Alabama's MIA's and POW's

Vietnam War

In the course of a war, some men are captured and held prisoner by the enemy;
other men, in the act of carrying out their mission become lost and are not
heard from again. These men from Alabama were captured or declared missing
during the Vietnam War.

PRISONER OF WAR
WILLIAM R. BEAN, JR.    Fort Paine  captured 23MAY72    released 12FEB73
MICHAEL D. CHRISTIAN    Huntsville  captured 24APR67    released 12FEB73
UDON DAVIS  Eufala  captured 13MAR68    released 12FEB73
JEREMIAH A. DENTON  Mobile  captured 18JUL65    released 12FEB73
EDWIN A. HAWLEY, JR.    Birmingham  captured 17FEB72    released 12FEB73
THOMAS M. MADISON   Tuskegee    captured 19APR67    released 12FEB73
RICHARD H. McDOW    Columbiana  captured 27JUN72    released 12FEB73
HERBERT B. RINGSDORF    Elba    captured      ??    released 12FEB73
TERRY M. GELONECK   Decatur captured 20DEC72    released 12FEB73

PAUL W. BANNON  Hueytown    lost 12JUL69
WILLIAM G. BENNETT  Birmingham  lost 02SEP67
RAYMOND E. BOBE Tarrant lost 16MAR69
DONALD D. BURNHAM   Webb    lost 02FEB68
JAMES E. CARLTON    Birmingham  lost 17APR67
SAMUEL M. DEICHELMANN   Montgomery  lost 06SEP68
OLIN HARGROVE, JR.  Birmingham  lost 17OCT67
PRENTICE W. HICKS   Huntsville  lost 25MAR69
SCOTT D. KETCHIE    Birmingham  lost 09JUL72
GILBERT S. PALMER   Birmingham  lost 27FEB68
RALPH N. PATILLO    Hartselle   lost 16FEB71

PAUL, EDWARD UPNER  Anniston MIA since 1965.
ALTON C. ROCKETT,JR.    Birmingham  lost 02JUN67
JOHN H. ROBERTSON   Birmingham  lost 20MAY68
WILLIAM S. STINSON  Georgianna  lost 08JAN73    Remains returned 03NOV99
CHARLES E. WHITE    Bessemer    lost 29JAN68
ROBERT J. WILLIAMS  Daleville   lost 11MAY72
THADDEUS E. WILLIAMS    Mobile  lost 09JAN66    Remains returned 22DEC98


   
   
 Contact Bill if you have any POW/MIA questions at bill.atkeison@att.net  

POW-MIA Update

August 28, 2006

U.S. PERSONNEL MISSING FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: The number now listed by DoD as missing and unaccounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is now 1,801 – 1,377 in Vietnam, 363 in Laos, 54 in Cambodia and 7 in PRC territorial waters. Major Burke H. Morgan, USAF, was lost while on an armed reconnaissance mission over Laos on Aug 22, 1967 along with another officer while flying in their A-26A Invader aircraft. Major Morgan's remains were unilaterally excavated from a burial site near his downed aircraft and turned over by the Lao Government on Feb 17, 2005 . Major Morgan is to be buried at the U.S. Air Force Academy on Sept 7, 2006 , to coincide with his academy class reunion there.

POW/MIA decals for windows (inside) are $20 per 100, and POW/MIA lapel pins are $3 each or 2/$5, by sending a check to the League office. For added information on any subject, please log onto the League's web site, www.pow-miafamilies.org , or call the national office at 703-465-7432 .

HANOI, Vietnam - Vietnamese military leaders, in a meeting with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, said Monday they would try to do more to help the U.S. recover the remains of Americans missing in action in the Vietnam War.
According to a senior defense official in the meetings, the United States is asking for greater access to Vietnamese archives as well as information about MIAs lost in Laos and Cambodia. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private.

The official said Rumsfeld raised the issue and said that MIA recovery is a national priority of the U.S. and "he said that we appreciated what they have done but we have some things we'd like them to do more of."

Currently there are 1,805 American troops unaccounted for from the war, including 1,376 in Vietnam, according to Marine Maj. Jay Rutter, deputy commander of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, which heads the recovery efforts here.

During the early moments of Rumsfeld's meeting with the military leaders, the U.S. secretary said Hanoi has changed a lot since he was last here in 1995 as a private citizen.

"I hasten to congratulate you and the people of Vietnam for the amazing economic achievements in the last 11 years," Rumsfeld told Vietnamese defense minister Gen. Pham Van Tra. Rumsfeld said he took a walk around Hanoi and could "feel the energy, the vibrancy of the city ...There's a significant change in just that short period of time."

Rumsfeld also toured the historic Temple of Literature, a 1,000 year-old-facility that was initially a Buddhist temple and later served as a university, and visited the military's POW/MIA office.

On Sunday, Rumsfeld said the United States wants to expand its military relationship with Vietnam, but has no plans to seek access to military facilities in this former enemy nation.

Rumsfeld talked only generally about his goals for the U.S. military relationship with a country that has come to symbolize one of the military's most divisive and politically explosive wars.

"I don't have a wish list and I don't have a set of things we're trying to achieve," he said en route to Hanoi. "What we want to see is a relationship between our country and Vietnam evolve in a way that is comfortable to them and comfortable to us. And it has been doing that over recent years and I suspect it will continue on that path."

Critics of the current Iraq war and Rumsfeld's leadership have compared it to the Vietnam conflict, noting that in both public support eroded as time went on with little to show for the loss of American lives.

The trip to Vietnam is Rumsfeld's first as defense secretary, and it comes more than 30 years after the end of the Vietnam war. He previously visited the country twice in the late 1960s as a member of Congress, then returned as a private citizen about a decade ago.

As of January 2003
1,891 Americans are still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, though over 450 were at sea/over water losses: Vietnam - 1,444  (North, 509; South, 935); Laos - 382; Cambodia - 57; Peoples Republic of China territorial waters - 8. The League seeks the return of all US prisoners, the fullest possible accounting for those still missing and repatriation of all recoverable remains.

The League's highest priority is resolving the live prisoner question. Official intelligence indicates that Americans known to have been alive in captivity in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were not returned at the end of the war.  In the absence of evidence to the contrary, it must be assumed that these Americans may still be alive.  As a policy, the U.S. Government does not rule out the possibility that Americans could still be held.

Unilateral return of remains by the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) has been proven an effective means of obtaining accountability, as have joint field operations in recent years, though the first in northern Vietnam occurred in 1985.  A comprehensive wartime and post-war process was established by Vietnam to collect and retain information and remains; thus, unilateral efforts by Vietnam to locate and return remains and provide records continue to offer significant potential. Hanoi's decision to establish a Special Research Cell to support their government's unilateral efforts was encouraging, a positive response to the May 1999 League Delegation. Archival research in Vietnam has produced thousands of items, documents and photos, but to date all except 1+% pertain to returned POWs and Americans previously accounted-for.

Joint field operations in Laos are very productive.  The Lao recently agreed to increase the number of US personnel permitted in-country and allow greater flexibility during field operations. Agreements between the U.S. and the Indochina governments now permit Vietnamese witnesses to participate in joint operations in Laos and Cambodia when necessary.  POW/MIA research and field activities in Cambodia have received excellent support.  Over 80% of US losses in Laos and 90% of those in Cambodia occurred in areas where Vietnamese forces operated during the war, but Vietnam has not yet responded to countless US requests for case-specific records on loss incidents in these countries.  Records research and field operations are the most likely means of increasing the accounting for Americans missing in Laos and Cambodia.

U.S. intelligence assessments and other evidence indicate that many Americans can best be accounted for by unilateral Vietnamese efforts to locate and return remains and provide relevant documents and records.  Despite this reality, former President Clinton regularly certified to Congress that Vietnam was "fully cooperating in good faith" to resolve this issue. The League disagrees, but recognizes that legislation requiring the certification includes punitive measures that would reverse political and economic relations to the level in place in 1994.  The League supported steps by the US to respond to concrete results, not advancing political and economic concessions in the hope that Hanoi would respond. The Clinton administration lifted the trade embargo, established the US Embassy in Hanoi, normalized diplomatic relations, posted a US Ambassador to Vietnam, signed a bilateral trade agreement and advocated normal trade relations.  President George W. Bush also certified that Vietnam is "fully cooperating in good faith," but added language to outline steps Vietnam should take to improve cooperation, stating:  "As we look to further strengthen cooperation, Vietnam's unilateral provision of POW/MIA-related documents and records should be improved, focused initially on archival data pertaining to Americans captured, missing, or killed in areas of Laos and Cambodia under wartime Vietnamese control. Vietnam should also focus greater attention on locating and providing information on discrepancy cases, with priority on those last known alive in captivity or in immediate proximity to capture, and to locating and repatriating the remains of those who died while in Vietnamese control that have not yet been returned.  The League is confident that President Bush, Vice President Cheney and senior officials from the Departments of State and Defense will press Hanoi for answers.

Statistics are provided by the Defense POW/MIA Office (DPMO)

Live Sightings: As of November 27, 2002, 1,918 first-hand live sighting reports in Indochina have been received since 1975; 1,903 (99.22%) have been resolved.  1,326 (69.13%) were equated to Americans now accounted for (i.e. returned POWs, missionaries or civilians detained for violating Vietnamese codes); 45 (2.35%) correlated to wartime sightings of military personnel or pre-1975 sightings of civilians still unaccounted for; 532 (27.74%) were determined to be fabrications. The remaining 15 (.78%) unresolved first-hand reports are the focus of current analytical and collection efforts: 14 (.73%) concern Americans sighted in a captive environment; 1 (.05%) is a non-captive sighting.  The years in which these 15 first hand sightings occurred is listed below:

Year Pre-76      76-80        81-85       86-90      91-95    96-2000    01-05        Total
              10       1               0              1          1                0           2          15

Accountability:  At the end of the Vietnam War, there were 2,585 unaccounted for American prisoners, missing in action or killed in action/body not recovered. As of January 2, 2003, 1,891 Americans are still carried by the Department of Defense as missing and unaccounted for, over 90% of them in Vietnam or in areas of Laos and Cambodia where Vietnamese forces operated during the war.  A breakdown of the years during which the 694* Americans now accounted for were recovered follows:

1965-1974 War years: (recently identified)    1

1974-1975 Post war years:              28

1976-1978 US/SRV normalization negotiations: 47

1979-1980 US/SRV talks break down:         1

1981-1984 1st Reagan Administration        24

1985-1988 2nd Reagan Administration       156

1989-1992 George H.W. Bush Administration 116

1993-1996 1st Clinton Administration        232

1997-2001 2nd Clinton Administration          76

2001-2003 George W. Bush Administration          13

According to CILHI, unilateral SRV repatriations of remains with scientific evidence of storage have accounted for only 177 of the 488 from Vietnam; all but 3 of the 178 Americans accounted for in Laos have been the result of joint excavations.  The breakdown by country of the 694* Americans accounted for from the Vietnam War:

Vietnam           488*          Laos                          178*
China          2                   Cambodia                    26  

*4 remains were recovered from indigenous personnel; 1 from North Vietnam and 3 from Laos.  In addition, three persons identified were recovered in Vietnam before the end of the war.