vets

America's MIA/POW Issues:
Our Veterans Speak Out
by J.R. Terrio

I have been privileged in my time working with OJC to come to know many people I would not have otherwise gotten to know. Most of these of course are fellow veterans, many of whom were in Vietnam, others were from earlier wars... and some from the more recent Gulf War. All of these people have my deepest respect, for while I served our Country in the US Navy Hospital Corps I was never in combat or even close to it. For this segment of the article I am putting aside much of my own commentary and letting these unique individuals speak for themselves. The standing question was what is their feeling about the current MIA/POW situation:

Chuck *Doc* Stewart
3/67 - 3/70
Spec. 5 (E5)
MOS: 76M20 Ammunitions Records Clerk
Vietnam Service - 8/67 - 3/69
191st. Ordnance Battalion, Cam Rahn Bay, RVN

Didn't hear much about POW/MIA's while I was in Vietnam.

My concerns now are to bring them home. It is quite probable that there are still live American POW/MIA's in Vietnam and our government must do all in it's power to bring them home. With the help of Operation Just Cause it is now quite easy for the American Public to get involved. One doesn't need a website. If the American Public as a whole would write to their elected officials demanding a full accounting of our POW/MIA's, it would force our government to get off their duffs and do something about it. Our brothers have been gone far too long and it is time now for them to come home. Back to the country they left as merely boys to do what they knew was their duty. Yes, they will come back as old men now but they deserve to come home. If there is a chance that just one of our brothers is still alive and being held against his will, then we owe it to him to allow him to pass this world from his homeland soil.

If this does not happen, how are we to allow our sons and daughters to join a service knowing that this atrocity could very easily happen again and knowing that there is the slightest possibility that our government will leave them behind and forget about them.

American citizens and veterans alike have lost much faith in our government through continuous lies and cover-ups. It's time to let our government know that we, as American citizens, are demanding an honest straightforward relationship between our elected officials and it's citizens or we will elect ones who will.

Doc

Tony Faville
US Navy Hospital Corpsman
Persian Gulf

I feel very strongly that while there is a very good chance that a lot of our POW/MIA's are dead, there is also insurmountable evidence that there are still live POW/MIA's in Southeast Asia. Our government has been little to no help in getting our men back. With evidence like the South Korean POW that recently escaped from North Korea how can we ignore the possibility of live POW/MIA's still existing in Southeast Asia or North Korea... let alone the possibility of Red China?

That's my two cents.

Semper Fi,
Tony Faville
Doc Faville

NAVY CORPSMAN

Roland Legere
formerly of "Golf 2/7,Lima 3/9,Golf 2/5,
Golf 2/26,Foxtrot 2/5 and Foxtrot 2/6
U.S.M.C. Rifleman/Radio Operator
In country from March 1965 to Sept.1967
2 Years 6 Months 3 Days
"I" Corps Area from Danang to DMZ

I didn't hear much about treatment of Pow. But on one operation, we got "overrun" and myself and three other guys were left in the rice paddies all night. We couldn't do anything but watch as the NVA came out and stripped the body's and finished off anyone that was still alive. Don't know why they left us four. They knew we were there. They had a search light on us for a while.

Bottom line is, the NVA we were "involved" with didn't take pow's. That was operation "Union II" from May 27th to June 03 1967. The operation before that "Mountain Goat" from May 18 to 20, on point I came up on a young Lt. from another unit that had been taken the night before on a patrol. They had him strung up by his feet stripped and gutted out.

"They" are not dealing with it. Far as I can see, they've written all of our pow's off a long time ago. I don't see it being an issue on election day. As a Life Member of the D.A.V., I don't see our elected people in the D.A.V. making much noise. And when someone does make a noise, "they" our elected officials (Fed. & State) just give the old party line they always do.... "we're looking into it" and then it's the brush-off.

My view on investigating for pow's? Normalize and use corporate people to kinda snoop around. What better way to get in on the inside? After all, the country will be flooded with U.S. folks. They can't keep an eye on em all.

Roland Legere

Click on POW/MIA graphic to return to the January 1999 issue