Is it true that there are still US POW's being held in vietnam, Loas and the surrounding countries ?
If so then this is a disgrace.
2006-12-10 09:07:46 · 9 answers · asked by Rock Goddess 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
2 Riflemen from my Platoon were never accounted for and they disappeared on night Ops along Highway 13 just outside of Sui Dhow. I believe that they were captured and I hope to GOD that they are not still alive.
2006-12-10 09:27:48 · answer #1 · answered by ? 5 · 5⤊ 1⤋
After all this time no, it’s highly unlikely. The Vietnamese government is currently helping US families and the US military find the remaining 2000 MIA military personnel. They’ve already helped US families and US military find remains of MIA’s through DNA tests and other remains. They have Vietnam veterans over there trying to help in the search.
Modern Vietnam is still a commie country but it’s way different than the one that ran its T-72 tanks on the streets of Saigon in 1975. They along with much of Asia, except North Korea, are economically prospering through trade with US companies. So they have a lot to lose if they don’t cooperate in searching American MIA's. The Vietnamese people are also missing like 200,000 to 500,000 of their own people both civilians and military personnel that they are still searching for.
What more likely caused some of these servicemen (who were mostly pilots) to remain missing was that if they were heavily injured and were captured by the NVA soldiers but was too slow to move to their base or nearby city during a bombing raid, they would just shoot the injured pilot dead and just leave the body there. Or they were captured by North Vietnamese civilians and killed/lynched there in the spot since their cities were being bombed. Other cases was that when their planes went down, they could not be reached by any humans, and thus died on the spot there not to be recovered until decades later.
2006-12-10 17:44:57 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Amazingly, there were a number found "after" Vietnam supposedly repatriated all missing soldiers.
The problem was that many captured soldiers were held in make-shift camps rather than formal POW camps.
After the US pulled out of Vietnam many were simply executed by their captors, whilst other were allegedly forced to assist in "weapons programs" or act as slave labor along with common criminals.
The USSR, which was a strong supporter of North Vietnam, did admit during the 1980's that a number of US service personnel were retained by the Vietcong, although it had no further details and did not know if they were eventually released, were killed or simply died.
The problem is that, should a US serviceman now appear, it would be a huge political scandal for the current Government (regardless of which party is in power). People would be asking "why US service personnel were left behind and how many were still there ?". Equally so, most of the civilised world would be outraged if Vietnam suddenly admitted to still having POW's.
The Vietnam War was a huge embarrassment for the US Govt and the Vets were pratically shunned upon their return.
Japanese soldiers were still turning up Burma 20-30 years after WWII finished, so I wouldn't be surprised if there still are US soldiers in Vietnam, but what can the US do ?
The Vietnamese Govt says all soldiers were returned (although we now know that they originally lied or were mistaken).
Short of sending troops there again, the US Govt is powerless to do anything.
2006-12-10 17:39:55 · answer #3 · answered by jonmorritt 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Do you realize that they would have been POW's for 30 + years? Now do you really thing that anyone would keep POW"s for 30+years? It's rediculous to think that. There may very well be US soldiers may have been missing in action then just found themselves a woman and stayed in the country.
2006-12-10 17:15:33 · answer #4 · answered by Mr. Right 4 · 1⤊ 3⤋
No one really knows....its a disgrace ......but what can we do ?
Maybe send Chuck Norris ?
Rescue missions are and were done but I think the effort has been abandoned.....
2006-12-10 17:12:19 · answer #5 · answered by cesare214 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oh, yeah, there are thousands and thousands and you're right, it's the biggest national disgrace that no one is talking about - bigger than global warming, bigger than George Bush, bigger than Katrina, bigger than California wildfires - well, it's just big is all!
2006-12-10 17:10:17 · answer #6 · answered by Fast Eddie B 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Guess to the Vietnamese they are "enemy combatants". Thus they deserve no rights. Just like our US "enemy combatants".
Get the point?
Who are we to complain about other countries holding people without any rights.
2006-12-10 19:00:15 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
could be true. The Governement is keeping so much stuff from us
2006-12-10 17:09:27 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
It's a shame they didn't keep John McCain.
2006-12-10 17:09:55 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 14⤋