" However, on February 12 the Chief of the Special Office for Prisoners of War and Missing in Action (POW/MIA) resigned. Colonel Millard A. Peck, a man who had accepted the position with high motives and a sense of deep dedication, felt that he could no longer fulfill the demands of duty, honor, and integrity under the policies which he was asked to implement. ....Colonel Peck confirmed that a "cover-up" has been in progress. ... He said that there was no effort to pursue "live sightings". He stated that "any soldier left in Vietnam, even inadvertently, was, in fact, abandoned years ago".
(snip)
"On the Communist side, the regimes denied holding U.S. prisoners, contrary to many credible reports, while in fact they were holding U.S. POW/MIAs as slave laborers and as reserve bargaining chips to get diplomatic recognition and financial assistance. "On the U.S. side, our government downplayed or denied the reports of POW/MAIs and failed to take adequate steps to prove or disprove the reports, while elements in our government pursued policies intended to make diplomatic recognition and financial support of the revolutionary regimes possible.
(snip)
"I find this evidence convincing; doubters should examine the cables and classified momoranda cited in Part I which tell the full story.
(snip)
Under heading "The Second Indochina War"
Page 5-2 "U.S. sources believe that a substantial number of missing [in Laos] -- perhaps as many as 100 -- still may be alive"
Page 9-4
"Five years after the South Koreans were captured - in 1980 - the Vietnamese repatriated the two prisoners to South Korea. Still, after their release, the Vietnamese government denied that it ever held the men." (much snipped throughout)
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Do I believe there are still Americans alive in captivity in Vietnam, probably not any longer. Do I believe that the U.S. government knowingly left people alive, in captivity in Vietnam, absolutely. Do I believe that this is the biggest shame that a nation can bring upon itself, to knowingly leave live soldiers behind, your damned right I do.
Boonie Rat
MACV SOCOM, PhuBai/Hue '65-'66
We recently learned that over 5000 GIs freed by the Russians from nazi prison camps were sent to the soviet gulags at the end of WW2. It was first protested, and then hushed up, so as not to "make waves". Their lives weren't important enough, in the grand scheme of things.
So this is nothing new. May all the politicians and bureaucrats who have a hand in these evil dealings, who throw away American lives in secret for "convenience", meet up in a very special part of hell that would make a NVA prison camp look like a Girl Scout picnic.