A synoptic, personal analysis is made of the situations associated with those Americans lost in Southeast Asia SEA from 1962 to 1979 and considered as Prisoners of War POW or as missing in action MIA. The geographic loss points, prisoner treatment, indigenous population attitudes, and political environment are discussed. Probable reasons or trends were sought that could explain why so many who were lost and listed as POW or MIA have not been accounted for. The author discusses US attempts at obtaining an accounting from the Communist governments involved and addresses the claims of live sightings of American prisoners in Vietnam and Laos. He concludes with the belief that there are still some Americans being held by the Communists in SEA.
Utah’s Jay Hess survived more than 5 years in notorious Hanoi Hilton in Vietnam
Jay Hess was 14 years into his Air Force service. The fighter pilot, in the cockpit of an F-105 Thunderchief, was dropping 600 pound bombs in the heavily defended area around Hanoi, in north Vietnam. Hess finished the steep dive, released his bombs and began to pull out when his
