Movie filmed in Laos might spur interest in search for remains of MIA.

February 14, 2008
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Nakai District - Khammouan Province - Laos Peoples Democratic Republic

The theatrical release of the movie, Rescue Dawn, may renew discussion of the treatment of Vietnam War era prisoners of war.  This movie graphically depicts the wartime experiences of Dieter Dengler, a German-born, American navy pilot who was shot down over Laos in 1966 and held captive for five months before fighting his way out of the prison camp, surviving an arduous jungle trek, and ultimately achieving rescue.

The film, directed by Werner Herzog, is a gripping portrayal of events that Herzog chronicled in his earlier documentary, Little Dieter Needs to Fly.  I am confident that the story and images that Herzog conveyed in both the documentary and the film give viewers an historically accurate picture of prison camp conditions.  I am skeptical, however, about what Hollywood might do next with this topic.

It’s a safe bet that a bio-pic dramatizing the life of Senator, and now presidential candidate, John McCain has been suggested for production.  I’d like to see that movie happen.  But, what we might get instead, are more films like we had in the 1970’s and 80”s: media fantasy pandering to the hard-dying belief that hundreds of American military personnel were left behind when America disengaged from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia at the end of the Indochina War.

Word has it that Sylvester Stallone is soon to extend his “Rambo” series, which a generation ago fueled fears that American POW’s were left to languish in slave labor.  In spite of all evidence to the contrary, a significant percentage of the American public still harbors that suspicion.  The best book I have read on this subject is MIA or Mythmaking In America by H. Bruce Franklin.

In an attempt to bring whatever closure can be achieved to Missing in Action/Prisoner of War issues, the United States government continues to spend approximately 50 million dollars a year trying to locate, identify, and repatriate the remains of American personnel who never returned from conflicts dating back to WWII.   Responsibility for conducting such research has been assigned to the Joint Prisoner Of War, Missing In Action Accounting Command at Hickam Air force Base in Hawaii.

The National League of Families, a non-governmental organization representing families of missing personnel, reports that as of January 30, 2008 there were 1,763 people listed by the Defense Department as “missing and unaccounted for” from the Vietnam War.  The League states that the most recent identifications brought to 820 the number of US personnel returned since the end of that era.

When I was last in Nong Village, in the heart of the old transportation network know as the Ho Chi Minh Trail, I worked near a crash site that American recovery experts had recently excavated while searching for identifiable plane parts and remains of a missing crew.  Since it was the peak of the rainy season the screening of soil and the sorting of materials had been suspended; all American personnel (forensic anthropologists, physicians and medics, explosive ordnance technicians, linguists, mortuary affairs specialists, photographers, guards and others) had departed and the operation was on seasonal break.  Now that it is the dry season again, they’ve no doubt returned and resumed their labors.

The Nong District was the site of a fierce land battle that climaxed the 1971 South Vietnamese invasion of Laos referred to as the “Lam Son 719” campaign.  Nong and neighboring districts near the Vietnam border are all dotted with crash sites from numerous helicopters, jets and other fixed-wing aircraft shot down by surface to air missiles or ground fire while trying to interdict traffic on the trail throughout many years.

My friend Paul was a navy doctor assigned to one of the search teams.  About ten years ago he and his teammates worked for approximately thirty days in Laos, at the site of a plane crash in which several American servicemen were killed.  I know the climate and conditions in which his team labored and can well imagine the discomfort they must have experienced.  After weeks of futile excavation the only piece of evidence that they could connect to the missing crew was the partial remains of a single military boot, its owner unknown.

The environment here is hostile to preservation of any organic material.  The heavy rains, which are measured in “feet per year,” scour the landscape and submerge material for months at a time.  The many limestone karsts that define the region would suggest that the soil is highly alkaline and destructive of organic matter deposited into the soil.  Tropical organisms, ranging from microscopic bacteria to elephant-sized mammals quickly devour or scatter decaying matter.  In addition, consider the fact that most personnel lost in Laos died in violent aircraft crashes that destroyed bodies and burned remains.  After more than thirty-five years, there are few remains to find; those that are recovered are carried home in tiny coffins not much larger than a loaf of bread.

After walking across numerous old battlegrounds and observing the excavation of thousands of acres of land, I can attest to the fact that although innumerable civilians and soldiers perished in this region, it is exceedingly rare to discover any recognizable part of a human body.  The largest cache of human remains that I have personally inspected (no doubt those of a Vietnamese or Lao soldier) consisted of several vertebrae and one thumb-sized piece of a thick bone, perhaps a remnant of a femur, pelvis, or shoulder blade.

My teammates inspected the remains and commented that the small measure of bone that I easily cupped in one hand constituted an unusually large find.  The guys told me that, more commonly, they find only tiny fragments of bone or, perhaps, a few teeth: remains that would barely fill a matchbox, much less a coffin.

Small though our finds are, the American teams would be thrilled if they could return home with an equal measure to further analyze and study. I’m told that even a single tooth will yield enough mitochondrial DNA to permit matching the deceased with living relatives.  Since the remains that we find are certainly those of Asian victims, there will be no investigation, no research, no identification, and no “full-accounting”.  My teammates simply rebury remains close to where they were found, an act they perform respectfully but without ceremony.

There are several excellent books that describe the work of recovery teams.  The two that I found most instructive are Where They Lay by Earl Swift, and Lost Over Laos by Richard Pyle and Horst Faas.  The events described in these books closely match the field experiences described by my friend Paul, and the conditions that I have experienced while living along the trail.  Each is a worthwhile read.

More information about the work of the Joint Prisoner Of War, Missing In Action Accounting Command is available at the following official US Military website: www.jpac.pacom.mil

Information about the National League of Families is available at the website: www.pow-miafamilies.org

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