"Prisioners of War: The Search for Answers" Topic

" Many foreign policy issues are controversial among the American people. One such issue that has haunted the country since the end of the Vietnam War is the plight of American prisoners of war (POWs). The issue has been at the forefront of American politics since the ending of hostilities between the United States (U.S.) and the communist forces in Vietnam in 1973. Many people believe that the American government knowingly left men alive in the prisons of Southeast Asia. Many of these skeptics will stop at nothing to gain a full accounting of the men they believe could still be alive halfway around the world. On the other hand, there are those who say that the communist government released all the prisoners that it held, and attempted to assist in gathering all possible information about Americans listed as missing in action (MIA). After weighing the evidence given by supporters of both camps, an official decision was made in an attempt to solve the issue. In the early 1980s several U.S. government-sanctioned covert missions were launched into Southeast Asia, intending to find out if men were being held against their will in communist prisons. These missions proved to be inconclusive and only heightened the controversy surrounding this already heated topic.

After signing the Paris Peace accords in 1973, the American government found it difficult to get North Vietnam to comply with Article 8 of those accords.(1) This article gave the conditions for the release of all prisoners of war, and stated that both sides should assist in the search for those men listed as missing in action. After extensive negotiations, the North Vietnamese agreed to return what they claimed were all the prisoners they had held. When news of this release reached President Richard Nixon, he was quick to tell the American people that "all of our American POWs are on their way home."(2) Nixon later cautioned that "[t]here [would be] some, of course, who [would be] wounded and ill,"(3) and proper precautions should be taken to care for them upon their return. Between February 12 and March 29, 1973 five hundred ninety-one POWs were returned from Hanoi to the United States in what was named Operation Homecoming.(4) However, of those 591 returnees none were maimed, disfigured, or blind, and none were amputees or burn cases.(5) In spite of these unusual circumstances, the U.S. government stated that all POWs held in Southeast Asia had been returned…"
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Amicalement
Armand

A very interesting update on this subject. It is almost cruel though that this myth was perpetuated for so long and gave such false hope to so many. If there had been any POWs retained they were certainly never used as any bargaining chips, so why keep them for years?

The article does cite the author of a book I would highly recommend, but which, like so many things, went in one of many clearouts!

I have a tendency to also believe that most if all MIAs were not still POWs after the war. There would be no real reason for it. Now the possibility existed that some may have been held by VC in the middle of no where. Like we see in the movie "Rescue Dawn". But I have a tendency to believe in those situations at the war's end. All of those that didn't die while POWs would be returned.

And the search for those who did die continues. It some case they may have been killed in combat and the remains were just left there and no one recovered them.

Of course the Mayaguez Incident made it clear that 3 Marines were accidently left behind as the rest of the unit withdrew. link And killed by their Khmer Rouge capturers.

Sadly something similar happened to the USMC in WWII during the Makin Island Raid in '42. link About 9 were executed by the IJF's, and 2 MIAs. Of course this was not an unusual situation in the PTO.

We still search for many who died in the PTO. E.g. Tarawa, reading an article in a recent IIRC Military History magazine. They still are looking for many that were buried there. And it turns out the USN turned that atoll into an airfield. Build roads, runways, buildings, etc. over those graves. And this happened a number of times in the PTO.

The US search/recovery crews today are actually at times digging under existing structures to find some remains. They have been very successful overall. With finding hundreds of remains left over from WWII. The numbers escapes me at this time.

At one location in the PI according to that article. The team asked if they could did under a PI gov't structure on one of the islands. They said, "Yes please do … we see ghosts all the time around here." …

Fortunately we don't leave our dead behind today. Only in the rarest occasions. IIRC we have 1 MIA from Desert Storm and 1 from the 2d GW.

The US continues to search of it's MIAs from all wars. Recently being allowed to dig in North Korea again. Plus along with the UK, etc., maintains military graveyards all over the world from previous wars. Sadly some have been damaged by radical islamists with the continuing GWoT in those regions. Which is a warcrime.

Thanks!.

Amicalement
Armand

A B52 is hit. One crewman is seen to bale out, the plane explodes. No POW is ever reported.

Every member of the crew is recorded as MIA, as no one knows which one did get out (even he may not have survived the descent and landing).

Just one example of how difficult all this is, but how awful it was for the families clinging onto hope for years….a false hope in retrospect but I suspect all done with the best of intentions, rather than a sinister US govt conspiracy against the new "united" Vietnam.

The USA needs to be realistic about this there will always be some MIA in every conflict. If there were MIA/POW in Vietnam I highly doubt they would ever be released it would reopen old wounds and harm the current relationship we have with Vietnam. I suspect any MIA /POW not released in 1973 are long dead and their bodies disposed of in a way to never be found.

I wonder how many ended up in the USSR or China like the Korean war MIA…

Very true ! If there were any MIAs that were POWs and not release would probably be dead and buried. Hopefully that didn't happen.

Sadly there are stories of US soldiers captured during the Korean War. That were sent to the USSR or the PRC and were never heard from again. And we have the names of the few that were, IIRC.

Something we talked about this in the ROK or even elsewhere. It is a good idea not to get captured by any Communist forces.

They generally don't follow any GC, etc. And they had the predilection for using many of their troops as "expendable". So they probably won't treat NATO, etc., POWs very well either.

Save for if they wanted some intel from you. Most likely once you gave them the intel they were looking for or proved to be a "dead cell". You'd be executed, buried in an unmarked grave, dumped in a river, etc.

BTW, was rereading that article in Military History magazine about MIAs. It took our teams around 10 years, but they found about 309 remains of Marines that were buried on Tarawa. So just imagine how many are still out there … ? From all our wars. Most likely never to be found …

Danny Glover rescuing Gene Hackman (BAT….21 was it?) was based on a true story. Many shot down crew members carried intel of great interest to the Soviets …esp B52 crew who might have been heading for Leningrad or Moscow instead of Hanoi, had the Cold War hotted up.

At risk of conspiracy theory nutter accusation, I am bound to wonder if some did get a one way ticket to China or the USSR.

But MIAs held in VN post war? A cruel deception, if it was done for political leverage. A tragedy if done with the best of intentions…

Yes it was BAT-21, and USAF LTC or COL that Hackman played, his name now escapes, did know some very high level classified intel. So it was very, very important to get him back.

I am bound to wonder if some did get a one way ticket to China or the USSR.

I'm pretty sure during the Korean War that was a few US POWs' fate. So it may be a safe bet the same may have happened during Vietnam War. Of course it is well known the PRC had "Advisors" to the NVA there. So they may not have had to take the US POW anywhere.

But MIAs held in VN post war? A cruel deception, if it was done for political leverage. A tragedy if done with the best of intentions…

I hope there were no US POWs that were not returned … And again the search for MIAs continues.