this is my life and freedom's my profession (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} halloween) wrote,@ 2009-04-11 11:37:00 |
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Pre-Memorial Day.
According to the US Gov'ts own statistics, there have been almost 2000 first hand reports of Americans still in Viet'nam following the war up until 1996 (the latest figures the government has). The majority of those have been Americans who have gone back to Viet'nam on their own free will, and a decent number (556) have simply been fabrications.
However, there are a small number of "unresolved" first hand sightings regarding American Service Personal in Viet'nam, in which 48 first hand sightings pertain to "Americans reported in a captive environment".
I read recently that there is speculation that the Vietnamese Government simply kept some American POWs following the war. The reason being that following France's exodus from the country, some of their POWs remained unreleased, to which France later paid ransoms to.
The theory being that the Vietnamese did the same thing with some American POWs in hopes that the US Gov't would pony up some money to them.
I had often wondered about the MIA status on some prisoners. According to the US Government, 685 Americans, military and civilian, were returned alive. There is a decent number of those who were killed (I wouldn't use the term died in captivity, as due to the nature of the treatment of American POWs, killed, I think, it a better word) in POW camps.
In total, almost one hundred of those Americans captured during the war died in the camps.
35 Americans managed to escape the POW camps alive.
According to the US Gov'ts own statistics, there have been almost 2000 first hand reports of Americans still in Viet'nam following the war up until 1996 (the latest figures the government has). The majority of those have been Americans who have gone back to Viet'nam on their own free will, and a decent number (556) have simply been fabrications.
However, there are a small number of "unresolved" first hand sightings regarding American Service Personal in Viet'nam, in which 48 first hand sightings pertain to "Americans reported in a captive environment".
I read recently that there is speculation that the Vietnamese Government simply kept some American POWs following the war. The reason being that following France's exodus from the country, some of their POWs remained unreleased, to which France later paid ransoms to.
The theory being that the Vietnamese did the same thing with some American POWs in hopes that the US Gov't would pony up some money to them.
I had often wondered about the MIA status on some prisoners. According to the US Government, 685 Americans, military and civilian, were returned alive. There is a decent number of those who were killed (I wouldn't use the term died in captivity, as due to the nature of the treatment of American POWs, killed, I think, it a better word) in POW camps.
In total, almost one hundred of those Americans captured during the war died in the camps.
35 Americans managed to escape the POW camps alive.
