My sincere thanks to the ALLIANCE and it's loyal membership for their hard work and continued efforts to find truth and honest answers. Our governments lack of candor reference the issue of POW/MlAs is both cruel and dishonorable. All of us can only hope that those responsible for this impasse will someday, on this earth or beyond, be required to account for their dishonesty and deceit.
Lynn O'Shea recently commented to me via E-mall expressing her personal observations on my book and it's relevance. I greatly appreciate and am proud that I was able to document within the pages of my story some things that might in some small way be of help.
MIAs are a sad fact of war. Some remains are forever lost and that is tragic yet understandable. There also however can remain little doubt that some men were alive in Southeast Asia who were not returned. The current Ambassador to Vietnam knew of two unrepatriated pilots in the Hanoi Hilton. Since only one of these men's remains have been recovered, we have every right to ask what happened to the other. The Vietnamese know what became of this man. They should tell us what became of him.
For DOD and DIA to insist time and time again, that -every man known captured, and alive in the Spring of 1973 was returned is at best disingenuous, and in some cases an outright lie. Many men who were returned with me knew of one or more POWs who were not returned. Just because we were told to keep quiet on this issue, and in some cases were "asked" to sign a statement to that, silence is no excuse. In fact it is a cop out. Many former POWs are alive today because their wives and loved one's, as well as the American public would not shut up. I know for sure I saw a man alive in Laos who did not return. (Please see my Website at OjC.org/anton/ ) I also saw the newspaper photo of several newly captured men, some with missing limbs. They did not return. Other men in Hanoi spoke with and saw others who did not come home.
We all are aware of the many schemes and hoaxes connected with this controversy. There is no doubt that some less than honorable people continue to live and prosper from this issue. Family members of MlAs have been duped by heartless and greedy individuals. That is a disgusting and unthinkable occurrence, but woven within the many half truths and the scams is basic truth - Live American POWs were left in Southeast Asia after the war....
As was asked of me, here are a few quotes from my book, and what I hope are relevant explanations to them....
"After my release came an amazing revelation...the United States Government had known of my exact location all along."
The response which I have received to that statement has been incredible and enlightening. I would never have known the military knew where I was if my debriefers hadn't shown me the aerial photographs; of my camps. At the same time they had even paused to comment an the detail and accuracy of my prior drawings of those prisons. I have been criticized for "making this up." I certainly did no such thing. Strange as it may seem, I was able to include some of my drawings from those POW camps only because the government provided me with the actual hand drawn maps in 1980.
"I received a call from a Colonel in the Pentagon who told me politely but firmly that he had heard I was making statements about MIAs... Then another call... the General in a gruff voice told me that if I expected to remain in the military, I would stop talking about the issue...."
Not everyone agreed to leave well enough alone. As soon as the United States had ended it's role in Vietnam, questions began to arise whether all the men had returned. Henry Kissinger, as leader of the U.S. delegation at the talks, knew as soon as the North Vietnamese had handed him the list that it was grossly incomplete. Air- Force General Eugene Tigue, who was to later be named the Chief of DIA, said that the list left the United States intelligence experts in a state of - shock and sadness."
No one should have really been too surprised however. The one consistent theme from the Vietnamese was the connection between the release of prisoners and the payment of reparations. Dr. Kissinger used every bit of his considerable negotiating skills, but the Vietnamese were unbending. In short, if the United States wanted its POWs back, It would have to pay for them.
Ransom, reparations, reconstruction assistance, or whatever we might choose to call it.
"I was deeply grateful that I came home after five years, but I returned convinced that others were not so fortunate."
Holding prisoners as barter is almost as old as history itself. It became however an article of faith under the Communist regimes. Near the end of WWII, thousands of American captives in Poland were "liberated" by an advancing Soviet Army, only to be led away and never heard from or seen again.
American prisoners were also unaccounted for in Korea. Our own sources reported an unknown number of men shipped to China and the Soviet Union. By 1955, as we only recently have learned, President Eisenhower knew some men had been kept, and intelligence indicated that eight hundred had been sent by train to Siberia.
The Vietnamese followed suit in dealing with prisoner issues. After the fall of Dien Bien Phu, Five thousand French soldiers and foreign legionnaires were held in captivity for years. While it has been shown that many of these were crossovers and deserters, some of them were indeed POWs.
As for our inglorious departure from Vietnam, officials kept meticulous files on live sighting reports after the war. Some of these were labeled as highly credible. Eventually however, as the heat of Watergate- and the unwillingness to once again involve ourselves militarily in South- East Asia enveloped both President Nixon and the country, the policy changed. All of the missing were suddenly declared dead. That became the U.S. policy and the Pentagon followed the policy from that point on with unyielding obedience.
"In time, I have come to learn that some leaders of my country had adopted a cynical attitude that was beneath the dignity and honor of the United States of America. That is a grave consequence when young men and women facing the ultimate test of battles to come, weigh whether their willingness to commit the last full measure of their devotion will be honored by the nation they serve if they are taken as Prisoners of War."
FRANK ANTON
CWO-4 Army (Ret.)
Ex-POW Vietnam
If you haven't read "Why Didn't You Get Me Out?" get yourself a copy. If you can't find it in the bookstore, contact Frank Anton directly at -- FANTON@aol.com