Charles Dean graduated from North Carolina in 1972 and went to work on the anti-war campaign of Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern. After McGovern lost in a landslide to President Nixon, Charles Dean decided to travel around the world. He left New York for Seattle by car with a friend in the spring of 1973 and then traveled by freighter from Seattle to Japan. He later went on to Australia, where he lived on a ranch for nine months.
He and Sharman took off for Southeast Asia and were arrested by the communist Pathet Lao on Sept. 4, 1974, during a trip down the Mekong River in Laos. They apparently were suspected of being spies, although the U.S. and Australian governments said they were merely tourists and strongly protested their detention.
The two men were held in a small, remote prison camp for three months before they were believed to have been executed on Dec. 14 while driving toward Vietnam with their captors.
Thanks for the info. Now, I just got some disturbing news about a Marine from my community who was killed in Iraq this past Tuesday night. His name is Joseph Tremblay and he was 23 years old. My sister knows this young man, her husbands younger brother is best friends with this Marine. The humvee he was traveling in was hit by a makeshift road side bomb. Please pray for his family, his fiancee, and Joseph Tremblay himself. Thanks.