Vietnam Supports U.S. POW/MIA Mission
by Jerry D. Jennings
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
For Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Affairs
The U.S. government is committed to the fullest possible accounting of Americans who are missing in action from all conflicts. As the President's "point man" for this mission, I exercise policy control and oversight of a worldwide team of some 600 specialists who carry out that mission.
The mission is an obligation our nation has to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, to their families and to their fellow comrades who once stood shoulder-to-shoulder in battle.
Following the end of the Vietnam War, more than 2,500 Americans did not return home, and remained unaccounted for. Some were known to have been killed in combat, but we had not recovered their remains. Others were simply "missing," with little or no information on their losses.
More than 140 years ago, President Lincoln, desperately seeking to hold our nation together, spoke of "...those brave men who are now on the tented field or nobly meeting the foe in the front . . . that they who sleep in death . . . are not forgotten by those in highest authority . . . and should their fate be the same, their remains will not be uncared-for." It was the dedication of a grand national cemetery near the battlefield at Gettysburg, Pa.
Today, we find ourselves facing much the same challenge. Today, our president and his entire administration is equally committed to the families of the missing from past conflicts, and to the soldiers still in combat. President Bush has repeatedly reaffirmed his "continuing personal commitment to the entire POW/MIA community, especially to the immediate families, relatives, friends and supporters of these brave individuals . . .." This commitment is to ensure that today's warrior knows that his government will never forget.
While continuing our commitment to recovering today's service members from today's battlefields, we remain fully committed to our mission to account for those who fell before them.
Somewhere around the world, every hour of every day, our 600 people are slogging through leech-infested rice paddies in Vietnam; working carefully near unexploded ordnance in Laos and Cambodia; plowing through dusty archives of our former enemies; and applying our scientific expertise in the most modern laboratories in the world – all in pursuit of this noble cause. We have 1,853 still unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War. We have recovered hundreds of others that are yet to be identified. With the cooperation of the governments involved, the United States has identified and returned to their families 730 Americans since the end of that war.
During my recent trip to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, we secured breakthroughs in our attempts to obtain POW/MIA-related information from Lao and Vietnamese archives across several of their ministries. The information from this research may well enhance our investigation and recovery efforts in all three countries.
Our joint recovery teams were unable to visit areas in the Central Highlands of Vietnam for some three years due to sporadic local unrest. In response to my request, Vietnamese officials invited me to visit that area – Pleiku – which I did in July. During that visit I received a pledge that our joint investigation and recovery teams could return to that region of Vietnam very soon. We will meet with our counterparts soon to coordinate the details of that return. These breakthroughs, and others, were made possible through the support of the government of Vietnam and its people.
For example, there are some 500 American losses at sea, a few of which are candidates for recovery. U.S. and Vietnamese specialists are now examining ways in which we can best conduct underwater recoveries of some of those crash sites near the coast of Vietnam. At our invitation, Vietnamese officials have seen our underwater salvage operations, and we are confident that we can work together to pursue the safest and most effective methods to do this work.
Not only has Vietnam been very cooperative, but so, too, have other countries where we search for our missing in Southeast Asia. Cambodia has been fully cooperative with our accounting efforts, essentially opening up the entire country to our teams whenever we ask. Prime Minister Hun Sen, a staunch supporter of our POW/MIA activities, continues to be personally committed to our work, and even took the time to personally open our second annual POW/MIA Consultations in Siem Rep, Cambodia, in July.
During these annual talks among Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and the United States, senior POW/MIA representatives of each country meet together to capture lessons learned on this sensitive issue and work toward a common vision for the future of POW/MIA accounting. While they do not replace our bilateral discussions and interaction with each country individually, they do provide an extremely useful forum.
Finally, working bilaterally with each country earlier this summer, and working multilaterally as we did in Siem Reap, the nations of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are increasing their cooperation across the board. We have enhanced field activities; increased archival access; and now improved trilateral cooperation and renewed emphasis on primary cases such as the compelling Last Known Alive, or LKA cases.
President Bush has in the past identified several areas as key to success in accounting for missing Americans in Southeast Asia. Resolving LKA cases and improving trilateral investigations are just two of those areas, and I believe we achieved real progress in moving these issues forward during the past year.
Our government has incredible power over our lives. The government can tax us, regulate us, and take our loved ones and place them in harm's way. But with the power to put them in danger comes an obligation. There is no greater responsibility that our government has to its citizens than to return our warriors home – with honor.
Our obligation is to today's generations of those who go in harm's way, and to those of the past.
That is our solemn pledge – however long it takes, whatever it takes, whatever the cost.
