Welcome to Golden Coast™ Publishing's POW Forum with Larry J. O'Daniel, author of Trails of Deceit

To answer specific questions, stay on track here. O'Daniel will attempt to answer as many general questions on POWs; their survival; and exploitation as possible. Where necessary, we'll send you to other pages with more detailed answers.

Why should I trust you?

A very good question. I am a former intelligence officer with duty in the Phoenix Program in Vietnam. One of the corollary duties of Phoenix was to gather information on POWs, their locations, and their captors. With their captors, it was our responsibility to neutralize them. With the POWs, it was our responsibility to either act on the intelligence or pass it on to SOG for their action. Of note, two POW rescue operations involved Phoenix and SOG combined operations. One was the near rescue of Mike Benge and his fellow captives. The other was the rescue of Larry Aiken, who unfortunately died days later from wounds received from the enemy. I was not involved in these two rescues or attempts as one occured before I went on active duty. However, I personally received several POW related reports in areas later proven to have POWs before and after the reports he received (the U-Minh Forest area in 1969).

After returning from Vietnam in January 1970, I was assigned to the US Army Electronic Warfare School and received specialized training in Electronic Warfare (EW), Combat Surveillance (CS), and Tactical Cover and Deception (TC&D), earning the E Prefix showing qualification to teach EW & TC&D. Subsequently I worked on the staff for both the EW Division and the TC&D Division. Of note, I introduced into the curriculum of the TC&D Division, Soviet Disinformation, a form of deception. (O'Daniel became a Captain in August, 1970 and subsequently left active duty in December, 1972 continuing research into the POW/MIA issue. That research has continued to this day.) In 1979, I introduced the first challenge to the "all POWs are dead" theory with my book, Missing in Action:Trail of Deceit.

(Outside the military, he served a multi-year stint as an investigative reporter for a multi - county newspaper and working several years in the political system. Most of the time has been spent in Arizona, but 6 years was served in New Jersey helping research for the late Dermot Foley, former legal counsel for the National League of Families and Bobby Garwood's first attorney. It was there he read several hundred refugee reports, many of which have proven to be true. He has combined the skills of a trained intelligence investigator, journalist, and objectivity of a trained accountant (his major in college) to approach this subject of vital national priority.)

Why do you believe POWs are left alive?

On the basis of the evidence. There have been radio intercepts, satellite photos, agent reports, refugee reports, and other specialized intelligence reports that say POWs were left alive. Add to this the testimony of former Defense Chiefs that POWs were left behind and a pattern emerges. In 1992, the professional staff of the Senate POW Committee reported the survival of an estimated 100 - 850 POWs through 1989 and probably through the life of the Committee. Senator Kerry (D-MA), aided by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) ordered the study shelved. This was augmented by evidence from the secret vaults of Russia and by the estimate in 1994 of over 500 POWs alive by MAJ Mark Smith (Ret), former head of SFD-K, a specialized unit tasked to find POWs. "Official" reports have yet to counter these findings. These reports have been consistent for over 30 years, as has been the opposition to saying they are true.

However, don't just take my word for it, let's see what the Vietnamese have to say.

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What is the Russian Connection?

The answer is three part. The first is the transfer to the former Soviet Union for exploitation of captured pilots and other specialized military personnel. Part of this was discussed by GEN Tran Van Quang in his "1205" document. This shows the Vietnamese exploiting captured personnel for their "scientific" knowledge and other specialized military knowledge. Some of that took place in camps from which no POWs ever returned, but which our intelligence had knowledge of.

A second part is the transfer from Vietnam, of POWs used for medical experimentation. This experimentation also took place in Southeast Asia on a smaller scale.

The third part is the more skillful use of POWs by the Soviet KGB for both military and political purposes. While seemingly highlighted by Vietnam War experiences, the practice actually started after the end of WWII or the early part of Korea.

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In your book, you talk about the Chinese connection. What is that about?

Can you give an example of what you're talking about - men left behind?

The easiest case to relate is that of the EC-47 shot down over Laos, after the Peace Accords, known as the Baron 52 case. It shows clearly that the government says the men are "accounted for" and yet, the evidence is they survived their loss incident. It involves all the issues shown above and also highlights the stubborness of the government to never admit a mistake and to take on the cloak of outright mindset to debunk.

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Do you have another example?

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How many men do you think are still alive and why?

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What's the strongest proof of men surviving?

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Have people been brought home in any type of program?

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What about the "official argument" that no POWs were left behind found elsewhere?

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