We at the National Alliance of Families, have always believed in the value of "Real Time Intellignece Analysis." That "real time" intelligence analysis has provide much information on our POW/MIAs. Today, that "real time" analysis is debunked with each source report written off as fabrication and the analysist correlation to non-returnees written off as incorrect. If we were to beleive the debunkers, the only accurate source reports and analysis relate to returnees.

One recent book "Why Didn't You Get Me Out?" by former POW Frank Anton, shows just how very good the real time source reporting and intelligence gathering abilities really were.

U.S. officials knew exactly where Frank Anton was during his captivity. They knew when he was moved up the Ho Chi Minh Trail, to Hanoi. They even took pictures.

The following is excerpted from "Why Didn't You Get Me Out" - "It was a black - and - white, high resolution picture of a man walking toward the camera lens, which was below the level of the ground where the man was walking. I studied it carefully for two or three minutes and then said that I could not recognize him and had not idea who he was. The two debriefers looked at each other and smiled, and one of them said, "It's you." I said that of course it wasn't me, and they said oh yes it is. Then I stared long and hard again. Finally, as if a veil were lifting, I acknowledged in surprise, "It is me!"

"The picture had been taken during the march up the Ho Chi Minh trail. I hadn't seen myself in a mirror for three years by then, and I had no idea I looked that bad - emaciated, hunched over, face drawn. I asked the obvious "Who took it?" They smiled again and said, "We really can't tell you that." Once again I'd learned that my country knew exactly where I was."

"I asked how the Pentagon knew about my capture, but all that the debriefer said was that "we have people out there, not necessarily American. I couldn't escape the conclusion, which I kept to myself, that the Pentagon knew a great deal more about missing soldiers than it was willing to tell, even to the family of a captured army helicopter crew chief."

Think about this, if Frank Anton had been one of the non-returnees, and some researcher, 30 years later, found that source's report, it would have been deemed a fabrication. That photo would have been stamped "codeword classified." It would have never seen the light of day.

Fortunately, Frank Anton came home and shared his experiences with us. We asked Frank to write something for our pages and he graciously agreed.