POWs - Vietnam War

POWs - Vietnam War

Prisoners of War - Vietnam War

Introduction

The war in Vietnam will long to exorcise a demon difficult for the United States. 17 years after the end of this "dirty war" in 1975, the Pentagon estimated 2273 the number of soldiers whose path was not found. Of these, 1101 are considered dead in battle and 1172 are marked as Missing in Action (MIA). These soldiers, although missing in action, but that their deaths can be proved with certainty will create a terrible doubt. Are prisoners remained in Vietnam? The controversy reached its climax in 1990 and 1991.

Discussion

MIA 119 cases were presented to the Vietnamese authorities in 1987. In the following years, Vietnam has tried with varying degrees of willingness to resolve this issue. Some U.S. officials believe that, at worst, a dozen Americans were able to remain prisoners in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia after 1975. They also believe that these men died in the jails. One soldier has returned after 1979 but he was convicted of conspiring with the enemy. For cons, the American public has a different opinion on this issue. Poll Time / CNN in 1991 revealed that 60% of respondents believe that many American soldiers are still captive.

During the summer of 1991, another picture, allegedly recently, a MIA, Captain Donald G. . Carr, whose plane was shot down in Laos in 1971, published on the front page of newspapers, forced the Ministry of Defense to provide help to search the private organization called Operation Rescue, which had spread. However, Col. Jack Bailey, head of Operation Rescue, was unable to provide any additional evidence or even an informant. . However, this issue provoked a reaction from the Senate committee in charge of prisoners of war, ordered to make a definitive research on the subject.

Roosevelt is in favor of decolonization, the Vietminh think enjoy the benevolent neutrality of the United States. At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, it was decided that Chinese and British soldiers would disarm the Japanese and occupy the country until a settlement. But Great Britain, taken in its former colonies with the same problems as France, the French left back Saigon. From March 24, 1945, an Indochinese federation is established within the French Union and includes Laos, Cambodia, Cochin China, Annam and Tonkin. The arrival in October 1945, General Leclerc can reoccupy Hanoi and reaffirm French sovereignty over all of Vietnam.

For over a year, the French and Viet Minh negotiate. On March 6, 1946, through Jean Sainteny, France recognized the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam as a free state within the French Union and the Federation of Indochina, but the High Commissioner in Indochina, Admiral Thierry proclaimed in Saigon, on 1 June 1946, an autonomous republic of Cochin China, bringing the General Leclerc to resign. Further negotiations are taking place at Fontainebleau between July and September 1946, but they fail.

In November 1946, the impasse is complete and the French military pressure from increasingly ...