Veterans of the Vietnam War, Inc.

POW/MIA PAGE

Statement / Book List / Links
Disclaimer

FACTS DO NOT CEASE TO EXIST
SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY ARE IGNORED

This page on the Veterans of the Vietnam War, Inc. website, is dedicated to five distinct groups that make up the hub of the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action issue from all wars.

To POW's: To all Americans who have been imprisoned in any war.  Each person who has worn the uniform and fought the battle understands the nature of   sacrifice.  And while our military history reflects the glories associated  with our victories, it also reflects the tragedies inherent in war...those  men and women who have made the supreme sacrifice; those who have returned  maimed and wounded, many of whom will never be whole again...all, combat 
veterans.  Anyone caught in a firefight, flying through flak, patrolling the jungle or desert dunes while sensing ambush or working desperately to  perform triage in a make-shift hospital is a prisoner of war.  But we owe a  special debt of respect and gratitude to those who were captured and yet  still kept faith, even while deprived of their freedom, victimized by brutal tortures by captors whose nations could not be viewed on a plane of moral  equality with other civilized nations.  War behind barbed wire is a war  waged against hunger, disease, brutality, fear, boredom and the temptation  to yield to self pity and despair.

     The prisoner of war story is on of how humans endured under desperate  conditions and triumphed over appalling adversities.  As a prisoner of war  you find yourself in a dimension alien to one ever experienced before and  live through a roller coaster of emotional experiences that are both  debilitating and devastating.  It is so humbling and despairing to learn that your life is of such small value or concern to your enemy.  As Winston  Churchill, a former POW said, "You are in the power of your enemy, you owe your life to his humanity and your daily bread to his compassion.  You must 
obey his orders; go where he tells you, stay where you are bid..."

     When we hear the Star Spangled Banner, we are reminded that our  National Anthem, symbol of freedom and liberty was written by a prisoner of war.  Francis Scott Key wrote the words while imprisoned on a British battle-ship off Fort McHenry during the War of 1812.

In the words of Arnold Bocksel, former Japanese Prisoner of War,  who lived through the horrors of the Bataan-Corregidor Death March..."The  POW experience is like having a serious wound that eventually heals but  leaves a permanent ugly scar.  We who have survived do not consider ourselves as heroes...only survivors...If there were any heroes among us, it was those who perished...Those who gave up their tomorrow's so we could  have our today's".

To the Families: America's POW's and servicemen and servicewomen have met the test of personal honor and so have the families of those still missing from past  American wars.  For these families, the wounds of conflict have been  especially slow to heal.  For them, there has been no joyous reunions, nor  even the solace of certainty ratified by a flag draped casket and the solemn  sound of taps.  There has been no grave to visit and often no peace from  gnawing doubt.  For them, there has been only the search for answers through  the years, with little support from their own government; many having their  personal efforts stonewalled by a bureaucracy with "a mind-set to debunk".  Their search for answers is understandable because to them, POW/MIA is not merely an issue or a symbolic figure on a black and white flag, it is a  sibling, a parent, a spouse or a child.  These families deserve our nation's 
gratitude and to them we pay tribute.  As long as there is one family member  dissatisfied with the governments answers as to the fate of their loved one ...we will still be in business.

To those who keep the issue alive:  To those who fight against forgetting; the veterans and activists,  who never stop pushing for answers to their persistent questions and  students with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and truth.  To the select few brave souls in journalism and the media who dare to expose the cover-ups  and denials.  To those American citizens and their comrades from other  countries who demand the truth by constantly asking "WHY?" and "WHAT IS BEING DONE?"

To Governments: First, we salute those in position in all governments who rule the  people through trust, morality and the truth.  We honor those who dare to  raise the consciousness surrounding the truth of accountability before  closure by giving their time and energy to chair committees, spending  countless hours reading intelligence and who challenge their colleagues who
policy-making positions.  These honorable men and women who rattle cages on  behalf of our missing American service personnel, sometimes risking their  own careers and personal safety, are also heroes.

Second, we challenge those in government who use their elected or 
appointed office for their own hidden agenda.  These are the public 
officials who put up smoke screens and debunk credible evidence produced by credible witnesses.  We challenge the uneducated Senators and  Congressional Representatives to listen and learn the facts concerning the  POW/MIA issue and to take a positive stand when forming legislation which will affect, not only past U.S. service personnel but those who serve  today and plan to protect our freedom tomorrow.

To Future Military Service Personnel: It is you, the young men and women of the United States of America, that the Veterans of the Vietnam War, Inc. dedicates this last part of this page to.  When you raise your right hand to defend the Constitution, you need to know that should you become missing in action your government will make EVERY EFFORT to account for you and bring you home.  In an essence, our advocacy for the POW/MIA issue is your insurance policy.

Amidst the uncertainties of war, every soldier is entitled to one 
certainty...that he will not be forgotten.  As a former POW Eugene "Red" McDaniel stated...as an American asked to serve, I was prepared to fight, to be wounded, to be captured and even prepared to die, but I was not  prepared to be abandoned.  It is that one American is not worth the effort to be found, we, as Americans, have lost.

The Veterans of the Vietnam War, Inc. have again taken up arms and  are fully prepared to do battle with the enemy.  Our weapons are the truth,  support of protective legislation, and faith in God to give us strength to reach our goal of an honest accounting of our POW's and MIA's.  We invite you to join us here at the website where we will provide up-to-date information  and action sheets for you to respond to.  We have a book list for expanding your knowledge and addresses to other POW/MIA links.

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Book List
(Recommended reading only, not for sale)

THE BAMBOO CAGE
by Nigel Cawthorne
Barnes and Noble, Publishers
"The full story of the American Servicemen Still Held Hostage in South-East Asia"

"Major Mark Smith, a highly decorated Vietnam Veteran ...former POW...accorded the honor of being the first off the plane...during Operation Homecoming...worked with Sergeant Melvin McIntire...went on missions to Laos...brought back evidence, reported this...told there is no interest in the part of the United States Government!"

KISS THE BOYS GOODBYE
by Monika Jensen-Stevenson
Barnes and Noble, Publishers
"How the United States Betrayed it's own POW's in Vietnam"

"In 1985, Jensen-Stevenson was developing a segment for 60 Minutes on ex-marine Bobby Garwood, who escaped from Vietnam in 1979...claimed to be a prisoner of war...the government disagreed and convicted him...of collaboration with the enemy, burying his story of prisoners along with his reputation."

THE MEN WE LEFT BEHIND
by Mark Sauter and Jim Sanders
The U.S. Veteran Dispatch - 1-800-452-8906 (information)

"Explores secret Communist offers to ransom American POW's and the explosive evidence that some Americans were secretly returned to the United States years after the war ended."

MOSCOW BOUND
by John G. Brown
John M.G. Brown, P.O. Box 30, Patrolia, CA 95558 (order info)
"Policy, Politics and the POW/MIA Dilemma"

RICE MEN AND BARBED WIRE
by Arnold A Bocksel
Michael B Glass & Associates (Publishers)
"A True Epic of Americans as Japanese POW's"

"...the person who wrote this narrative is still alive today, more than 45 years after the events..." Mr. Bocksel survived in Japanese POW camps of World War II...thousands taken prisoner from The American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor did not survive.

"It is now April 1945...been prisoners a long, long time...hard...to realize that we survivors have to endure so long...the survivors were the stronger ones...so far the 'luckier' ones...no denying that death was a kind release for many thought we would never get out alive."

SCARS AND STRIPES
by Eugene B. McDaniel, Capt. USN
American Defense Institute - 703-519-7000 (order info)
"The True Story of One Man's Courage in Facing Death as a Vietnam POW"

"During the long night hours...through the endless months of captivity, I learned to pray drawing on the goodness of God...My strength to face each new crack of light meant another day...first light on, I was forced to face the grittiness of clinging to the narrow edge of survival."

SOLDIERS OF MISFORTUNE
by Mark Sauter, Jim Sanders and R. Cort Kirkwood
The U.S. Veteran Dispatch - 1-800-452-8906 (order info)
"Washington's Secret Betrayal of American POW's in the Soviet Union"

"...Thousands of American POW's held captive by the Soviet Union...United States government officials who lied about their fate." "Authors neared the truth...top level Pentagon officials attempted to 'neutralize' and silence them...to bury the truth from the public."

AFTER THE HERO'S WELCOME
by Dorothy McDaniel
"A POW Wife's Story of the Battle Against a New Enemy"

"...for six years in a POW camp. Dorothy did not know whether Red was alive...At home, she waged a battle on two fronts: one against the Hanoi government...the second against Washington politicians who...didn't seem to care about Red and the others missing."

POW/MIA REPORT
United States Senate Select Committee On POW/MIA Affairs
January 13, 1993
202-224-7880 (order info)

"The Committee's purpose...Our nation has been haunted by the possibility that some of the missing may have survived and that, somewhere in Southeast Asia, brave men remain in captivity...it (Select Committee) was created to investigate and tell publicly the complete story about what our government has known, and what it is doing and has done on behalf of our POW/MIA's."

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Related Links

National Alliance of Families - http://www.nationalalliance.org/

Advocacy & Intelligence Index - Fax Network - http://www.aiipowmia.com/

Library of Congress - POW Database - http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pow/powhome.html

Roger and Pam Young's HomePage - http://members.aol.com/bear317/nwvets.htm

Col. Ted Guy - Former Pow- Take a journey to the Hanoi Hilton & attached villas http://www.soft-vision.com/hanoi/index1.html  

Robert Weaver's - York County, PA,   Remembers! http://members.tripod.com/~bobbymeisters/index.html

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Disclaimer

The book list and list of related links are not neccessarily the thoughts and views of Veterans of the Vietnam War, Inc.. They appear on this page as a way for people to obtain information, to expand their knowledge and to disseminate the information as the reader or viewer wishes! Thank You.

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