CAPTIVE AMERICANS FORCED TO SERVE VIET CONG THE PILOT WASN'T FOOLED BY THE YANK'S VOICE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85-00671R000300300040-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 5, 2000
• Sequence Number: 40
• Publication Date: November 12, 1964
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Rase 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP85- 1 R000300300040-4
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WASHINGTON DAILY NE.JS, November 12, 1964
CAPTIVE' AMERICANS FORCED TO SERVE VIET CONG
THE PILOT WASN'T FOOLED BY THE YANK'S VOICE
By Jim G. Lucas,' Scripps-Howard Staff Writer
CAN THO, South Vietnam, Nov. 12--The voice came over the radio on an assigned
military frequency. It told an American helicopter to land at the abandoned outpose
of Cho Hoi and pick up a badly wounded man.
It was an American voice, but the chopper pilot had been forewarned. He ignored
the reauest. Cho Hoi had been given up several weeks before and there was no reason
to believe Americans were there.
But, U.S. officials authoritatively have learned that three of four Americans
the Viet Cong have taken prisoner in the Mekong Delta are being made to serve their
communist captors by training Viet Cong troops and signaling our helicopters on
captured radios. Those who know the-three men say they would only have acted under
extreme pressure.
BALTIMORE
Capt. Humbert Versace of Baltimore, Lt. James Rowe of McAllen, Tex., and Sgt.
Daniel Pitzer of Fayette, N.C., were captured near Tan Phu on Oct. 29, 1963. Tan
Phu, since turned over to Vietnamese Self Defense Forces, was then a Special Forces
post. Sgt. Edwin Johnson of Seaside, Calif.,.a battalion adviser, was captured
near Vi Thanh last July 21.
Recurringreports have told of Americans being paraded thru Vietnamese hamlets
and forced to make public confessions denouncing the United States. Last spring,
the Ca Mau brigade swept thru the southern Delta trying futilely to find and free
them.
No word is available on Sgt. Johnson, but Intelligence reports indicate Capt.
Versace, Lt. Rowe, and Sgt. Pitzer are being forced to serve their captors.
According to these reports, the three are alive and well. Until last month,
they were kept under guard. Since, their guards have been withdrawn. Escape,
however, apparently is impossible. It is assumed they are still watched closely.
Americans here::are convinced the Viet Cong have an American prisoner-of-war
camp in Cambodia, and that they also take their wounded across the border.
"How else," asks a"senior American adviser, "can you explain the fact we've
found absolutely no trace of them in Vietnam?'VAnd we have searched diligently.
How can you explain the fact that--as many first aid stations as we've found---
we have yet to capture a wounded Viet Cong?"
The area around Cho Hoi and Ca Mau is near the border. The Viet Cong also hold
the U-Ninh forest, which backs up to the border. It would be possible for them to
move American prisoners back and forth, almost at will.
(remainder of story does not mention prisoners)
Approved For Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP85-00671 R000300300040-4