OFFICIAL STATUS: CAPTURED

CASE SUMMARY: SEE ATTACHED

RATIONALE FOR SELECTION: SSG. Pridemore was last reported alive in a temporary screening and interrogation center for US POW's in Svay Teap District Svay Rieng Province, Cambodia. There is no information which would indicate evidence of death.

REFNO: 1274 19 Apr 76

CASE SUMMARY

1. (U) On 8 September 1968 SSG Dallas Pridemore was visiting a Vietnamese family residing at 655 Cu Kien Thiet village, in the vicinity of grid coordinates (GC) XS 946 989, Thu Duc District, Gia Dinh Province, South Vietnam. At about 2200 hours a platoon of the Thu Duc District Unit came to the house during a search for former Viet Cong who had defected to the Government of Vietnam, and abducted him. SSG. Pridemore was wearing civilian clothes at the time of his abduction. The Viet Cong took him to a pagoda in Phong Phu, (not further identified), where he was turned over to a Special Action Group and taken to an unknown location. (Ref 1 & 2)

2. (C) On 10 September 1968 it was reported that SSG Pridemore was being held in the Ong Thang Swamp in the vicinity of (GC) XS 965 975. The next reported knowledge of SSG. Pridemore was on 6 January 1969 when a South Vietnamese source stated he had learned from an individual that this individual's brother, who was a Viet Cong Rear Service postal clerk, had told him of seeing the name "Dollas Primont" with the descriptive information "sergeant, Military Police, U.S. Army" on a roster at a temporary screening and interrogation center for U.S. POW's in the vicinity of (GC) XT 105 265, Svay Teap District, Svay Rieng Province, Cambodia. SSG Pridemore had been brought to this camp on or about 25 September (1968) from Gia Dinh Province, South Vietnam, and had been wearing civilian clothes when he arrived. He was last known to be in this camp on 4 January 1969. (Ref 3 & 4)

3. (U) ADO Comment: Numerous visits were made to the capture site in an attempt to confirm the circumstances of capture and obtain additional details without success. No official or person in the area would admit knowledge of the incident. Some villagers told Rural Development cadremen they recalled an M.P. and a girl but didn't know what happened to them. The Province Chief and Two Party Joint Military Commission were given details of this case. PUBCOM were distributed throughout the area, but there were no results, In November 1974 a source reported to ADO, MR-V, that he knew of a live American in MR-IV. (Source was referred to ADO, MR-IV, after he reported to ADO, MR-III, knowledge of a score of American graves in the Delta, and offered to exhume the remains for several million plasters). In February 1975 this report was tentatively correlated to Pridemore but follow-up by ADO, MR-IV, determined the source to be highly unreliable. Pridemore's name and identifying data were given to the Communist PRG Delegation of the Four-Party Joint Military Team on 8 August 1973 with a request for information. No response was forthcoming. SSG. Pridemore is currently carried in the status of Captured.

REFERENCES USED

1. RPT (U), Serious Incident Blue Bull Report, 091200 Sep 68.

2. DF 2496 (U), CO 702d MID: Pridemore, 30 September 1968.

3. IIR (C), Unnumbered, 15 ARVN MID, 10 Sep 68.

4. IIR (C), 6ACX/025/69, 525 MI GP, 7 Jan 69.