page 27 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 Please don't forget Marsha Welch Submitted by Joyce Flory NamVet's Incarcerated Veterans' Section Editor Desert Dolphin BBS - Las Cruces, NM (505) 523-2811 [Note from Joyce: And in my mail today... This comes to you from the Vietnam Veterans for Christ Ministries newsletter out of Searcy, AK. It is re-printed by permission of the editor and publisher, Mr. Wes Keith.] During this special time, Please keep our live POWs in mind. They need our prayers, love and concern. Let's work together for their quick return! We are free. They are not. May our efforts to get them home never stop. What a joy it will be When our last POW is set free! Marsha Welch Wife of 1967 MIA NAM VET Newsletter Page 28 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 . =DMZ= Camp Carroll__Con Thien =DMZ= . . |___/ \_ Quang Tri . . Khe (| * * \ . . Sanh-/\* * Dong \Camp Evans . . (Hawk \_/\ Ha *\_ Hue . . LZ) / \_ \Phu Bai . . Cam Lo \_Bastogne\_ . . \ An. )Da Nang . . / Hoa \ (Marble . . ( ------- \_Mountain) . . \ I CORPS \__ . . \------ Hoi \ Chu Lai . . \ An ! . . /\_____ ! . . / ! Duc \ . . ! Ben !___ Pho\ . . ! Het \/\____! . . ! !English LZ. . / Pleiku ! Bong . . / Camp / Son . . V I E T N A M ! Holloway Happy \_Hammond . . ! Camp Valley \ LZ . . \ Enarl An Khe ) . . \ Qui) . . \ \ Nhon\ . . / Oasis / . . ( ! . . _\ -------- ! . . / II CORPS Tuy\ . . \ -------- Hoa \ . . ! / . . _/Ban Me / . . --------- _/ Thuot Nha / . . III CORPS Song Be_/ Trang! . . --------\Quan Loi __/ \ ! . . Katum\_____( )/An Loc! Dong Ba ! . . /Dau Loc Ninh!__ Thin ! Cam . . Tay /Tieng \ / Ranh . . Ninh\ Phu Phuoc Yinh\ Dalat / Bay . . ! Loi \ __/ . . Lai Khe\--* Di An \ ___/ Phan . . Cu Chi\ Bien Hoa \ _/ Rang . . / \_____) )_(_Tan San Long Binh !__/ . . ! ( Nhut Bearcat ___/ . . _____! An Long \__Long Thanh_/ . . ! | . \/ Long Giao . . \___ My /| \/ \ (Black Horse) . . \ Tho Dong / | \ Vung Tau . . )Vinh Long Tam / | Saigon . . / \\ ! Tan An . . /Can Tho Phu ___\\| . . /-------- Vinh . . !IV CORPS\ \ / . . !-------- \ \__/ (Due to rectangular restrictions of character . . ! Soc / placements/positions, locations approximate) . . ! Trang / . . ! __/ . . \_/ gjp . NAM VET Newsletter Page 29 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 Politicians Lax n' Lazy re our MIA/POWs by John Fellows, Minnesota EDITORIAL Input by Marsha Ledeman NamVet MIA/POW Section Editor VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 After three days of hearings conducted by the new Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, as a POW/MIA family member I don't feel capable of an objective account. The hearings can be a draining experience. Outrage is heaped on outrage. While Chairman John Kerry repeatedly states that he is starting with the assumption that there may be living Americans held prisoner in Southeast Asia, his casual remarks betray a prejudice against it. Each witness is asked if it would matter for normal relations to be established. At one point Kerry made the oft-heard official line of the DOD concerning the photo of Robertson, Lundy, and Stevens: "The DOD has not been able to prove it a fake -- yet." The daughter of Robertson was quick to ask if he wouldn't stop saying "yet", but Kerry doesn't even realize what he has done. Most of the time, only a few members of the committee are present to hear the witnesses. They include Kerry, former POW John McCain, Senator Nancy Kassenbaum, Kansas and Harry Reid of Nevada -- both obviously ignorant of the entire issue. Also, Senator Charles Smith of New Hampshire and Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa -- both staunch supporters of the families. They are the men who made the committee possible. Senator Helms is sometimes there. He sponsored the Foreign Relations Committee investigation that preceded the Select Committee creation, but it was Grassley who did the footwork, though; without Helms participation, it would not have been possible. Senator Herbert Kohl was present part of the time, and asked some tough questions of the Defense Director Cheney, General Vessey, and Tracy Usry. McCain was brutal in his questioning of Usry. Both men obviously dislike each other. Usry is cocky, confident -- he is a former Army investigator and takes no guff from anyone. McCain is transparent. As the popular new phrase of the computer age says it, "what you see is what you get." Subtlety is not a stock in his portfolio. Presidential Candidate, Kerry, of Nebraska, did not attend a single hearing, though he is a member of the Committee. And the Press is sitting this one out. Though Kerry says he stated at the beginning that there would be no revelations during this first round of hearings -- described as "baseline" hearings designed to set the stage for the coming months, there were revelations. For instance, on the second day, the new head of the U.S. MIA office in Hanoi testified that he is certain that as many as ten men were left behind in Vietnam after the war. He said the information on the men was known previously, but not confirmed until he was able to talk to villagers and others. He gave no names. Kerry indicated that most of the work of the committee will be done behind closed doors through the taking of depositions, or by closed hearings. It does not sound as if the old mistrust of Congress will be saved if this is the case. There is constant NAM VET Newsletter Page 30 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 reference to discussions in closed session as the conversation gets to sensitive areas and the practice of classifying 20-year old information will die hard. A former high-ranking Vietnamese propagandist, Bui Tin, was brought in to testify. It was obvious from stories leading up to the hearing that he had come to say that thoughts of live Americans are silly, and that normalization of relations would quickly resolve these questions. This, despite the fact that he is supposed to be a defector, having left Vietnam last Fall for Paris. He is the man who accepted the surrender of South Vietnam Saigon in 1975, as the highest-ranking officer at the scene. He fought in the South during the war. At one point Kerry, very serious, asked him where he was in 1967-68. Before he could answer, someone shouted "that's when he (Kerry) was shot". Tin thought for a moment and said he was in Quang Tri Province. Kerry was on an armored river patrol boat in Vietnam, with the Navy. Tin has already disclosed that he had questioned McCain at the time Mc Cain was a POW in Hanoi. MCCain says he was in a hospital the time and "in tough shape" and doesn't have any memory of the incident. Tin's notes of the incident have been turned over to the State Department, as well as his diary. He joined the Vietnamese Army 40 years ago, initially as a member of the Viet Minh fighting the French, then with Ho Chi Minh against the South and Americans. Tin read his initial lines as expected, appealing for brotherhood and a new era in relations. The U.N. Vietnamese ambassador attended the hearings, having recently been allowed to travel outside New York City. But as soon as Tin's formal statement was finished, he began to put his foot in his mouth. First, he stated that some American prisoners had been interrogated by Cubans and Soviet personnel. This was a misstep because it contradicted a statement made minutes before by Senator McCain that none of the men who were returned were ever interrogated by Soviets. Tin's statements indicated that some men were held as prisoners, but never returned, a nd that Hanoi should able to account for them. Tin said he had no knowledge that any men were sent to the Soviet Union. He insisted that he would have been informed if they had, though he described himself only as a journalist. He said the Soviets were extremely interested in men who had knowledge of electronic warfare systems. His statement verified what NSA agents Mooney and Minarcin have stated -- that men with this knowledge were turned over to the Soviet Union for interrogation. They say the Soviets took the men to the Soviet Union. McCain said he was very interested in this area because he was aware that the electronics systems crew members of B52s were not returned. Tin went on to say that voluminous files were required to be maintained for each prisoner, with entries each day indicating the prisoners attitude, and details such as what he ate. he said these records were in excellent condition, and kept today in the Defense Ministry's Enemy Propaganda Department. Tin assured the committee that been any Americans kept in Vietnam after the war, he would have known about it, because it was a special responsibility of his. He had access to all of the NAM VET Newsletter Page 31 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 prisoner of war camps during the war and visited them regularly to interview the prisoners. He was editor of the military newspaper, and was gathering material for a book on the POWs. He outranked the camp commanders, as a Lt. Colonel. His good friend and former classmate was responsible for POWs, and his office was less than a block away. The existence of any Americans would not have been kept from him, he said. Then, Kerry asked about Robert Garwood -- the POW who returned in 1979 -- according to Kerry, through the efforts of a third country. Tin replied that he didn't know anything about Garwood, but heard that people around DaNang knew a lot about him. Astonished, Kerry pointed out that if he didn't know about Garwood, it's possible there were others he did not know about. But Tin assured him that couldn't be. Tin says that Hanoi is operating and should be trusted, but adds that because they have lied so many times in the past they are not trusted. Tin was questioned in detail about men shot down over Laos. He said if a plane was shot down over Vietnam, but crashed in Laos, the Pathet Lao would turn the pilot over to the Vietnamese. He said they would do it willingly as relations were good between the two groups, and the Pathet Lao were "very disciplined". Tin was quoted as a government spokesman by the Press the war, during Operation Homecoming, saying the Americans should talk to the Pathet Lao because they were holding Americans. This is one of the gaping holes in the history of the end of the war, because Kissinger had protested when he realized that none of the names of men held by the Pathet Lao were on the list given him by the Vietnamese, of men to be released. His protests finally caused the Vietnamese to produce nine additional prisoners, who they said were the Pathet Lao prisoners. The DOD has always claimed that these men were never Pathet Lao prisoners. The men had been produced from a statistical vacuum, as the Vietnamese had already said they had already accounted for all the men they held. Tin's explanation was that he was ordered to make the statement about men held in Laos, by a Vietnamese General. Tin's explanation for the capture of so few pilots who bailed out over Laos is that the jungle is very thick, and they could not be found. He said he didn't know if there were any or Cambodia, but he trusted they were not interested in POWs. The last people to testify at the end of the three days were the family members of the men portrayed in the photos which surfaced this past July. Their frustration was evident, and though their experience was recent, there were the echoes in their words of many families over many years. They told how they had to fight for information, and how the DIA sat on information. At one point Albro Lundy told how he discovered that the DIA had prints of his father which had been submitted with the photo of his father, but which he had never been told of. He asked if the DIA had checked the prints against prints in his father's service record? He was told the DIA didn't do that unless the next of kin requested -- then they refused to do it at his request, insisting he -- as a son of an MIA -- was not next of kin. They then said Lundy's fingerprints were not in his service record, but Lundy pointed out a page in the service record that stated that a fingerprint card was supposed to be attached -- it NAM VET Newsletter Page 32 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 had been removed. All of the families said the fingerprints had been removed. The Borah family had been provided fingerprints supposed to be their son's, but they now question whether they are really their son's -- so deep is the level of mistrust in the government. Perhaps the most heartbreaking narration was provided by the daughter of MIA John Robertson. She told how she had recently spent five days in Hanoi as the guest of a Scottish news agency doing a documentary of the POW issue. She was given the royal tour, conducted to former prisons, and visited with high Vietnamese officials who assured her that ideas concerning the existence of her father were foolish. To prove their point they gave her a copy of a Washington Post article saying as much. But it was a U.S. document they provided her that shocked her. It was a full report from the DIA which informed them not only of the reported details of her fathers whereabouts, and the names people holding him, but the sources who provided the information to the DIA. Kerry asked if he could see the document, and she kiddingly said she could not, it was classified by the U.S. government and not even members of Congress could see the sources and methods -- but the Vietnamese could. The information was especially shocking because Judge Hamilton Gayden had just reported that an escape attempt had recently been made by a POW along with three men who assisted them. They were caught trying to cross the Mekong River. The POW was ALbro Lundy. One of the sources was a Cambodian minister. The credibility of some of the "known fabricators of evidence" was given a big boost at the hearings. The DIA has long tried to discredit men such as Al Shinkle and Jack Bailey -- retired Air force intelligence officers now retired, who devote their days tracking down POW/MIA intelligence. Bailey testified at the hearing. It became quickly apparent that he did not act alone, because he was accompanied by J. Turner -- like Bailey a retired Air Force Officer (Lt. Col). He also indicated that Larry Stark -- a former POW worked with him. Lundy's son is an eloquent attorney. The Senators -- most of whom are attorneys -- found themselves seated across from two judges, and another attorney, two retired high-ranking officers, as well as the very eloquent daughters of Lundy, and Gladys Fleckenstein -- mother of Robert Stevens. MIA John Robertson's daughter, Shelby Robertson-Quast, expressed a point that frustrates every P OW activist and family member -- the apparent success of the DOD in giving disinformation to the Press about the photos. The DOD successfully associated the photos with some previous photos which were obvious fakes. Now, the Press routinely refers to all of the photos as fakes. Yet, Robinson pointed out that: 1. None of the fake photos provided by the DIA accompanied the current photos. 2. All of the photos have been positively identified as genuine by forensics experts, including but not limited to the internationally renowned Dr. Michael Charney. 3. The DOD said they found a French/Lao man who posed for the Borah photo, but Judge Gayden submitted the photo to police forensics experts in his district, who said the Government photo, not the family photo, had been doctored. They pointed out, for instance, that shadows on the face of the Lao man NAM VET Newsletter Page 33 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 did not correspond with shadows on nearby objects, indicating that the face had been "dropped" on the photo to make the man look like Borah. Kerry, on hearing this, asked for the DIA man who had provided the government photo. "He's on his way to Laos, for that very reason", he was told. The DIA had known what the families would say. 4. There are now two photos of Stevens, positively identified through computer analysis. Thus, Lundy, Stevens, Borah, and Carr have all been positively identified through computer enhancement and analysis of the photos. Gladys Fleckenstein -- mother of Stevens, read the government analysis of the Lundy/Robertson/Stevens photo said that logically it didn't make sense that the photo could be real, because the men were wearing Russian uniforms, and were carrying bundles of WWII rifles, however; it concluded, they found that the photo had not been altered (except for the writing on the sign in the photo), and that they could not prove that the photo was a fake. Thus, none of the photos have been shown to be fakes. NAM VET Newsletter Page 34 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 POW FREEDOM FOUNDATION P. O. Box 65, MCRD San Diego, CA 92140 (619) 283-9879 FAX:(619) 283-0850 Did the United States knowingly abandon American Prisoners of War to Communist Governments world wide? Does evidence exist of these abandonments? Are American Service Personnel (ASP) still alive as POWs in Communist countries? Why would the U.S. Government (USG) leave our POWs behind? Why would the Communists keep and continue to keep American Service Personnel? What can YOU do to help? PLEASE SPEND FIVE MINUTES READING THIS SHEET [ARTICLE] THEN YOU DECIDE AND ACT! Fact sheet paid for from donations to: POW FREEDOM FOUNDATION WWII HISTORY OF POWs German records pertaining to Allied POWs showed 20,000 ASPs were in German POW camps that had been, or would be, liberated by Soviet Forces. Some had been "liberated" as early as February 1945. It was later learned that Allied POWs "liberated" by the Soviets had been transported to Siberia, with all Soviet troops that had also been POWs. In 1946, the USG declared all World War II POWs and MIAs dead, even though many were known to be held in Siberia. To declare these personnel dead, the USG used the authority of the one year clause of the MISSING PERSONS ACT OF 1942. In 1945, John Noble, a U.S. civilian, was taken from East Germany to Siberia for 9-1/2 years of slave labor. He was released only because a third country asked the USG why he was there. PFC Howard Humble, a "liberated" U.S. POW also disappeared from East Germany. He was declared dead in 1946, only because he had not been seen, or heard of, for one year. KOREAN AND COLD WAR The USG expected more than 10,000 POWs from North Korea. Less than 6,000 returned. Since 1953 the status of 8,000 POWs is still undetermined. Allied POWs have been reported in North Korean slave labor camps as late as 1979. USG intelligence reported nearly 3,000 ASPs were moved from China to Siberia in 1953 and 1954. Eleven ASPs, captured in Korea in 1952, were released from China in 1955, but only after the Secretary General of the United Nations brought them to the attention of the USG. John Downey and Richard Fecteau (pilots) were captured by China in 1952. Fecteau returned in 1971 and Downey in 1973 as part of the Vietnamese POW exchange. NAM VET Newsletter Page 35 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 Reports indicate that crew members of a U.S. Navy plane, shot down in the Baltic Sea in 1950, were captured by the Soviets. Since 1954, 200 ASPs have disappeared during brushes with Soviet Forces. All have been declared dead under the MISSING PERSONS ACT OF 1942. In 1954 all U.S. POW/MIAs were declared dead under the MISSING PERSONS ACT OF 1942. THE VIETNAM WAR The first American was imprisoned in Southeast Asia in 1961, the last in 1973, the last MIA in 1975. In 1973, the USG was expecting more than 1,200 POWs for Operation Homecoming. Only POWs 591 came home, some known live POWs did not. Of the 569 ASP MIAs in Laos, nearly half were known to be POWs. No POWs, held by any Laotian Forces were released. No accord was signed between Laos and the U.S. Col. Charles E. Shelton, shot down over Laos April 29, 1965 on his 33rd birthday, is the only American still officially listed as a PRISONER OF WAR by the U.S. Government. Except for Col. Shelton, in 1979 all ASPs were declared dead under the MISSING PERSONS ACT OF 1942. As of May 1991, there are 2,274 Americans still unaccounted for in SE Asia. Of the POWs, MIAs and Killed In Action-Body Not Recovered (KIA-BNR), 80 percent are pilots and flight crews, only 20 percent are ground personnel. EVIDENCE OF ABANDONMENT POWs came from 13 separate camps. U.S. Intelligence knew of only 9 camps so we received POWs from 4 camps we did not know existed. The USG received some POWs back in 1973 we had no knowledge were in captivity. In 1979, PFC Robert Garwood, USMC, was returned from Vietnam. He claimed he had knowledge of four Communist POW camps still active. In 1985, Special Forces Major Mark Smith and Sgt Melvin McIntyre filed suit against the U.S. Government alleging they were prevented from acting on evidence of POWs in SE Asia. In 1987, Hun Sen, Premier of Kampuchea, accused the USG of never having directly asked his Government about MIAs lost there. The USG confirmed that it has no intention of contacting Sen's Government directly on the POW issue. In 1989, a Buddhist monk was released by Hanoi after 14 years of imprisonment. He identified 6 ASPs being held as POWs by the Communists. Also in 1989, Stan Cottrell, a long distance runner and a member of the Billy Graham Crusade, said he witnessed about 20 Americans entering "heavily camouflaged tunnels" north of Hue, Vietnam. In October 1990, Vietnam's Deputy Premier Nguyen Co Thach told the USG that his government was holding an American. This man has since been identified as a civilian member of the GLOMAR JAVA SEA which sunk off the coast of Vietnam during a typhoon in October 1983. Other survivors are thought to still be there. An interim Senate report released n October 1990 states that the DOD "IN APRIL 1974 CONCLUDED BEYOND A DOUBT THAT SEVERAL HUNDRED LIVING AMERICAN POWs REMAINED IN CAPTIVITY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA". IMPORTANT POW/MIA QUOTES "Accounting for Americans Missing in Action is a matter of highest national priority." - PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH - JUL 28, 1989 and NAM VET Newsletter Page 36 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 again, JUL 1990. "There are today, Americans held against their will in foreign lands and Americans who are unaccounted for." PRESIDENT BUSH - JAN 20, 1989. "There is quite a lot of evidence given by people who have no ulterior motives and no reasons to lie, and they are telling things they have seen. I do think there has to be ... there have to be live Americans there." - FORMER NAT'L SEC. ADVISOR ROBERT McFARLANE - OCT 9, 1985 "During my tenure as Director, I saw more information on POWs than any other man in the world. I was convinced then, and I am convinced today, that Americans are being held against their will by the Communists in SE Asia. There could be 50-60 in Vietnam, maybe more." FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE DEFENSE INTEL AGENCY, LtGen EUGENE TIGHE - 1986 "Look, the nation knows they (the POWs) are there, everybody knows they are there, but there's no groundswell of support for getting them out. Certainly you are not suggesting we pay for them, surely not saying we could do anything like that with no public support?" FORMER CIA DIRECTOR WILLIAM CASEY - OCT 7, 1986 "There is no longer any question that there are live Americans in SE Asia. The question is who they are and how many of them there are. There could be Americans in the mountains, in the caves, in areas beyond their control. For God's sake, bring them home." CONGRESSMAN G. SOLOMON - 1986 "By the end of the war there was probably close to 480 names on the list of MIAs which I carried around... 302 to 304 alive. Only a small percent were returned. If you find anybody at my operational level that said we got 'em all back, I'll be totally surprised." FORMER NAT'L SECURITY AGENCY ANALYST, JERRY MOONEY - 1986. "My plan was to be totally honest and forthcoming on the entire issue and aggressively pursue innovative actions and concepts to clear up the live sighting business. I became painfully aware, however, that I was not really in charge of my own office. Practically all analysis is directed to finding fault with the source. The policy people manipulating the affair have maintained their distance and remained hidden in the shadows, while using the Office as a TOXIC WASTE DUMP to bury the whole MESS. Whatever happens in the issue, DIA takes the blame, while the real players remain invisible." CHIEF OF THE SPECIAL OFFICE FOR POW/MIAs, COL MILLARD A. PECK, Request for Relief - 12 FEB 1991 THE USG LEFT OUR POWs BEHIND Every administration since the Nixon administration has been unable to recover the ASPs in SE Asia. Each subsequent administration has compounded the tragedy and would become directly accountable for the men who died during their tenure in office. In 1973 the pressure to withdraw from SE Asia was immense and Congress refused to appropriate the 3.4 billion dollars in war reparations that had been promised by President Nixon. NAM VET Newsletter Page 37 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 There has been a conspiracy of silence and clear lack of resolve to address the POW issue. There has been a long history of neglect and incompetence, protection of individual career interest, poor judgment and insufficient correlation, synthesis, processing and dissemination of POW data. THE COMMUNISTS STILL KEEP ASPs Our representatives at the Paris Peace Accords failed to demand the return of all of our POWs. Hanoi never released them because we never asked for them. The countries of Laos and Cambodia did not participate in the Paris Peace negotiations which led to an agreement only between the U.S. Government and North Vietnam. No direct, formal negotiations for POWs were ever conducted with either country. Prisoners could have been retained as insurance against the 3.5 billion dollars that the Vietnamese termed a "blood debt". Remaining American POWs were to be used as a bargaining tool if the planned military objectives against South Vietnam were not successful. POWs were retained for purposes of internal propaganda. The countries of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia included many different regional and political factions. These factions may have held POWs outside of "official government control" in remote areas. Many of the missing men who were not returned had highly specialized expertise or advanced training in areas of particular value. A very small number of these "high priority captures" such as the Electronics Warfare Officer (EWO) on the F-4 Phantom jet were ever returned. Basic mechanical, repair and maintenance skills were also needed by an underdeveloped Vietnam. Many of the enlisted men captured and not returned had valuable "hardware" skills. The Communists consider POWs as "war criminals" who are not entitled to the protection of the Geneva convention which requires the return of POWs after a negotiated settlement. Further, the Vietnamese do not feel bound to recognize these men as POWs because the U.S. Government never officially declared war in Vietnam. WHAT CAN YOU DO? CALL/WRITE your Congressman, Senator and President weekly and demand that HR 1730, The Missing Service Personnel Act replace The Missing Persons Act of 1942. Demand that all Servicemen be accounted for and that our POWs be brought home - NOW! DISPLAY THE POW flag and stickers, WEAR a POW bracelet and T- shirt and GIVE ten friends a copy of this fact sheet. SUBSCRIBE to the FREEDOM FIGHTER newsletter and keep current on POW issues. Donate what you can to a POW/MIA organization. REMEMBER THEM - THEY STILL WAIT! NAM VET Newsletter Page 38 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 POW ITEMS AVAILABLE VIA DONATIONS QTY/TOTAL POW Flag, 3' X 5' $20 ____/_____ Double sided/Outdoor T-Shirt $10 ____/______ M L XL XXL POW Newsletter (yr) $15 ____/______ POW/MIA Bracelet $ 5 ____/______ POW Patch $ 5 ____/______ Run FT Wall Patch $ 5 ____/______ POW Window Sticker $ 3 ____/______ POW Lapel Pin $ 3 ____/______ Postage & Handling $ ________ ($1 for each $5 ordered) Total Enclosed $ ________ (VISA & MASTERCARD AVAILABLE) ___________________________________________________ (Name) ___________________________________________________ (Address) ___________________________________________________ (Address) The POW FREEDOM FOUNDATION is a nonprofit, tax deductible organization [501(c)(3)] (IRS #33-0384562) dedicated to the freedom of American and Allied POW/MIAs through public education, awareness and direct action. The FOUNDATION is the organizer of the annual RUN FOR THE WALL veterans POW awareness "run" between San Diego and Washington, D.C. each May. Thank you for your support. POW FREEDOM FOUNDATION P. O. Box 65, MCRD San Diego, CA 92140 (619) 283-9879 FAX: (619) 283-0850 NAM VET Newsletter Page 39 Volume 5, Number 12 December 17, 1991 ================================================================== Sister Vets ================================================================== Vietnam Women's Memorial Project, Inc. "Sister Search" Submitted by: Martha Green VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 The Vietnam Women's Memorial Project's "SISTER SEARCH" is a program designed to locate the military and civilian women who served their country during the Vietnam War. The goals of "SISTER SEARCH" are to facilitate hope and healing among women veterans; to provide a network for them; and to assist research efforts on women who served during the Vietnam War. Vietnam era women veterans are asked to provide as much information as they feel comfortable sharing. Although "Sister Search" is NOT a locator service, should an inquiry be made as to whereabouts of a person included in the "SISTER SEARCH" database, the VWMP will pass the inquiry along in writing to the individual, allowing her to decide whether she would like to respond. If the individual is deceased, the inquiry will be sent to the closest family member identified by the VWMP. All women veterans in the "SISTER SEARCH" database will periodically receive information on the Project's progress and ultimately receive an invitation to the dedication ceremonies in Washington, D.C. The Vietnam Women's Memorial Project is a non-profit, volunteer organization with the threefold purpose of: educating the public