When I arrived in Vietnam in Nov 1965 we drew civilian works from a catholic
church in Qui Nhon. At that time they had a Catholic official who once
served in the U.S. Army and some time after WWI he deserted the Army in
China, became a missionary essentially and worked his way to Vietnam. Since
his parish was providing some of the workers in our unit we offered to take
him to the Qui Nhon Mess Association and by him some lunch - good old
American hamburgers and fried chicken, whatever was on the menu. We were
informed by the scum bag officers from the Army Logistics command that he
had been an Army deserter (American) who deserted the Army in China.
However, he had trained and turned missionary He was of course not a young
man and had little or no contact with Americans for until the U.S. entered
the conflict. I dont think he is still alive because in 1965 he was already
well into is late 70's plus some years. The point being people do survive
ripe old age, torture, prison and as the communist use to say "we can keep
you for ever". In the 1960's period the French already knew that many
prisoners of the French era were not being returned to France, especially
from the 'foreign legion", many were of other nationalities. They were sent
back to the East Bloc nations where they were born and were placed under
communist control, never to see their families in France again. These facts
are well documented by a report of an UN NGO in New York when the families
of French prisoners appeared at the UN where the issue was aired years ago.

It may be true that no American POWs remain in Southeast Asia. However,
under the rules of lexicon and semantics, there is the category or war
criminals, a term frequently used by the communists.

The of course at least four American turncoats remains in Southeast Asia and
a group of others who were known to have been alive and well in the USSR.
It is common knowledge that Dr. Thach had an American soldiers assisting his
staff, a guy named Tucker and a few others. Anyone account for these
dirtbags of late. I guess not, perhaps among the American GI's who are known
deserters, turncoats, but not recognized as POWs surely were under the
employ of the Soviet government who paid then $1,500.00 per month and set
them loose to roam Western and Eastern Europe.

Its is suspected that some of these dirt bags also receive help from the VVA
in Hanoi which has an office under the guise of a Foundation which prepares
letters under the Communist Party letter head, and such indiscreet groups
like Citizen Soldier, a procommunist American veterans organization which
aided turncoats and deserters during the war years.
Of course there are Americans in Vietnam. However, the communist and the
U.S. have long been playing semantics on who these dirt bags are and where
they are located. In time the Pentagon will sort it all out with high
speed computers and a line of horse crap that is acceptable to the Congress
and the Senate which has played games with the lives of those missing in
action and or who were at one time POWs.

While the possibility exists that some POWs have survived in Korea and
Vietnam -- the issue is all abut semantics, in which there are some cases
some concerns about a Colony of POWs who reside in North Korea who are very
much in the open depending upon who you speak to in the U.S. government who
have the inside tract on the issue. Dose the U.S. like the fact that some
men may have gone over to the enemy in time of war. However, the enemy
never stops watching prisoners of war, even those who turn.

Assuming some may have survived, Donna is correct that more than likely
these men were essentially murdered and the bodies disposed off. When it
comes to issues of trade and making money for your friends you really dont
want and live prisoners show up on a talk show or giving interviews to
reporters. I often wondered how many men showed up at the wall in WDC to
see their own name on the wall.

On other hand how many guys spun stories during the war that when they went
AWOL the actually claimed when they returned that they were held prisoners.
We'll BS makes the flowers grow and the Pentagon is sure full of it from one
end to another. However, if any Americans survived as POWs the CIA surely
knew about it. However, the Clinton Administration which had the corner on
aiding the communists in SEA and E. Europe generating billions of dollars in
trade and sponsoring the great American port giveaway on the West Coast does
and will not come clean ever. Its time to start a knew thread men and
gals -- Clinton trade craft included keeping the shredders going day and
night before he left office.


"Doug Reese" wrote in message
news:4024c2d1$0$20040$61fed72c@news.rcn.com...
> longd88@earthlink.net (Donna Long) wrote:
>
> >As for Vietnam, my gut feeling is anyone who was still alive under
> >Hanoi's control was executed after Clinton lifted the trade embargo.
>
> No way, Donna. There just weren't any POWs in 1995.
>
> >But I can not rule out the possibility that some Americans(special ops
> >types) did not make it out in 1975 and continued to survive in areas
> >not under Hanoi's control.
>
> What areas would that have been? They controlled the entire country.
There's no
> evidence whatsoever that we had (special ops) guys over there roaming
about the
> countryside.
>
> >And it bothers me that men we knew were
> >POWs and even men Hanoi listed as "died in captivity" or said they
> >executed (like MOH Verace)have not been returned. We don't need to be
> >digging up crash sites to resolve the fate of those men. We know they
> >kept meticulous records on our POWs and someone knows exactly where
> >those men/or their remains are.
>
> In Versace's case, there were perhaps 4-5 people who knew where he was
buried. It
> was a mangrove swamp down there, so even if they did want to cooperate
(and I'm
> speaking of locals, as in that area Hanoi didn't hold much/any influence),
there
> might not be anything left to find.
>
> Doug
>