New POW/MIA Recovery & Investigation Teams Sent to Vietnam To Search for Missing Americans

Of course there have been many stories and conspiracy theories over the years about the missing POW/MIA's from the Vietnam war era. I found it interesting to see this news item today that new teams have been deployed to Vietnam as of this month to find some of these Americans who have been missing for more than 40 years.

From the Press Release:

May 23, 2011
Release # 11-11

POW/MIA RECOVERY & INVESTIGATION TEAMS SEARCH FOR MISSING AMERICANS
JPAC teams search for missing in action (MIA) Americans from Vietnam War

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii (May 23, 2011) - Several archeological recovery teams and investigation teams from the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) recently deployed to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam searching for MIA’s from the Vietnam War.

About 60 JPAC team members deployed to account for Americans that have been missing for more than 40 years. Recovery teams will search for human remains, life support items, and other material evidence (personal and military issued items) that may further the identification of Americans missing from past U.S. conflicts. Investigation teams will authenticate leads from eyewitnesses, conduct field research, and gather information throughout the various provinces to determine whether or not there will be a return visit for excavation at a later date.

Source: www.jpac.pacom.mil...



Although not stated in the article, I was curious about the number of POW/MIA's who were from the Vietnam era, and in doing some research found one source here (there are numerous sites on the net if you wish to do more research)

The Myths:

Not all US POWs were released by their captors at the end of the Vietnam War.

The U.S. government knew that all POWs were not released.

U.S. POWs remain in captivity today.

There is a conspiracy within the U. S. government to hide the continued imprisonment of Americans and, whenever the truth emerges, it is debunked.

The U.S. government is doing nothing to account for or recover missing men.


The Facts:

All U.S. POWs captured during the Vietnam War were released, either at Operation Homecoming (spring, 1973) or earlier. The only men captured and not released are 113 who died in captivity; their identities and the circumstances of their deaths are known; some of their remains have been recovered/returned..

No U. S. prisoners of war have been abandoned by the U. S. government.

No U.S POWs remained in captivity after the conclusion of Operation Homecoming.

There is no conspiracy within the U. S. government to conceal the abandonment of prisoners of war (who were not abandoned in the first place).

No U.S. POWs from Indochina were taken to the Soviet Union, China, or any other third country.

The U.S. government has been -- since well before the end of the Vietnam War -- exerting all possible efforts to recover or account for missing men. That effort continues today and is unprecedented in the history of warfare.

And this:

Currently, 1,699 Americans are "unaccounted for" in Southeast Asia:

Vietnam: 1,301
North Vietnam : 477
South Vietnam : 824
Laos : 332
Cambodia : 59
China (territorial waters) : 7

These figures were last updated on : March 06, 2011
Figures include 468 at sea or overwater losses

And credentials of the site publisher/author here:

So, what do I know about it?
My Credentials

I am Joe Schlatter, Colonel, U. S. Army, Retired. I retired on 1 April 1995. My involvement in the MIA issue came during two assignments:

February 1986 - July 1990 Feb 86 - Dec 88: Chief, Analysis Branch, Defense Intelligence Agency Special Office for POW-MIA Affairs
Dec 88 - Jul 90: Chief, Defense Intelligence Agency Special Office for POW-MIA Affairs

July 1993 - March 1995: Deputy Director, Defense POW-MIA Office

Vietnam Veteran
2/13 Field Artillery
February 1969 - February 1970

Source: www.miafacts.org...

My father served in and around Danang 1965-66 as a flame tanker in the Marine Corps so your post caught my eye S&F. Obviosly he came home, but a lot did not. Let's hope they find some answers for the families of the missing.

S&F for this thread...like the post above, my father was a Vietnam Vet. that got to come home but so many did not, and I do hope there are some awnsers for the families that, for fourty years, have lived without awnsers.

Nice thread...it's worthy of some attention.

37 years after our pullout?
Too little, too late.
Somehow I feel something is not right or truthful here.

They send about 4 or 5 teams every year to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

Sometimes Korea and Europe as well.

Originally posted by JMech
My father served in and around Danang 1965-66 as a flame tanker in the Marine Corps so your post caught my eye S&F. Obviosly he came home, but a lot did not. Let's hope they find some answers for the families of the missing.

edit on 25-5-2011 by JMech because: spelling

edit on 25-5-2011 by JMech because: spelling again,long day

Thank you for your reply and that of others so far in this thread. This is an important issue that is often overlooked or forgotten about by the general public given the massive amount of data we are exposed to each day.

I agree, the families of these missing service personnel need closure, and hopefully this effort will produce some answers for them.

reply to post by manta78


You're very welcome, and thank you! Going up for a visit this weekend. Your timing for this thread could'nt be better being memorial day coming up and all.

If anyone would like to do more research on this issue, there is an good source of info available thru the Library of Congress, POW/MIA Databases and Documents website here:

lcweb2.loc.gov...

The Vietnam-Era Declassified Documents

Digital Copies
Since 1992, this database has been an index to Vietnam-era documents declassified by the Department of Defense (now totaling approximately 145,000 documents). The Federal Research Division has received digital copies of these documents and research staff are linking the searchable index records to the digital documents, which then will be retrievable online. Documents still will be available on microfilm for borrowing through local library interlibrary loan or by purchase through the Library of Congress Photoduplication Service.

Documents received from the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office in December 2006 have been added to the index and may be viewed online. Henceforth, upon completion of indexing, all new shipments will be available digitally. Researchers should look to the bottom of the index record for the link to view the document image. Working backward, Federal Research Division staff will continue linking document image files to index records and adding them to the database. Gradually, most index records will provide a link to online retrieval of the original documents.

A bump on this Memorial Day for this thread to say "thank you" to those vets who have served, and to those men and women who are currently in service; hoping that 2011 will be the year that will finally bring closure to some of the many families of POW/MIA's.