Gone But Not Forgotten

The Search for American POWs in the Post-Vietnam Era

Introduction

The fall of Saigon in 1975 marked the end of the Vietnam War era for most of the American public. The indelible images of helicopter evacuations from the capital, and panicked Vietnamese civilians attempting to storm the US embassy represented the tragic final chapter to an arduous and depressing conflict.

But if the final chapter was a tragedy, the epilogue to that war would be worse still. Beyond the news reports and official histories, an awful truth lingered just out of sight: the unknown fate of dozens of American service members listed as Missing in Action, or as Prisoners of War. Rumors and clues persisted for years, even decades later, indicating that some unknown number of downed pilots and other servicemen might still be imprisoned in harsh conditions, perhaps being tortured, with no hope of rescue or reuniting with their loved ones back home. They were gone but not forgotten.

American prisoners of war in North Vietnam. GettyImages.com.

One of the largest complicating factors in the resolution of the POW/MIA question was the Pathet Lao. This Laotian paramilitary force was primarily directed by North Vietnamese forces and had captured and held as many as 60 POWs over the course of the war. But with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords which ended the war, the North Vietnamese government disavowed any responsibility for the return of POWs held in Laos. The new Laotian coalition government released ten POWs in March 1973 and subsequently denied holding any remaining POWs. It appears that US Ambassador to Laos George Godley accepted this statement despite significant intelligence reporting indicating otherwise, in an effort to speed the peace process.

The public’s imagination was suitably captured by the frightful possibility of Americans abandoned to a terrible fate. Several blockbuster action films of the 1980s were premised on the rescue of American POWs. These included Uncommon Valor (1983), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), and the Missing in Action series starring Chuck Norris (1984-1988). The plight of the missing had entered the American zeitgeist.

From 1973 until the present, the POW question has never fully been answered to the satisfaction of anyone. Multiple intelligence and special operations activities were conducted through the 1980s, always with inconclusive or negative results. These activities were greatly complicated by a lack of communication between all interested parties, by leaks to the press by members of Congress, and by the involvement of two incredibly influential and divisive men of the era; Texas billionaire Ross Perot, and retired Special Forces officer Bo Gritz.