What was the deal with M.I.A.s?

Question

What exactly was the theory about? Was it true?

Answer 1

1.  During the war, we had a number of troops who were missing in action (ie: MIA).  Now some you figure died in the jungle.  Some you figure had most bodily remains destroyed in combat (impact with a shell or when a jet augers into the ground).  But some were at one point captured or were likely captured and yet weren't listed as POWs by the Vietnamese.

2.  There have been many who insisted that we left POWs behind and in some cases this has turned into real conspiracy arguments.  It is true that at the time all US troops pulled out, the war lacked support and President Nixon wanted to get out of there, declare victory and then get as far away from Vietnam as we could.  So there wasn't a lot of encentive to "hang tough" to get all the details on POWs.  Plus, the Vietnamese had a reputation for hanging on to POWs--they did this with the French.

3.  What we do know is this:

--there are a number of troops we know were POWs who weren't returned (a very small number).

--there are more troops who we can't account for.  Didn't find bodies and their circumstances don't imply that their body was destroyed (ie: we saw a parachute or some in the helicopter got out safely or the unit was engaged in small arms fire).

--we now know that some American POWs in Laos were left behind.  It also appears that the Pathet Lao later killed all of these POWs a year or two later.  For instance, photographers Dana Stone and Sean Flynn were both held by the Khymer Rouge and eventually killed.

--at least some POWs were taken to Russia and interrogated.  I personally spoke to someone fluent in Russian who works for a US intelligence agency.  He said at the fall of communism when we had unprecedented access to some Russian files by Gorbachev, he was one of the translators who got to read some of the transcripts of those POWs who'd been held by the Russians.  I'm assume that those POWs were killed because there are no public accounts of any POWs returned who talked about going to Russia.  Some (like John McCain) who talk about being interrogated in N. Vietnam by Chinese or even Cubans.  But not being taken to Russia.

4.  It is incredibly unlikely any POWs are still alive.  First, there is tremendous Western access to all of SE Asia.  The idea that there is some camp out in the jungle with American POWs just doesn't wash in a time when we have predator unmanned spy planes, satellites that can read a license plate number, tours every week of former US soldiers going to Vietnam to visit their old stomping grounds, Vietnamese who fled to the US coming back to set up trade agreements.

Plus, think of this:  living a couple of years in the jungle with bad medical care (let alone if you're tortured) is a hard live.  it's not conducive to making it into your 70's.  And that the youngest any of those POWs would be at this point.

My opinion is this:

--N. Vietnam turned over all POWs they were holding alive at the time of the exchange.

--N. Vietnam kept some remains as a bargaining chip.

--Laos and (then) Kampuchea both had US POWs which they later killed or they died off.

--POWs sent to Russia (and perhaps China) had already been killed and were not accounted for (these would have likely been only a few--the idea is to interrogate those with major strategic significance, such as sophisticated knowledge of anti-SAM technology or a senior officer with a range of differ billets).

Answer 2

MIA means Missing In Action.  It is term applied when a soldier is missing, not known to be captured and not known to be dead.  It is a category.  There are still a lot of men from Vietnam that have not been accounted for, and families still want to find out.

Answer 3

MIA's are those soldiers that can't be accounted for...they haven't found remains to list them with the dead, and they haven't found them alive.

It's heartbreaking, actually.....there are around 2,000 men that went to war in Viet Nam that no one knows what happened to.

"April 25, 2001 Searches To Resume

Nien said Vietnam would continue to co-operate with the search for U.S. troops missing in action (MIA) during the Vietnam War, a controversial program Washington still describes as its highest priority in relations. Search efforts have been suspended since a helicopter carrying a joint search team crashed on April 7, killing seven Americans and nine Vietnamese."

The theory, one among many, is that they were taken out of Viet Nam as POW's....some have said to China, others to Laos, Thailand, etc...some theories hold that they were sold into slavery, others that they are prisoners still. The problem is...no one knows, and those who could possibly answer, well, you can guess......there are many others...conspiracy theories, etc. Try the link below...its a good one.

Answer 4

M.I.A.'s are not just from during the Vietnam War, there are M.I.A.'s still unaccounted for from WW1, WW 2, the Korean War, the Cold War and Vietnam. They are soldiers that are missing. They were not reported as captured nor were their bodies or bones ever recovered. They are still unaccounted for.

Here's a list of the number of still missing and unaccounted for and P.O.W.'s returned from WW 1, WW2, Korea, the Cold War, and Southeast Asia.

See Prisoners of War/Missing in Action

http://www.mooresmarauders.org/

Answer 5

try this site

http://www.pownetwork.org/bios.htm