UNUSUAL SUIT SEEKS ACTION ON VIETNAM-ERA MIAS
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470030-6
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
K
Document Page Count:
1
Document Creation Date:
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date:
January 12, 2012
Sequence Number:
30
Case Number:
Publication Date:
September 15, 1985
Content Type:
OPEN SOURCE
File:
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Body:
STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470030-6
ARTICLE AP E~A~~
ON PAGE f'~'--F-
WASHINGTON POST
15 September 1985
Unusual Suit Seeks Action on Vietnam-Era MIAs
Reagan Urged to Use 'Proper' Means to Gain Release of Any Still Held
By George C. Wilson
Wavhington Rwt Staff Writer
An Army lieutenant colonel, who
won the Medal of Honor, and a Spe-
cial Forces sergeant are among
those who have filed statements in
an unusual lawsuit demanding that
President Reagan use "proper"
means to free U.S. servicemen they
believe are still imprisoned in
Southeast Asia.
"I am personally convinced that
there are in fact live Americans in
captivity and that there is an ongo-
ing effort by the Defense Intelli-
gence Agency to ignore such re-
ports," said t. Col. Robert L.
ow-.
and in his affidavit added to the suit
filed in federal court in ayettevl e,
ITC., Sept. 4.
-e suit also asks that the 2,464
U.S. servicemen listed by the Pen-
tagon as missing be treated as a
single class of plaintiffs.
Howard, now commander of of a
Special Forces battalion in tutt-
art, West Germany, said he re-
viewed intelligence reports on miss-
ing Vietnam servicemen while serv-
ing with a prisoner-o -war analysis
um in eon , Korea, from Septem-
ber 1983 untir May 1984.
was shocked" by the lack of
interest among military superiors
about pursuing leads on live Anmer-
risoners." Howard charged this
was an effort to undermine the
successful rote ence at erm
ctivifTS cia Forces etac -
mnent- orea on the subject of ivin
Americans in ut east Asia."
Sgt. 1st ass Melvin C. Mcln-
tire, with the 7t cia Forces at
Fort Bragg, said he was In t e
analysis etas men inKorea from
February 1982 to August 19 4. e
said he speaks two dialects o F117
some Laotian and two dia ects of
Korean and was sent by t e e-
fense Intelligence Agency to South-
e57 Asia to recruit a ents who
might be helpful in Inc ing live
Americans.
"My sources told me they were
going to bring out two American
prisoners of war in May of 1984,"
McIntire said. He reported this in-
formation to his superiors in Korea
and then was kept from further
trips to Southeast Asia and ordered
hack to the United States in August
1984.
"My commander was told to de-
stroy written intelligence reports
which related to the information we
had gathered concernm American
FOWs in Southeast sla, Whitire
said in his sworn statement. "The
conclusion which reach rased
upon my personal experiences in
Southeast Asia and in intelligence
rovided was summarily explained
away or Isere ite .
n a t ur a I avit, former Ma-
rine Robert Garwood, who was con-
victed of collaborating with the en-
emy in 1981, said that during the
14 years he was classified a POW,
he saw American POWs. He said
these sightings were in Gia Lam
between 1975 and 1979, including
a group of 40 getting off a railroad
boxcar in 1977.
McIntire and retired Maj. Mark
A. Smith, a decorated former POW
in Cambodia, are the plaintiffs in the
suit which asks the court to compel
Reagan to take the "necessary and
proper" means to obtain the release
Americans held captive in South-
east Asia.
Smith in his statement said an
Army major general advised him to
shred the information he had writ-
ten about live POWs "and forget the
whole issue."
ican POWs, Howard said. "I feel
that a responsible estimate is that
these Americans number in excess
of 100."
Pentagon spokesman Robert B.
Sims said he could not comment on
the lawsuit but stressed that the
Reagan administration is pursuing
leads on live POWs and pressing
Hanoi to account for missing Anier-
icans.
Howard, who won the Medal of
Honor in 1971 in Vietnam, also ac-
cused two fellow officers of blowing
t Fe cover of Thai military o icers,
including a genera , who had been
providing information to the a United
States "concerning living AmericaiF
ga ering on the issue o wing
Americans in Southeast Asti is M75
no one in the United Sta es govern-
ment that have been able to talk to
11 -
is interested in t Is subject.
e sai a was interviewed by
the and tat a information
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470030-6