They are POWs and MIAs: Prisoners of War and Missing in Action. In the United States, Prisoners of War are our brothers and sisters, who were captured by the enemy – pretty straight forward. Missing in action, on the other hand, may be the most misunderstood casualty classification, as it can mean several different things. A soldier initially listed MIA, may have been killed, or captured by the enemy, or deserted. It can be transitory; a soldier may at first be declared MIA. but later the enemy announces that they have the soldier as a POW, and that could take a long time, or never come at all. It can even occur when a wounded, unconscious soldier, who has lost his dog tags, is evacuated to an American medical facility. His identity is temporarily unknown, and if his unit does not know what happened to him, they report him as MIA, even though he really isn’t.
At the end of World War II, 79,000 Americans remained unaccounted for; the bulk MIA. Many MIA had, in fact, been killed, but their remains never recovered. Knowing that each family must come to closure, after the war, the US military waited one year after the soldier was first declared missing in action, and, if remains still had not been found, the War Department declared that he was deceased, in part because both Germany and Japan were occupied and their POW camps no longer existed. Many families disagreed and spent decades hoping their loved one would someday walk through their door.
The War Department is now the Department of Defense. Within DoD, the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) was established to manage prisoner of war/missing in action personnel affairs. In 2015, DPMO, and the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, merged into the new Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) to streamline accounting for missing US personnel from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Cold War, Gulf Wars, to recent conflicts.
They do an outstanding job identifying remains of US military personnel around the world, using DNA and other cutting-edge forensic technology, so that many families can finally reach closure. Part of the reason for that great work is that concerning actual identification of remains, politics takes a back seat. However, coming to grips concerning US military personnel, captured by America’s enemies, but who have never returned home and may still be alive, is riddled with inertia and political roadblocks. In fact, the way that America has dealt with her recent POWs is enough to make George Patton, Omar Bradley, Hap Arnold, and Bull Halsey wanna puke.
We talk a good game – speeches on National POW/MIA Recognition Days – pontificating “former foes that have become friends,” but let’s get real; Germany and Japan do not have any American POWs and haven’t since 1945. The bad guys, Russia (formerly the USSR), North Korea, Vietnam, and the People’s Republic of China) have never been tight friends of America. How did they get our folks? In World War II, some US air crew flew “shuttle” missions into the USSR – then our ally against the Nazis – refueled, and flew back to England. But not all of them returned, so what happened to them? According to the Veterans’ Administration, we had 7,140 POW’s during the Korean War. Of these, 4,418 returned to the US, some 2,701 died in the camps, and 21 refused repatriation. How do we know 2,701 actually perished? We don’t.
DPAA lists that 684 POWs returned home alive from the Vietnam War. But a 1979 Defense Intelligence Agency account stated that a former North Vietnamese intelligence officer reported that about 700 Americans still remained in Vietnam as a “strategic asset.” That’s six years after the war ended. We can argue till the cows come home which of the thirteen US Presidents – Republican and Democrat – knew how many of our soldiers were clinging to life in hellholes in Russia (Vorkuta), North Korea (The Death Valley Camp), Vietnam (Briarpatch) and the PRC (Air Pirate Prison). Or didn’t want to know. Maybe they thought that the “greater good” for America was to say, “I know nothing; nothing personal – just wouldn’t be prudent.”
How many POWs are still alive? How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? People I trust, including physicians – who understand prolonged malnutrition, exposure to the elements, disease, etc. – offer that given their ages and situation, it is likely none are alive, unless they later assimilated into the area and made new lives. But I have seen an official report, that a repatriated American, “reported that, etched into the wall of Krasnaya Presnya Prison in Moscow, he saw the name of a Major Roberts or Robbins, with his American address and the inscription, “I am sick and don’t expect to live through this….”. To borrow a famous line: “So you’re telling me there’s a chance?” Yes, I am. It may just be one POW, but that’s not the point.
The way I figure it, we have one last chance to maybe set things right – even if only one American POW remains alive to come home. President Trump is the most unconventional President the US has ever had. Some folks like that; some folks don’t. Many of his ideas are not just out of the box – they are light-years outside. He’s a dealer. What better time for the “art of the deal” than for the President to privately meet with these leaders to return all living POWs to us right now. We aren’t interested in assigning blame, or reparations, or shown where they are buried with some cock-and-bull story of how they died. It’s really simple, those still alive and held against their will – we want them home, now! So here’s the deal…