2,061 Americans are still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, though 468 were at sea/over water losses: Vietnam - 1,535 (North, 554; South, 981); Laos - 444 Cambodia - 74; 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 matter of policy, the US Government does not rule out the possibility that American POWs could still be held.
Unilateral return of remains by the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) has been proven the most effective means of obtaining accountability. Extensive field activities have brought some progress
through joint recovery or turnover in the field of remains fragments. From that process, 154 Americans have thus far accounted for by the Clinton Administration, all as a result of joint field operations. Archival research in Vietnam has produced thousands of items, documents and photos, but the vast majority pertain to accounted-for Americans. A comprehensive wartime and postwar process existed in Vietnam to collect and retain information and remains. For this reason, unilateral SRV efforts to locate and return remains and provide records offer the most productive short term potential. The Defense Department's case-by-case review and other evidence reveal that unilateral SRV efforts could bring many answers.
Joint field activities in Laos are productive and, increasingly, the Lao Government has permitted greater flexibility while US teams are in-country. Agreements between the US 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; however, Vietnam has not yet responded to numerous US requests for case-specific records on US 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.
Despite US intelligence assessments and other evidence that hundreds of Americans can best be accounted for by unilateral Vietnamese efforts to locate and return remains and provide relevant documents and records, President Clinton lifted the trade embargo, established a US Embassy in Hanoi, normalized relations and posted a US Ambassador to Vietnam. He has consistently certified to Congress, without supporting evidence, that Vietnam is "fully cooperating in good faith" or similar such language to resolve this issue. The burden is squarely on the current administration to obtain increased accountability. The League supports steps by the US to respond to concrete results, not advancing political and economic concessions in the hope that Hanoi will respond.
POW/MIA STATISTICS
Statistics are provided by the Defense POW/MIA Office
Live Sightings: As of June 3, 1999, 1,902 firsthand live sighting reports in Indochina have been received since 1975; 1,858 (97.69%) have been resolved. 1,300 (68.35%) were equated to Americans now accounted for (i.e. returned POWs, missionaries or civilians detained for violating Vietnamese codes); 45 (2.37%) correlated to wartime sightings of military personnel or pre-1975 sightings of civilians still unaccounted for; 513 (26.97%) were determined to be fabrications. 448 (2.31%) unresolved firsthand reports are the focus of current analytical and collection efforts: 36 (1.89%) are reports of Americans sighted in a prisoner situation; 8 (.42%) are non-POW sightings. The years in which these 44 first hand sightings occurred is listed below:
Year: Pre-76 = 27, 76-80 = 8, 81-85 = 0,
86-90 = 2, 91-92 = 0, 93-94 = 1,
95-96 = 1, 97-99 = 5, Total = 44
Accountability: At the end of the Vietnam War, there were 2,583 unaccounted for American prisoners, missing in action or killed in action/body not recovered. As of June 3, 1999, 2,061 Americans are still missing and unaccounted for, over 90% of whom were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Laos and Cambodia where Vietnamese forces operated during the war. A breakdown of the years during which the 522 Americans were accounted for follows:
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: 23
1985-1988 2nd Reagan Administration: 156
1989-1992 Bush Administration: 113
1993-1996 1st Clinton Administration: 146
1997- 2nd Clinton Administration: 8
Unilateral Vietnamese government repatriations of remains with scientific evidence of storage have accounted for 164 of the 386 from Vietnam; all but 3 of the 127 Americans accounted for in Laos have been the result of joint excavations. The breakdown by country of the 522 Americans accounted for from the Vietnam War:
Vietnam 386*
Laos 127*
China 2
Cambodia 7
*4 remains were recovered from indigenous personnel; 1 from North Vietnam and 3 from Laos; in addition, one recently identified was actually recovered in Vietnam before the end of the war.
For the latest information, call the League's Update Line, (202)659-0133, 24-hours a day, and log onto the League web site:
http://www.pow-miafamilies.org