REMARKS: 660318 DIC/BNR ON PRG LIST
SYNOPSIS: SGT Leonard M. Tadios was a light weapons infantry advisor attached to Headquarters MACV. On December 11, 1964, he was with an ARVN unit operating about five miles southwest of Thanh Hoa in Phong Dinh Province, South Vietnam.
[NOTE: Defense Department lists loss coordinates as Phong Dinh Province, or near the border of Chuong Thien Province, but US Army accounts state that Tadios was lost in An Xuyen Province, which is some 50 miles southwest.]
The ARVN unit was ambushed by Viet Cong forces, and Tadios was captured and taken prisoner. For the next 18 months, Tadios was held in several POW camps throughout South Vietnam.
For Americans captured in South Vietnam, daily life could be expected to be brutally difficult. Primarily, these men suffered from disease induced by an unfamiliar and inadequate diet - dysentery, edema, skin fungus and eczema. The inadequate diet coupled with inadequate medical care led to the deaths of many.
Besides dietary problems, these POWs had other problems as well. They were moved regularly to avoid being in areas that would be detected by U.S. troops, and occasionally found themselves in the midst of U.S. bombing strikes. Supply lines to the camps were frequently cut off, and when they were, POWs and guards alike suffered. Unless they were able to remain in one location long enough to grow vegetable crops and tend small animals, their diet was limited to rice and what they could gather from the jungle.
In addition to the primitive lifestyle imposed on these men, their Viet Cong guards could be particularly brutal in their treatment. For any minor infraction, including conversation with other POWs, the Americans were psychologically and physically tortured. American POWs brought back stories of having been buried to the neck; held for days in a cage with no protection from insects and the environment; having had water and food withheld; being shackled and beaten. The effects of starvation and torture frequently resulted in hallucinations and extreme disorientation. Men were reduced to animals, relying on the basic instinct of survival as their guide.
Tadios was seen by several other Americans in POW camps, and several reported that he was in very bad shape, and they helped care for him. Tadios was sick and had stopped eating. One day he was removed from the camp and never returned. The POWs were told he was taken to a hospital and he died. At least one returnee stated that Tadios died of starvation. The Vietnamese informed the U.S. that Tadios died March 18, 1966. They have made no effort to return his remains.
Since the war ended, and 591 Americans were released from prison camps in Vietnam, over 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing in Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S. Many officials, having reviewed this largely classified information have reluctantly concluded that hundreds of them are still alive in captivity today.
