........................................A HISTORY OF THE VIETNAM POW/MIA CAUSE..............................

In the late 1960's a group of family members of missing American servicemen formed a loosely-organized movement which eventually evolved into the National League of POW/MIA Families. In Minnesota, in 1968, the families incorporated themselves as the Minnesota League of POW/MIA Families. They organized because some felt that the Government policy of keeping a low profile on the POWs was not helping the men. They began to communicate with each other, and began to approach the Press to publicize the plight of the POWs. The first POW story appeared in the Press in October, 1968.

They were aided in this effort in no small measure by the Government, and by H. Ross Perot, a wealthy businessman and former Navy officer who would later run for President as candidate of the reform party. In 1968, Perot loaded a group of family members into his private 727 jet aircraft and began flying from country to country in SE Asia, in an effort to put world pressure on the Vietnamese. That effort had a profound affect, and in fact, treatment of the POWs improved dramatically.

The families became a formal national organization on May 28, 1970. The organization is composed solely of close family members of the men and women missing in the Vietnam War.

After the war ended, and President Nixon announced that "all the POW's have returned", the families attempted to keep attention focused on the evidence of men who had been prisoners of the Vietnamese, but had not returned home. That effort was difficult, because most of the nation wanted to forget the tragedy of Vietnam. Individuals and family members gathered evidence, and compared information, but could generate no public pressure.

That changed in the late 1970's, when, after thousands of Vietnamese refugees had fled Vietnam, an effort was made to seek out information from the refugees concerning Americans seen in Vietnam after the War ended. The result was a flood of "live-sightings" of Americans, and the American Press began to take notice of the issue. However, the publicity also gained the attention of an unscrupulous group of people who discovered there was a lot of money in the issue. The problem developed because the National League of POW/MIA Families had created a logo and flag that had become the defacto official emblem of the cause; But, they did not copyright it, wanting to encourage any and all individuals to use it to promote the cause. Many individuals did so, but with a profound and unanticipated twist. Some realized that with a growing interest in the issue among the huge veterans community -- literally millions of men and women -- a huge market was developing for POW/MIA Identification bracelets, T-shirts and other items with the POW/MIA logo. These individuals began to heavily promote the cause, but they also started an effort to eliminate each other as competition for the growing market, and, they began to promote unfounded and sensational stories and rumors about POWs being held by Vietnam, Russia, China -- even held incommunicado by the U.S. military.

These hustlers of POW/MIA merchandise began attaching themselves to vulnerable POW/MIA family members, in order to increase their credibility. Claiming that the family members supported their efforts gave them greater credibility in the veterans community, and encouraged veterans to buy their merchandise. Usually, the implication was made that the money went to help the family members, but in reality, little or no money was contributed to POW/MIA families organizations.

As this momentum began to develop, another group of individuals began to take notice. There was still a significant covert effort to assist anti-government guerrillas who were operating in Laos and Vietnam, but that effort was growing weak due to lack of success. The promoters of this effort, who included some high-level military leaders as well as leaders of the intelligence community, needed an event to force change in Government policy toward this effort. That excuse came in 1984, when two active-duty Army men who had been training local troops in Thailand, sued the President of the United States for failing to take action to rescue American servicmen they said were being held prisoner in Laos. This event spurred modest public interest, but it had a profound affect on some of the families of the missing men.

Most family members, like the soldiers, had tried to accept that their loved ones were not going to return home after the war. Wives remarried and went on. When Major Mark Smith and Sargent Melvin McIntyre filed their lawsuit, the ability of these family members to walk away was crippled. Suddenly, there was a possibility that their loved one was not only alive, but desperately in need of help that the U.S. Government appeared to be unwilling to offer. Some family members traveled to Laos, to no avail. Con artists in Thailand -- both Asian and ex-patriot American servicemen, tortured family members with stories of "eye-witness" reports indicating their loved one had been seen alive in captivity. They asked for money to help get more information and possibly, help them escape. It was a recurring story. Not a shred of physical evidence was ever offered the family member, even though, in some cases, the contact person was in touch with the captive, as a guard or local resident near the prison camp. The family member was squeezed for cash until finally, when it looked like the money would stop, a rescue was arranged for additional money. The rescue, invariably, was foiled when the people supposedly affecting the rescue were "arrested" by the Vietnamese or Pathet Lao. Not one person was ever rescued. Not one POW was ever confirmed to be a prisoner. None of the hustlers ever produced, a photo, a recording, a genuine letter, a fingerprint, fingernail clipping, or a strand of hair for DNA analysis, or any other item that could be identified as coming from the missing man. But family members were drained of their life savings -- and many had substantial savings, at the beginning.

Meanwhile, the merchandise hustlers began to play family members against each other in an effort to neutralize the criticism of their efforts. The National League of POW/MIA Families sought to warn family members that they were being used and exploited, but the hustlers had so effectively damaged the government's credibility, many family members would not believe it. They wanted to believe their loved one was alive. The Government was not giving them the answers they wanted, and the League was closely associated with the Government, and was committed to working through Government-to-Government effort to get answers.

The effort to play family members against each other included a concerted effort to break up the League of POW/MIA Families, and that began to bear fruit after the Smith/McIntyre lawsuit. By 1986, many family members were in full rebellion and the annual convention of the family members was raucous. A Washington D.C.-based POW/MIA activist successfully promoted a West-Coast family member as an alternative to the National League, through a national veterans newspaper that he published. He was later sued over use of copyrighted material, and it was shown that he was generating as much as $50,000.00 in revenue on some weekends, from the sale of POW/MIA merchandise at the National Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C.. He bragged to a Washington D.C. reporter that he spent $500,000.00 defending himself against the suit. He lost the suit, but continued to sell merchandise at the Vietnam Memorial. He died in 2008.

Despite his very successful merchandise operation, the family organization he sponsored was chronically poor, and the family member who acted as its leader used her own money to operate. Her volunteers paid their expenses for phones and postage out of their own pockets. Still, though no one nominated her to represent them, and nobody had an opportunity to vote for her, many family members supported her.

The same forces that boiled over at the National League of Families Convention in 1986, were also causing havoc in Minnesota. The League, in an effort to improve organization at the national level, had appointed state coordinators to assist regional coordinators. This was seen by some as a usurpation of the State organization that had been a precursor to the forming of the National League, and still existed. Encouraged by some POW/MIA activists, some family members sought to disassociate with the National League. The debate was intense, and some family members were exhausted or disgusted by it. Eventually, some simply walked away from an active role in the issue, after almost 20 years of active involvement. The State organization's Executive Director actually submitted resignations for all of the Minnesota Families, however, the National League contacted each of the families and almost all desired to remain members of the National League, but the fighting was so intense that the State organization ceased to function, though two family members sought to maintain its existence through the years. Unable to pursuade enough family members to participate, they asked a Twin Cities POW/MIA activist to represent the families; however, the families themselves were not consulted, and most feel such a connection is inappropriate.

In 1991, a family member who had not previously been active sought to become involved in the issue and persuaded the other two family members to hold elections. That effort lasted two years. The families organization formed an eleven-person board of directors including family members from the Korean War, and initiated several programs, including the production of a series of television documentaries that have been shown on local cable television for many years, and another program to advertise for information about American prisoners in the Soviet Union, advertising primarily through Russian Language Jewish newspapers in this country and Israel. The State family group again broke up in 1993 after a Twin Cities POW/MIA activist demanded that they make changes and remove a member who did not support him. The board member who became the object of the activist's intervention in the organization resigned in an effort to hold the Board together, but all except the original two family members left the Board. Since then, these two family members have reverted to their connection with the Twin Cities POW/MIA activist, and have recruited non-family members, and out-of-state family members to form a board. No meetings have been held, no elections have been held, and there has been no communication with the family members.

After the 1992 investigation, by the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIAs, public interest in the issue began to flag. Along with it, the market for POW/MIA merchandise decreased, and many of the POW/MIA activists ceased operating. There was a brief flurry of activity when three U.S. servicemen were captured in Kosovo, and an effort was made to promote bracelet sales for them, but the prisoners were quickly released and the effort died.

The National League of POW/MIA Families is still an active organization, holding regular board meetings (including an annual convention) and annual elections to elect its leaders, but it is much smaller. As POW/MIA activists siphoned off financial support from the veterans community, the League has attempted to survive by initiating annual dues from the families. The Executive Director is a paid full-time representative living in Washington D.C..

The League continues to be actively involved in Government efforts to negotiate an accounting of the missing men. During the early 1980's, the League's Executive Director was a virtual member of the Administration as a member of the U.S. Government Inter-Agency Group, with a top secret clearance, and full access to the DIA's intelligence on the men. That access was eventually curtailed, especially after a change of Administration. She has been directly involved in Government negotiations with Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in the past ( though not in recent years), and has conducted independent negotiations with them as well. She is personally acquainted with virtually every member of Congress, as well as the Leaders of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, and is on a first-name basis with most high-level members of the Defense Department. Still, Government policy is ultimately a matter of national security, and is limited by the concerns of the State Department. Nobody has been willing to start a war to gain the release of men some believed were held after the end of the war, and barring compelling evidence of their existence, no allies would support such measures. The only remaining course of action has been, and remains, to cooperate with the Vietnamese in an effort to account for as many men as possible. That involves praising them for the little they do, in an effort to encourage more cooperation. The fact remains, there is much they could do to provide information, but will not.

In the meantime, the League membership dwindles, and it becomes ever more difficult for it to function financially. The family members who have been active the longest, grow old and die. The remaining family members don't understand the complexities of the information and the effort, don't understand the need to continue the formal effort, and in many cases, are more willing to accept the loss. Like the Korean War family efforts before them, they are simply being worn down through attrition.

Forced to operate on dues paid by the families, the National League office is staffed by a precious few volunteers.
Influenced by the POW/MIA activists who have worked the veterans posts for years, the VFW and American legion organizations have largely turned their backs on the League. In Minnesota, the State VFW and Legion organizations, and at the local level, the posts, provide money to the POW activists, and leave the families to struggle on their own. The families have learned, or are learning, that if the work of accounting for these missing men is to continue, the families can count on no one but themselves.

Meanwhile, the wild stories, the lies, and the manipulation of the veterans continues. The public long ago concluded that the stories are foolishness. The Truth will become known at some future time -- most likely, when all the people involved are dead.

. RETURN