The World But Few Know...

[PHO127]

Two POWs escaped, both were Special Forces, MSG Isaac Commancho and Cpt Nick Rowe.

[Arrow]

Colonel James "Nick" Rowe

February 8, 1938 - April 21, 1989

Artwork by Ron Harris

Fallen Soldier

A Soldier has fallen
He will not be forgotten
His spirit dwells in those
Whose lives he touched
He has lead us
He has taught us
He has shown us the way
He gave us all of himself
Because he was made that way
He gave birth to an idea
That will never go away
He did this all
To save us some day
As all heroes do

by CW3 Roque Gonzalez

Who was Colonel Nick Rowe? He was first and foremost a Special Forces Officer. He was a West Point graduate. He was a former POW, having suffered for five years at the hands of his North Vietnamese captors before escaping and making his way back to US forces on his own. He was a teacher in that he founded and taught the U.S. Army Special Forces Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) Program which trains military of all branches how to survive if they are separated from their forces, how to evade the enemy and make their way back to friendly forces, how to resist the enemy if captured, and how to plan an escape. He was a devout Christian. He was a real live hero of our times who became a living legend in the Special Forces community until his untimely assassination by guerilla insurgents in the Philippines. Best of all, I had the opportunity to call him my friend.

I met Nick shortly after he was recalled to active duty in 1981 for the purposes of developing and operating the US Army Special Forces SERE Program at Fort Bragg, NC. I had read all about his experiences as a POW in his book "Five Years To Freedom". I wasn't sure what to expect when I was introduced to him, I guess maybe I expected a "John Wayne' type, but instead I was pleasantly surprised by a soft spoken gentleman who had one goal, one mission and that was to better prepare our military to prevent them from ever being captured and should that fail, prepare them to resist and escape capture. I liked him immediately.

The Vietnam Years

On October 29, 1963, Capt. "Rocky" Versace, 1Lt. "Nick" Rowe, and Sgt. Daniel Pitzer were accompanying a Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) company on an operation along a canal. The team left the camp at Tan Phu for the village of Le Coeur to roust a small enemy unit that was establishing a command post there. When they reached the village, they found the enemy gone, and pursued them, falling into an ambush at about 1000 hours. The fighting continued until 1800 hours, when reinforcements were sent in to relieve the company. During the fight, Versace, Pitzer and Rowe were all captured.

For 62 months, Rowe battled dysentery, beri-beri, fungal diseases, and grueling psychological and physical torment. Each day he faced the undermining realization that he might be executed, or worse, kept alive, but never released. His home was a wooden cage, three feet by four feet by six feet in dimension. His bed was a sleeping mat. In spite of all this, Rowe was a survivor. From the start of his capture, he began looking for ways to resist his captors while he could make plans for his escape. Since he was the S2 or Intelligence Officer for his unit, he had access to all sorts of classified and sensitive information including camp defenses, mine field locations, names of friendlies and unit strengths and locations. All information the viet cong would love to know.

Rowe concocted a cover story that he was a "draftee" engineer who had the mundane job of building schools and other civil affairs projects. As he was not wearing his West Point ring (he had left it home with his parents when he came to Vietnam), Nick claimed he went to a small liberal college and really didn't know much about the military. The Viet Cong unsure whether to believe Rowe used torture to see if he would break and change his story. As a last resort his interrogators gave him some basic engineering problems which they felt would either validate Rowe's story or prove that he was lying. Fortunately, as engineering courses were mandatory at West Point, Rowe was able to fool his captors.

Rowe's cover story was eventually broken but not through any fault of his own. All his efforts were destroyed when an Anti-War Activist Group came to North Vietnam. As part of their visit to North Vietnam, the group asked to see some of the American POW's so they could tell the American people that POWs were being treated fairly by the North Vietnamese government. Rowe's name was on the list that they gave their hosts along with the information that he was the intelligence officer for the Special Forces Advisor Unit.

Rowe's captors were furious that Rowe had fooled them all this time. Even worse was they knew that the valuable information he had at the time of his capture was dated and virtually worthless to them now. Rowe's captors beat him for hours then stripped him and staked him out naked in a swamp. Now if you have ever had a mosquito bite you you know how much it hurts and itches. That night Rowe's body was covered with a blanket of mosquitoes that feasted on him for two days. Despite his captors best efforts to torture him, Rowe still would not break to their will or give them the old dated information.

Rowe made several escape attempts, once with another injured POW. They were being pursued by the Viet Cong when the other POW faced the realization that he could not go on and that he was slowing Rowe down and increasing the chance of both men being captured again. He urged Rowe to go on without him. Rowe began doing so until he heard the Viet Cong capture his friend. They began yelling that unless he surrendered to them, they would kill his friend. Although Rowe could have escaped he surrendered to save his friend.

Rowe was scheduled to be executed in late December 1968. His captors had had enough of him - his refusal to accept the communist ideology and his continued escape attempts. While away from the camp in the U Minh forest, Rowe took advantage of a sudden flight of American helicopters. He struck down his guards, and ran into a clearing where the helicopters noticed him and rescued him, still clad in black prisoner pajamas. Among his surprises when he returned to civilization was that he had been promoted to Major during his five years of captivity.

Eighteen hours after his escape, 100,000 copies of a leaflet in Rowe's own handwriting were dropped over the U Mihn Combat Zone.

In1971 Nick published Five Years to Freedom, in which he recounted his ordeal as a Viet Cong prisoner, his eventual escape, and his return home. The book was the result of the diary he wrote while prisoner, writing it in German, Spanish, Chinese, and his own special code in order to deceive his captors. He also wrote Southeast Asia Survival Journal for the United States Department of the Air Force, published in 1971. Upon his return home to McAllen he was presented with lifetime memberships in the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

In 1974 he made the decision to leave the service. He continue to write co-authoring The Washington Connection with Robin Moore, which was published by Conder Press in 1977, and in the same year Little, Brown and Company published his first novel, The Judas Squad.

Fort Bragg and The Philippines

The United States Army Special Forces School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina recognized the need for creating the SERE Program. When they started to look for an Officer to design the course and implement it into operation, Nick was everyone's first choice. Rowe was recalled to active duty in 1981 and given the mission to develop and run such a program. His efforts resulted in a program that would leave behind a tremendous legacy at Fort Bragg: a course based on his prisoner-of-war experience. Called SERE - Survival Evasion Resistance Escape - the course today is considered by many as the most important advanced training in the special operations field. Taught at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, SERE trains soldiers to avoid capture, but if caught, to survive and return home with honor. Much of the SERE course is conducted at the Rowe compound.

Nick went from instructor duty to command as a Battalion Commander for the 5th Special Forces Group.

In 1987, Nick now a Lieutenant Colonel, was assigned to the Philippines, where he was given the mission of chief of the army division of the Joint U.S. Military Advisory Group (JUSMAG) providing counter-insurgency training for the Philippine military. In this capacity, he worked closely with the CIA, and was involved in its nearly decade-old program to penetrate the communist New Peoples' Army (NPA) and its parent communist party in conjunction with Philippine's own intelligence organizations. Nick proved to be the right man for the job quickly earning the respect of the Philippine government and the hatred of the communist guerrillas who hoped to disrupt President Aquino's democratic Philippine government.

By February, 1989, Colonel Rowe had developed his own intelligence information which indicated that the communist were planning a major terrorist act. As a result of the intelligence and his analysis of the situation in the Philippines, Rowe wrote Washington warning that a high-profile figure was about to be hit and that he, himself, was No.2 or No.3 on the terrorist list.

Nick knew that his death would be a real propaganda victory for the communists. The communist guerillas had put a price on his head hoping to kill him and embarrass the Philippine government. In mid-April, 1989, Nick sent his green beret and bible home to his wife for safekeeping along with a letter informing her that he expected the NPA communists would be intensifying their actions with a planned major terrorist acts against U.S. military advisors their most likely action. Nick assured his wife that he was taking every precaution.

On April 21, 1989, Nick was returning to the US Embassy in an armored limousine when hooded members of the communist New Peoples' Army (NPA) attacked his vehicle with automatic weapons. Under normal circumstances these weapons alone would not have been a threat to the occupants of the vehicle. However, "Murphy's Law" of "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong" was in full force. The vehicle's air conditioning had broken down earlier making the inside of the vehicle almost unbearable in the Philippine heat. To compensate but still provide safety, the driver had opened the small window vent to allow fresh air to circulate into the car. Several rounds found their way through the open vent killing Nick instantly.

The US State Department called it a "Random Terrorist Act", however evidence suggests that Nick's Vietnam experience was not coincidental to his selection as a target. In June of 1989, from an NPA stronghold in the hills of Sorsogon, a province in Southern Luzon's Bicol region, senior cadre Celso Minguez told the Far Eastern Economic Review magazine that the communist underground wished to send "a message to the American people" by killing a Vietnam veteran.

"We want to let them know that their government is making the Philippines another Vietnam," Minguez, a founder of the communist insurgency in Bicol and participant in the abortive 1986 peace talks with President Corazon Aquino's government told the REVIEW.

In May 1989, U.S. Veteran News and Report reported that according to a source who had served under Col. Rowe, the Vietnamese communist also wanted him dead and very likely collaborated with the Philippine insurgents to achieve that goal.

The source who wished to remain anonymous said that prior to Col. Rowe being assigned to the Philippines in 1987, at one point in Greece while he was on assignment, Delta Force, the U.S. anti-terrorist organization, moved in, secured the area and relocated him. They had received reports that Vietnamese communist agents were planning an action against him.

"He was a target when he went over there because of his dealings with the North Vietnamese and his time as a prisoner," Robert Mountel, a retired Special Forces colonel and former commander of the 5th Special Forces Group, subsequently explained, confirming what the other source had said. "They had him on their list."

There are several unanswered questions. Among them: How did the Guerilla's know where Colonel Rowe would be? Only the Embassy allegedly knew the route that Colonel Rowe was to take that day. Colonel Rowe consistently varied his schedule and routes of travel. Why is it that he was ordered NOT to be armed, though his name was known to be on the communist guerillas' "hit" List? And why did President Aquino, who Colonel Rowe was in the Philippines to help, later grant freedom to all of his killers?

Rowe spent more than half of his life as a Special Forces officer. In his own words from an oral history interview conducted before he left the Special Warfare Center and School for his assignment in the Philippines, Rowe recounts: "I took a different route from most and came into Special Forces... I had made a decision then that, as far as I was concerned, I had found what I wanted in the military, and I simply had to find a way to stay with it."

During his lifetime Rowe received the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, the Meritorious Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, and the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation. His nonmilitary awards included the American Patriot Award of Freedom's Foundation of Valley Forge (1969), the Outstanding Young Man of America award, the George Washington Honor Medal of Freedom's Foundation of Valley Forge (1974), and the Legion of Honor, International Supreme Council of the Order of DeMolay.

Hundreds of mourners crowded in and outside Fort Bragg's JFK Chapel for a memorial service a week after Rowe was killed. Brig. Gen. David J. Baratto, then the Special Warfare Center and School commander, said in a eulogy that Rowe "died in service to his country and gave all that mortality could give - his strength, his loyalty, his wisdom and his love. He died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in his heart, and hope in the last words he wrote: the hope that Right would prevail and that the oppressed would be liberated."

Colonel Rowe is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His grave is on the hill next to the monument of the Unknown Soldier.

Colonel Rowe experienced more in his lifetime than most people will in many lifetimes. He was a Special Forces soldier, a POW, a hero, a teacher, and a friend to many. He knew the true meaning of freedom. His accomplishments will live on to honor him. He will be missed.

---

[Arrow]

REMARKS: POSS EXECUTED 650926 - ON DIC LIST


SYNOPSIS: The US Army Special Forces, Vietnam (Provisional) was formed at Saigon in 1962 to advise and assist the South Vietnamese government in the organization, training, equipping and employment of the Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) forces. The total strength of US personnel in 1963 was 674, all but 98 of whom were on temporary duty from 1st Special Forces Group, Okinawa, Japan, and from the 5th and 7th Special Forces Groups, Ft. Bragg, NC. On 1 July 1963, USSF Provisional was given complete charge of the CIDG program.


The USSF Provisional/CIDG network consisted of fortified, strategically located camps, each one with an airstrip. The area development programs soon evolved into combat operations, and by the end of October 1963, the network also had responsibility for border surveillance. One of the Provisional/CIDG camps was at Tan Phu and was manned by Detachment A-23. This camp was located deep in the U Minh Forest. Its isolated location in the midst of a known heavy enemy presence made the camp vulnerable to attack.


On 28 October 1963, Capt. "Rocky" Versace, Advisory Team 70's intelligence advisor; met with the Thoi Binh district chief and learned that "an irregular platoon of Viet Cong (VC) moved into the small hamlet of Le Coeur" with the intent of establishing a VC command post there. The possibility that it would be used to direct attacks against the Tan Phu Special Forces Camp located on the Ca Mau Peninsula approximately 8 kilometers southeast of the hamlet was unacceptable. After meeting with the district chief, Capt. Versace made a liaison visit Special Forces Team A-23 stationed at Tan Phu Special Forces Camp, Thoi Binh District, An Xuyen Province, South Vietnam.


A hastily planned operation was scheduled to leave before dawn on 29 October 1963. Capt. "Rocky" Versace, 1st Lt. "Nick" Rowe; and SFC Daniel "Dan" Pitzer, the detachment's medic; accompanied a 129-man a CIDG force comprised of 2 companies of strikers and 1 of CIDG militia from Thoi Binh. Le Coeur was located in a VC-dominated area on one of the main canals leading into the dreaded U Minh Forest. It was also located approximately 17 miles due north of Quan Long, 22 miles east of the Gulf of Thailand, 55 miles west-southwest of Soc Trang, 59 miles southwest of Can Tho and 135 miles southwest of Saigon.


The American and allied troops had never ventured into that area before and the close proximity to the enemy's well-established sanctuary in the legendary "forest of darkness," so named because of the exceptionally dense triple-canopy jungle, made it a cinch that there would be a large scale fire fight.


The basic plan was to roust the small VC unit in the hamlet with one company while the other two formed an ambush between the hamlet and the U Minh Forest. However, when the district militia's assault company led by Vietnamese Special Forces Lt. Lam Quang Tinh, with Capt. Versace as his mission advisor, reached the village, the enemy ran just as the Americans thought they would. As the CIDG troops swept the hamlet for intelligence, 1st Lt. Rowe picked up a spent Mossin-Magant cartridge. The significance of that Russian K-44 shell casing meant that they were not chasing a small irregular Viet Cong unit but either a well-trained, well-armed regional or main force unit.


When the communist force retreated from Le Coeur, they ran in the opposite direction from the U Minh Forest where the rest of the allied troops were waiting to ambush them. The American advisors directed the assault company to return to camp while they joined two ambush companies for the return trip. At approximately 1000 hours, the two ambush companies started back to camp along canal #8. When they were roughly 2 kilometers down the canal, they looked toward the northeast across the rice field separating it from canal #9 and saw a whole line of black clad figures rapidly moving into position to cut them off.


Once the enemy successfully closed to 900 meters, they opened fire with automatic weapons. While ineffective at that distance, the ground fire did pin the friendly forces in place long enough for the communists to begin firing 60mm mortars at them. A group of Vietnamese strikers broke for the bank of a rice paddy, which was all the VC needed to establish the correct range. Then they fired a salvo of 12 mortar rounds that nearly wiped out all the strikers located along that bank.


The allied forces rapidly moved into a tree line to set up a defensive perimeter. Almost immediately the enemy hit them with a blocking force from one side, a pressure force from another side and the assault from the third side across an open rice field. According to Nick Rowe, "I never saw so many VC in my life. They must have had at least three platoons coming across that paddy and they just kept coming. As long as our strikers had ammunition, it was like a turkey shoot." Then the VC tried to lure the US led force across a large open rice paddy with a classic three-sided attack with an ambushed escape route.


As the battle raged below, two American aircraft passed nearby, one was a T-28 and the other a Caribou. The embattled ground team radioed the pilot of the T-28 requesting immediate emergency air strikes on the advancing VC positions. Unfortunately, the pilot radioed back saying he "could not engage (the enemy) without authorization from Saigon," and continued on his way. Enemy ground fire of all types continued coming in from numerous positions. Allied troops kept up their own accurate fire and were stacking up enemy dead like cord wood 10 to 15 meters in front of the their positions. Nick Rowe believed that the assault company would return to give them a hand when they realized the others were in need of it. Unfortunately, that company had been badly mauled by the VC and was unable to be of assistance.


For 3 hours the allies battled roughly 1,000-seasoned guerrilla fighters of the Main Force 306th VC Battalion. Finally they reached the point of no return when they were nearly out of ammunition and large numbers of VC were still coming at them. Capt. Versace, SFC Pitzer and 1st Lt. Rowe told their troops to pull out and withdraw, that the Americans would cover them and then leap frog back. Dan Pitzer had the M79 grenade launcher, Rocky Versace a carbine and Rick Rowe an M1. As a VC assault squad suddenly came through the trees at close range in front of them, Dan Pitzer hit its pointman in the chest causing him to all but disappear and the sight stopped the squad cold in their tracks. They had never seen the M79 before and the shock of the weapon's power gave the Americans time to get out of there.


As the Americans caught up with the disorganized strikers and militia, they all moved into a cane field with the three advisors continuing to cover the rear. The VC fired a BAR at the retreating column with three rounds striking Rocky Versace in the leg. As he fell to the ground, an enemy grenade exploded nearby peppering him with shrapnel. 1st Lt. Rowe was struck in the face and chest by grenade fragments as he reached to help Capt. Versace. The concussion also knocked him to the ground. As he attempted to get up, the wounded Captain put his arms around the Lieutenant's neck and Nick Rowe tried to drag him off the trail to hide in the cane field until the enemy passed by. The Americans broke reeds back across their trail to camouflage it. During the firefight, SFC Pitzer also suffered grenade fragmentation wounds as well as severely spraining an ankle.


Rocky Versace's wounds were bleeding profusely. Nick Rowe put a compress on one of the wounds and was putting another bandage on the second one when all of a sudden the reeds broke open and they heard someone yell, "Do tay len" - Hands up! As they looked up, there was a Mossin-Nagant and a US carbine pointing down at them. Nick Rowe continued bandaging the second wound. When finished, the VC grabbed him by the arms, pulled him to his feet and tied him with a large VC flag that he had tucked into a pocket after one of the strikers gave it to him in the hamlet. The three Americans were also stripped of their boots before being led into the U Minh Forest.


The forest was a dark maze of mangrove, canals and swamps. The prisoners were kept in small bamboo cages, deprived of food and exposed to insects, heat and disease. In the early days of their captivity the three Americans were photographed together in a staged setting in the U Minh Forest. It was evident from the beginning that Capt. Versace, who spoke fluent French and Vietnamese, was going to be a problem for the Viet Cong. His captors isolated him, kept him in irons, flat on his back and frequently gagged in a dark and hot isolation box that was 6 feet long by 2 feet wide and 3 feet high in an attempt to break him. As the senior ranking officer in the prison camp, Capt. Versace frequently communicated with the others by singing messages to them to the tune of popular songs of the day.


The VC cadre set up indoctrination classes. Dan Pitzer and Nick Rowe "adopted a sit and listen" attitude between bouts of body-wrenching dysentery, feeling the more we said the worse off we would be." Rocky Versace, on the other hand, attended the sessions at the point of a bayonet and engaged the communists in verbal combat at every opportunity that presented itself. At one point the other Americans heard him tell the camp's cadre, "You can make me come to class, but I am an officer in the United States Army. You can make me listen, you can force me to sit here, but I don't believe a word of what you are saying." Further, Nick Rowe added that as Capt. Versace did verbal combat with the cadre, "The instructor's voice would climb an octave from its already high pitch as Rocky tripped him up with verbal gymnastics."


Increasingly the VC separated him from the other prisoners as Rocky Versace continued to strictly adhere to the Code of Conduct, the code all military personnel are required to follow should he or she become a Prisoner of War. He proved very uncooperative; a situation that infuriated the communists and his actions drew much close scrutiny to himself and away from the others.


The VC made it clear right from the start they had absolute power of life and death over the prisoners. They frequently stated, "Do not think that merely because the war ends that you will go home. You can rest here long after the war."


In spite of his serious wounds and debilitated condition due to decease and malnutrition, Rocky Versace attempted four escape attempts. With each attempt, his treatment worsened while his fierce determination seemed to increase. The last time Nick Rowe and Dan Pitzer heard him, Rocky Versace was singing "God Bless America" at the top of his lungs from the isolation box. As opportunities presented themselves, Nick Rowe and Dan Pitzer also made escapes, but were recaptured in short order.


On Sunday, 28 September 1965, "Liberation Radio" announced the execution of Capt. Rocky Versace and Special Forces SFC Kenneth Roraback on 26 September in retaliation for the deaths of 3 terrorists by South Vietnamese officials in DaNang. SFC Roraback was captured a month after Capt. Versace and was equally loyal to the US and the Code of Conduct. However, later a Communist news article stated that the executions were faked. The US Army, who had already changed both men's status from Prisoner of War to Dead/Died in Captivity, chose not to reopen either man's case to determine whether or not they had in fact been executed. In the late 1970's all information regarding their "execution" was reclassified, and is no longer part of the public record.


The Versace and Roraback families learned of their loved one's reported death from a television broadcast rather then from the US government. According to Steve Versace, "The thing that hit my dad hardest was when he heard Rocky had been executed on the 6 o'clock news. I think he started dying then." Tere Versace refused to believe the reports. She pressed the US government for more information and flew to Paris to try to meet with North Vietnamese diplomats. In the end, she never received satisfactory answers to her many question regarding the fate of her son.


Meanwhile the affect of the reported execution on Dan Pitzer and Nick Rowe was devastating. The VC intensified their pressure on both men to write propaganda statements denouncing the "US government and their puppet regime in Saigon for their illegal war of aggression against the freedom-loving people of Vietnam" as well as to extract military information, whether it be useless or helpful, from them. After writing a statement the VC deemed sufficient, Dan Pitzer was moved into Cambodia where he was released to US control on 11 November 1967 in a demonstration of the Communists "humane and lenient" policy toward American captives.


Nick Rowe remained in isolation away from the new prisoners who had been moved into the same general camp area in which he was being held. Finally on 31 December 1968, while the other POWs were away from the camp on a "work detail," 1st Lt. Nick Rowe was able to take advantage of a nearby American helicopter and escaped while being moved from one camp to another. In so doing he become the longest held American Prisoner of War to successfully escape from the Viet Cong.


On 22 December 1970, the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG), better known as the Viet Cong, released a list containing the names of American POWs who they reported died while under their control. The PRG list included Capt. Versace as having Died in Captivity. Ironically, at the end of the war the VC refused to return the remains of SFC Roraback in spite of the fact they acknowledged holding him prisoner and executing him in reprisal.


If Rocky Versace died under the direct control of the VC, the Vietnamese could return his remains to his family, friends and country. However, if the report of his execution was merely a propaganda ruse, his fate, like that of other Americans who remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, could be quite different. Either way there is no question the communists know the truth and could provide answers, as well as Rocky Versace or his remains, any time they had the desire to do so.


Since the end of the Vietnam War well over 21,000 reports of American prisoners, missing and otherwise unaccounted for have been received by our government. Many of these reports document LIVE America Prisoners of War remaining captive throughout Southeast Asia TODAY.


Military men in Vietnam were called upon to fly and fight in many dangerous circumstances, and they were prepared to be wounded, killed or captured. It probably never occurred to them that they could be abandoned by the country they so proudly served.


In 2001, the Medal of Honor was approved for presentation to Humberto R. Versace posthumously for his behavior as a Prisoner of War. In addition to presenting the information outlined above, the citation reads: "Unable to break his indomitable will, his faith in God, and his trust in the United States of America and his fellow prisoners, Captain Versace was executed by the Viet Cong on 26 September 1965. Captain Versace's extraordinary heroism, self-sacrifice, and personal bravery involving conspicuous risk of life above and beyond the call of duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Army, and reflect great credit to himself and the US Armed Forces."

Humberto R. Versace graduated from United States Military Academy at West Point in 1959.

[PHO127]

During its time in SE Asia the Special Forces Special Augmentation Group (Cover assignment for Military Assistance Command - Studies and Observation Group) had approximately 2,000 officers and NCOs assigned to it (total) Of that, approximately 930 were assigned to Group 31 (Ground Studies). Group 31 MAC-SOG is the only military unit to have suffered a 100% casualty rate. Group 31 was organized into approximately 70 Reconnaissance Teams (RTs), Spike teams, Hatchet Teams, and SLAM companies. They controlled approximately 8,000 indigenous and mercenary forces. The RTs operated as light or heavy teams with 1 or 2 US and 3 or 4 indigenous or 3 US and 6 or 7 indigenous forces. Their primary mission was strategic reconnaissance, Hunter Killer Teams, POW Snatch missions, Bomb Damage Assessment and other Special missions as directed. I was a proud member of MAC-SOG Command Control South, Group 31 RT Lighting (The Lighting Team). Based out of FOB Quan Loi. I operated primarily in the Angles Wing and Parrots Beak areas of Cambodia but have done a couple of missions in Southern Laos. My RT was made up of Khmer Rouge Mercs and they were as fine of Guerrilla fighters as you could ever have served with. My 11 was SFC Zacary Watson. My operations NCO was SFC Jim Farrell. (Retired as SGM of Ranger School at Ft. Benning) Now lives in Macon Georgia.

[Arrow]

Sid,

Read every word of the above and I'm familiar with some of the places because of other brothers sharing locations with me over the years. It means a lot to me when someone takes the time to teach and inform me. Thank you. There has been a lot of conversation and discussion over the last three years about this, that and another thing but surprisingly very little shared by the guys concerning details of what they did and where they were. There are a few of us out here still looking for answers as to where, what, when and maybe even why. It meant a lotto me when recentlysomeone sat down with me and gave mewhatmight have beenuninteresting informationto anyone else butconnecteda good many dots for me. Sis

[PHO127]

probably run into VN era wannabes claiming to be POWs more than usual now, Wanting to ride on the tails of the GW II vets. I have been thinking all evening how to handle it. Several years ago the solution would have been to question them a little then to beat the shit out of them, Now I am not so sure, I think just tell them you know the truth and ask them to leave is better. I am thinking of having a Wannabe Warning sign made up for the bar LT and I go to. Anyway Thanks to you for your support and I enjoy reading your posts.

[catman]

Sid...maybe there is something that could be added to the Psyco Vets clothing line here....."Veteran and Damn Proud of it, Wannabes Beware!"

Trav

[SEATJERKER]

...saw Alan today at the store, and it was brief...

...asked him again "out of the blue" where he was shot down and his reply was..

...In Saudia Arabia in 91...

...my mistake was in the translation of conversation, but thought I would clarify this as it was hanging from a ways back...

...don't know where the 68/69 came in... sorry...

[billr]

Paco -
Just saw your post from a while back regarding Jon Cavaiani. I was attending a conference the first week of May and the Guest Speaker was Jon Cavaiani. He is now living in Stanislaus County here in California. If you know him and are interested in trying to contact him, I might be able to help.