Part IV
One of the things that surprised us most about the composition of Sedgwick Tourison’s list of
New POW Cases was the number of crossovers from the Project X study. For our reader who
may not be familiar with Project X, it was a study initiated by the Joint Casualty Resolution
Center in 1975 and completed in 1976. Its purpose was to “evaluate the possibility of any of the
unaccounted for being alive”
The study concluded: “There is a possibility as many as 57 Americans could be alive, although it
is highly probable that the number is much smaller, possibly zero.” An addendum to the Project
X cover letter included a summary of each case. Within that case summary is a listing of
intelligence reports used in the Project X evaluation. We have long been convinced that there
was more intelligence reporting used in the Project X evaluations than was cited in the study. In
some cases we have located some of that unnamed intelligence reporting.
Of the 19 New POW Cases named in the Tourison memo of August 1, 1992, ten are named in the
Project X study. They are Robert Greer, Fred Schreckengost, Fredric Mellor, Gregory Harris,
John O’Grady, Paul Hasenbeck, Thomas Mangino, Daniel Nidds, David Winters, and John
McDonnell. Of these ten, only Greer and Schreckengost are considered remains returned and
identified.
Today, we are going to take a quick look at the case of Fredric Mellor. The following is
excerpted from the Project X Case Summary:
“1. On 13 August 1965 Capt Frederick M. Mellor departed Udorn RTAFB in an RF101,
(#56-0186), as the flight leader of a flight of two aircraft to conduct photo and visual
reconnaissance of a suspected surface-to-air missile (SAM) site in North Vietnam. During the
flight over the target area Capt Mellor's aircraft was damaged by hostile ground fire. His radio
became inoperative and the wingman noticed a fire in the nose wheel-well area of the flight
leader's aircraft. Capt Mellor, using hand signals, instructed his wingman to assume the lead. The
wingman did assume the lead and noticed that Capt Mellor was in a good close, wing position for
weather penetration; the weather was very poor with layered clouds from the ground to 35,000
feet.
2. After a short time in the lead position, the wingman turned to check the damaged aircraft,
and it was missing. An immediate search was begun, but Capt Mellor could not be found. Search
and rescue facilities were alerted, and additional RF101 pilots established radio beeper signals and
voice contact with Capt Mellor. Capt Mellor indicated that he was all right and that the search
aircraft had flown right over him. On the first search the helicopters were unable to locate Capt
Mellor. On the second search one of the RF101 pilots who had made the radio contact with Capt
Mellor on the ground went along in the backseat of an AlE. On this search a strong beeper was
heard. Capt Mellor was instructed not to give his position away; to turn his beeper off; and to
await helicopter pick up. When the helicopter was two miles away, broadcast instructions were
given to Capt Mellor to throw out flares for marking the pick-up point. No flares were seen and
no further contact was made with Capt Mellor. Search was continued until darkness that day, (3
August), and for the next two days an expanded area was searched but Capt Mellor could not be
found. (Ref 1)”[End Project X Excerpt]
By now, we are all familiar with the wording of Tourison’s August 1, 1992 memo which referred
to the 19 men named as “individuals DOD now has information survived into captivity.” In a
breakdown of the 19 names, Tourison referred to Fredric Mellor as having “died in captivity of
wounds suffered in combat.” Yet, the Project X Study stated Mellor was in voice contact with
Search and Rescue and “indicated that he was all right.”
Was Mellor injured during an attempt to evade capture? Or, were the wounds suffered in combat
simply a Vietnamese excuse to account for Capt. Mellor under the “Kerry Method” which only
required a Vietnamese witness and a lost grave site.
No doubt Capt. Mellor was buried in a grave that was disturbed by animals, buried on a sandbar
and lost due to flooding, buried in a flooded field or destroyed by U.S. bombing. We recently
found a notation in the case summary of Navy Lt. Kelly Patterson discussing the mounting
number of lost graves. Expressing his frustration with the Vietnamese over the failure to identify
a grave site for Patterson, one analyst wrote: “In numerous recent reports the VNOSMP
(Vietnamese Office Seeking Missing Persons) have stated that graves containing remains of U.S.
personnel have been destroyed by wild beasts, natural calamities, reforming of the terrain, and
U.S. bombings. The mounting incidence of such alleged loss of graves borders on the incredible.
This report contains still another such claim.”
The 19 individuals named in the Tourison Memo were all part of the Senate Select Committees
135 Last Known Alive Cases. However, we have been unable to find any public mention, in the
Committee report, that the Vietnamese acknowledged these individuals “survived into captivity.”
This leaves us with a glaring unanswered question.
Tourison wrote his memo of August 1 1992, along with a letter calling for a change in status from
MIA to POW for the 19 named in his memo. He recommended the letter signed by Senators John
Kerry (D-MA) and Bob Smith (R-NH) as Chairman and Vice-Chairman respectively. The memo
was sent to the committees Staff Director Frances Zwenig. This leaves us with several glaring
unanswered questions.
What happened to the Tourison Memo once it reached Zwenig’s desk? Was it forwarded to
Senators Kerry and Smith? Was the letter, as written by Mr. Tourison, ever sent? If it was sent,
why wasn’t it acted upon? If it wasn’t sent, why? In the published report of the Senate Select
Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, Frances Zwenig is acknowledged as having “presided over the
full range of passions on this issue, coordinating divergent and ultimately tenuous views much of
the credit for the consensus in this report.”
One of those passions was Ms. Zwenig’s deep commitment to establishing trade and diplomatic
relations with Vietnam. Shortly after the committee concluded its work, Ms Zwenig took a
position as Vice President of the U.S./Vietnam Trade Council lobbying for the lifting of the trade
embargo against Vietnam and the establishment of diplomatic relations with Vietnam. We’re
sure Ms. Zwenig’s efforts were made easier by the conclusions of the Senate Select Committee on
POW/MIA Affair..... conclusion she helped form. We are also sure the push toward trade and
normalization would have come to a screeching halt were it known that the Vietnamese now
acknowledged 17 individuals as “survived into captivity” but had not accounted for them.
Perhaps that is why Senator Kerry participated in the Hanoi dog and pony show, which
“accounted” for Hasenbeck, Mangino, Winters and Nidd. Witness after witness told how the
four were ambushed and immediately killed and buried. This in spite of the fact that the
Vietnamese government had acknowledged the four “survived into captivity.”
We leave you with this question.... are the 19 New POWs named in the Tourison Memo the only individuals acknowledged as captured by the Vietnamese?
View the Tourison Memos
The 19 New POW Cases Part I