Prisoner of War Missing In Action By David Turner A Young American is Drafted to go to War. He may not have joined on his own, but since he was drafted, he goes and does his best. But something goes Wrong, he now in the hands of the Enemy, a Prisoner of War. In every War we had Missing in Action. Including Wars fought here in the United States. The Civil War we had MIA on both sides. MIA’s from Wars we never really hear about in our history classes. How many of you knew we fought in Korea twice? Yes Korea everyone knows of the 1950’s War, how about the War with them in the 1800’s? We have a MIA from then also… When we look at the high numbers from Vietnam War, we also have to look at the US Navy MIA’s and some of the USMC’s. Many are listed as MIA’s that their Plane Crashed at Sea and their bodies not recovered. Could have some survived the Crash and been picked up by a North Vietnamese? Yes always that chance. Can some of our MIA’s be still Alive today? Yes they can be. Look back at the news reports from the Philippines and Russia in the past few years. Here in the Philippines in 2003 and 2005 2 WWII Japanese Soldiers were found in the Jungles, still fighting WWII. In 2006 a Japanese Citizen went back to Japan for the first time since WWII. He was a Prisoner of Russia since WWII and later lived there. He was listed in Japan as missing. So why can’t an American MIA still be alive? In the SYNOPSIS for SP4 Donald R. Fowler, of Athens Georgia, the following is written;
In 1985, a private citizen obtained a previously classified document through the Freedom of Information Act which described in great detail a prisoner of war camp in South Vietnam. Together with the drawings and maps of the compound were lists of guards and their backgrounds, and a list of Americans the source had positively identified from photographs. On the list of positive id's was the name of Steven Hastings. Returned POWs have verified the accuracy of the drawings and much of the information. (Some on the positive list were POWs who returned in 1973) Although the Defense Department has stated that the source was a liar, there appears to be some question as to whether Hastings, at least, perished in the crash of his helicopter or survived to be captured. And if there is question on Hastings, what of the other 2? Nearly 2500 Americans are missing in Southeast Asia. Over 6000 reports have been received indicating that there are hundreds of Americans still alive as captives there. It's long past time we got to the bottom of the issue and brought our men home - alive.
Donald R Fowler, hometown maybe different than listed. In the last several years I was talking to a lady from my home town. She was talking about her son, a MIA of the Vietnam War. She mention the last name of Fowler and said her son was a Door Gunner. Donald Fowler was a Door Gunner on a Helo that went down in bad weather, not by enemy actions in the Song Be Valley area of South Vietnam... Only crew member found was the Pilot which was killed from the Crash. All the rest were missing. I have found articles stating that Donald R Fowler is still alive. Another story of a MIA that stick to me deeply is of this Soldier of the Green Berets.. At the age of 18 he was drafted into service. At the age of 20 he was missing in action. I do not remember the name of this Soldier, but his story is written and engraved in my mind. He was assigned to a 6 man team to go and set up a forward communication station in the Jungles of Vietnam. The jumped in to the Jungle to find that their just jumped in the middle of a North Vietnamese Battalion. A team of Rangers was sent in to rescue them, but by the time they arrived, all they could do was count bodies. The body count was 400 North Vietnamese, 5 Americans. 6 went into Battle, 5 came home dead, 1 was never seen again. We need not to forget these Brave Soldiers. For this reason, I am starting on a project. My Project will be called POWMIA Forget Me Not. Once I move back to the USA, I am going to work to bring Honor and respect for these Soldiers that been left behind. The idea came to me from a Customer of mine. She had adopted a Soldier from NJ. She fought the City Hall of his home town to rename a Street after him and won. Along with that, I will also be working on erecting Memorials in their Honor. Feel free to Visit my Website http://www.powmiaforgetmenot.com/ Website post with permission of Adam.
|
