Question: How did you meet Col. Ted Guy?

Answers by Steve Golding: In 1985 while researching my stepbrother's case I learned that a returned POW had spoken to him, but that DOD said there was no correlation to my step brother and they did not state why. I started looking for the returned POW and found out that he was one of the "Ted Guy 8."

Upon Ted's repatriation to the United States, he attempted to prefer charges against 8 former POWs who had collaborated with the enemy. Ted was a no-nonsense commander and he did his level best to bring these former POWs to justice. Through some fellow activists I made contact with Colonel Guy and we talked about my stepbrother and the other returnee. When I first approached him, he told me that they were all home or they were dead. We argued about it often, but there was something about this fiery sonofasoandso that I liked. It was a few years later that I got a call from him at 2 o'clock in the morning to tell me that he had an epiphany--they were left behind and what are he and I gonna do about it. That was Ted. One thing led to another and I worked with Ted up until his death in 1999. He used to tell me that he and I were the 'old farts' in the issue and we became close friends.

We worked tirelessly together and independent of one another. In 1992, I brought him to Prodigy and he discovered a new median to get the message out. We rarely butted heads but when we did it was a beaut, because we are so stubborn and of course we each are never wrong :)

Question: Could you describe what sort of a person was Col. Guy?

Answer: Impatient, let's-get-the-job-done-yesterday. Stubborn. Shoot from the lip. Infuriating. Funny. Supportive. Undaunted. Diligent. Sexist.  Human. Outdoorsman. Un-politically Incorrect. Take No Prisoners. American. Friend. Brother. Hero.

Question: Col. Guy was instrumental in the founding of Operation Just Cause.  Can you explain to us his vision, hopes and dreams for OJC?

Answer: At first, and there are those that may not like hearing this, Ted really did not think that we would take off the way we did. He kinda/sorta said yes to us because he wanted to get the issue broader coverage. When he saw that we did take off, he wanted OJC to be a little more proactive than we were---remember he was impatient in an issue that he had already spent 11 years (at that time) fighting a very hard and mostly lonely daily fight. He expected everyone to know the issue maybe not as well as he did but at least be able to talk intelligently about it.

He used our membership the way that we do when a hot-item comes down the pike. In the instance I am talking about, it was to restore several measures of the Missing Service Personnel Act and when he saw what we could do, he really wanted us as an organization to get involved to the degree that we made hot-items happen. When he would get frustrated he would refer to us as "Paper Tigers," tell Gunny and I that we have to push the membership harder and one of us, usually Gunny, would call him and talk to him to remind him that not everyone at OJC was up to speed. You've got to remember, the resources that we had and have at OJC is tremendous; many of us are totally versed in the issue--and Ted expected our membership to be as versed without the benefit of the years of experience that some of us had.

That is not to say that Ted was not proud of OJC. He loved this organization. He just wanted us to be able to march into hell for a heavenly cause at 0400 hours on a moments notice. For the most part we did. And when we did, the Colonel wanted more. I cannot fault him for that. I always want more. Gunny reins me in regularly. Gunny reined Ted in regularly as well. God, do I miss Ted.

Ted loved the Yellow Ribbon Campaign and he loved when we would go after the "gummint." He would constantly tell Gunny, Doc, Joe Oliver and I that the black helicopters were gonna land in his back yard and take him away and that he would be damned if we weren't gonna join him. He loved our nation and he loved our form of government. He loved it so much that he wanted it to be truthful to the American People and loyal to those that wore the uniform. This wasn't ever about sedition or overthrowing the USG, it was about strengthening it by being honest and loyal. Who doesn't want those qualities in our government?

Question: Col. Guy believed until 1990 that all the POW/MIA(s) were returned.  From that point on he work tirelessly for the return of all the POW/MIA(s).  What did he accomplish in this fight and what job has he left us to do?

Answer: How do you list the sum of a man and his accomplishments in just a few words? Well, Ted's greatest accomplishment was his ability to motivate. The few times that some of us wanted to just say the hell with this heartbreaking, heart-wrenching issue, he would fighter-jock us back. He would call, e-mail, and write--whatever it took to keep us from giving in. How do you tell someone who was brutalized like Ted was when he was captive that he can continue this fight, but without me? I know I couldn't.

He was extremely frustrated at the silence of his fellow returnees as a whole and particularly in NAM-POWs. He constantly tried to get them to come out with a statement on the fact that men were left behind and he was extremely upset that they used their charter as merely a social organization until McCain ran for President. He had every intention of confronting McCain in New Hampshire had he lived. God how I miss him.

He also was great when he was testifying or giving interviews. He had major credibility. He also had the credentials that were not easily dismissed. He had a presence and when he debated, he did so without cue cards and could recite stats that would blow his opponent away.

His greatest moment in the issue was the all out effort he made at restoring some provisions to the MSPA--Missing Service Personnel Act--that had previously been routed by John "Generals cannot worry about Sergeants and Lieutenants" McCain.

The job he left us was the job that he devoted his very being to: The fullest possible and honest accounting for all those who could be accounted for--alive or dead. He expects us to get the job done. He demands that we continue in his name or in whatever name it is that will accomplish the job.

Question: What impression did Col. Ted Guy leave on your life? Answer: He was a mentor, a friend, a brother, a motivator, a teacher, and a student. He was all of those and more. He paid me two unbelievable compliments during our years together. I was complaining to him one time about debating returned POWs because after all they were there going through the hell. Well he called me up and he told me that there wasn't a POW that I couldn't debate and slam-dunk. He told me that while the POWs were going through their hell, we the families were going through another type of hell that may have been more hellish at times and it was because of people like me, like Gunny, like Doc, like Joe that those that came home did come home. Americans had kept the POW issue in the forefront while the war was going on and we were continuing the good battle until they all came home. Then he told me I could debate the POWs because I had his permission to do so.

The second huge compliment that Ted paid to several of us was when he was writing to Jason "Moonduster" about the [then] new Operation Just Cause Ops Center. Ted wrote, in part, "Although I do not wish it on anyone, if I had you, Doc, Gunny, Steve and the rest with me in jail in Hanoi, we would not have this problem today. We would have driven the bastards nuts and they would have thrown us all out! " I was absolutely astounded by that statement...speechless and proud.

Have I mentioned how very much I miss Ted?

Question: In this country we make heroes out of athlete and movie stars, Senator Bob Smith called Col. Ted Guy a hero.  If you were explaining to a child what makes up a hero how would you describe Col. Ted Guy as a true American Hero?

Colonel Guy was shot down and captured by the enemy during the Vietnam War. While a captive, Col. Guy knew that establishing a chain of command meant certain death and yet he assumed command of POWs that were captured in Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam and interred in North Vietnam. He adhered to the Code of Conduct and signed a statement only after several years in solitary confinement and after a 17-day beating.

When he came home, although he truly believed that all Americans had been repatriated that could be repatriated, he came to see that they had not and instead of being passive about it, he fought for their return every day until his death.

He could've said, "Hey, I'm tired and I was held a long time. Now I want to spend the rest of my life with the family whom I was taken from," but he did not, he took even more time from them to continue to fight in this unpopular cause, subjecting himself to potential criticism. He could've said, "I served my nation, now YOU carry the torch," but he did not. Rather he said, "Yes I served my nation, now join me in serving it further." He could've turned bitter and said, "Damn this nation, this government and all of you who allow this to continue," but he did not. He demonstrated his love for the nation and for the government and for all of us by continuing to fight--right up until he drew his last earthly breath--to get our people home. He did not seek praise, he did not seek recognition, and he did not cash-in on the former POW status that could easily have propelled him wherever he wanted to go. He sought truth, he sought justice and he sought honor.

In times when the office of the Presidency translates to cheap thrills in the Oval Office; when bad-boy basketball players are rewarded for their antics with lucrative contracts, product endorsement and franchises; when baseball players get away with recidivistic drug use, spitting on coaches and rape; at a time when "stand up" translates to elevating one self from a sedate position, this nation seems to overlook its true hero's.

Ted Guy was such a hero. He is such a hero. He stood up as a shining example of what one mere mortal could do. And it is monumental.

I am switching the last question to here for reasons that will be obvious: "Do you have any further comments to make or do you wish to add anything else?" Prior to Ted's death, Ted Junior was encouraging his dad to get to know Jesus Christ and it was during his eulogy of his dad that Ted Jr. related to us that he got a call from his dad who informed him that "There is something to this God thing." I want to tell you that I am happy that Ted made peace with his God. I truly suspect that the peace has been implemented and that Ted Sr. is now combing the articles of that peace to see how he could get us some divine intervention for this issue. If anyone could get that accomplished it is Colonel Theodore Wilson "Ted" Guy.

Question: If you could record for history's sake one fact to be remembered about Ted Guy what would that be?

How could it be anything other than, "A man is never dead until he is forgotten"

Ted lives on in us all.

GBU & CUL Ted. I do so miss you.

Submitted by Steve Golding