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
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PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00965R000807470030-6.pdf86.56 KB
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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