n 6 September 1984, JCRC officials learned from a former South Vietnamese student who had fled to Malaysia that he had seen six western Caucasian prisoners near the U-Minh Forest in extreme southern Vietnam in May 1978. The former student told interviewers his sighting had occurred while he was visiting a friend who worked at a state collective farm just west of the U-Minh near the coastal hamlet of Da Bac. (Authors’ map "Postwar Indochina"). He explained that at about 2 P.M. on 10 May 1978 he and the friend were near a canal on the western border of the U-Minh when they noticed a group of eight men disembarking from a single sampan. The former student said that six of the men were "western Caucasian prisoners" and that two were Vietnamese guards armed with AK-47 rifles. He said that as he and his friend watched from a distance of approximately 200 meters, the group got out of the sampan and headed east on foot into the brush of the U-Minh and disappeared.

The former student said that all members of the group—prisoners and guards alike—were wearing black pajamas and that all appeared healthy. He also said the rumor among the laborers at the collective farm was that the prisoners he and his friend had seen were "former U.S. POWs who had been captured prior to 1975." 93

Background: During the war, the U-Minh Forest, an area of thick mangrove swamps located in the northwest quadrant of the Ca Mau Peninsula, was a feared VC stronghold and the site of more than 40 confirmed communist prisons and detention facilities. 94

Following the fall of the South, the Communists had continued to use some of their wartime detention facilities as reeducation camps for newly-captured or surrendered South Vietnamese soldiers and officials. As they would do in other areas of the former South, Communist authorities had also converted a number of former ARVN military bases in the area into reeducation camps. Additionally, as their counterparts in the North would later do when South Vietnamese prisoners arrived there for long-term reeducation (See An Enormous Crime, Chapter 15), the Communists in the area of the U-Minh had on a number of occasions simply dumped captured ARVNs out of the trucks that brought them to the U-Minh and forced the new prisoners to build their own prison camps from the ground up.

Reports reaching DIA in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s had indicated the Communists were not only holding South Vietnamese prisoners in the U-Minh, but American POWs as well.

REPORTED SIGHTINGS OF U.S. PRISONERS IN AND AROUND THE U-MINH FOREST 1975-1978 (DMA, with authors' annotations.) [click to enlarge]

Three American POWs were reportedly seen in a "prohibited zone’ in the upper (northern) U-Minh in August 1975 as they were being escorted along a trail by two Vietnamese guards. (Authors’ color map entitled "Reported Sightings of U.S. Prisoners In and Around the U-Minh Forest 1975-1978," point 1). The former ARVN who reportedly saw the Americans later told U.S. officials in Thailand that all five men … the three American POWs and their two Vietnamese guards - were dressed in "black clothes." 95

Two White Americans, both later described as very thin and with "heads shaven like monks," were seen at a dock at Xeo Ro (vic. Rach Gia), just north of the U-Minh, in October 1975. (Authors’ color map entitled "Reported Sightings of U.S. Prisoners In and Around the U-Minh Forest 1975-1978," point 2). The eyewitness, a former ARVN sergeant who later fled Vietnam and reported his sighting to U.S. officials, said that both Americans were lying bound hand and foot in a motorized sampan and that the Communist authorities had "encouraged the people to come and beat the Americans with sticks and throw all sorts of accusations and insults." He also said that the two Americans had later been transported to a remote area of the "U-Minh forests." 96

In December 1975, two American prisoners were seen in a prison camp in the northern reaches of the U-Minh. (Authors’ color map entitled "Reported Sightings of U.S. Prisoners In and Around the U-Minh Forest 1975-1978," point 3). The person who saw them, a South Vietnamese prisoner who later escaped to Malaysia and told U.S. officials of his sighting, reported that in addition to seeing the two American prisoners he had "heard local residents speak of the American prisoners." 97

Two Caucasian prisoners were seen entering a prison just northeast of the U-Minh in September/October 1976. (Authors’ color map entitled "Reported Sightings of U.S. Prisoners In and Around the U-Minh Forest 1975-1978," point 4). The eyewitness who saw them, a former ARVN infantry officer held captive at the prison at the time the Americans arrived, later escaped to Thailand and told U.S. officials about his sighting. The former ARVN said that a VC guard accompanying the two men had said they were Americans who were "being taken from the U-Minh forest area to North Vietnam." The former ARVN said the two American prisoners both had long hair and beards and were wearing clothing "which looked as though it was made from flour sacks." 98

In mid-1977, U.S. officials learned that a recent escapee from Vietnam had reportedly seen "a number of Americans, both Blacks and Whites being detained in a labor camp … in a very remote area of the U-Minh forests." The escapee had also reportedly said that Communist authorities had completely isolated the area around the camp and had forbidden local people to go there. 99

In 1978, the Special Office had received another, similar report of Americans being held in a labor camp environment deep inside the lower (southern) U-Minh. This report had come from a former member of the anti-Communist resistance who in 1978 was living in the Netherlands. This man, a former ARVN officer, reported that he and other members of his small group had gone on a mission into the portion of the U-Minh located in the former Ca Mau District of Minh Hai Province in the summer of 1978 and had personally observed "a number of Americans there" who "were busy building jungle prison camps under the watchful eyes of the guards." The former ARVN officer described the American prisoners as being "gaunt, skeletal, sad looking men due to years of captivity and mistreatment." 100 (Authors’ color map entitled "Reported Sightings of U.S. Prisoners In and Around the U-Minh Forest 1975-1978," point 6).

In 1979, U.S. officials learned of another sighting in the U-Minh in the summer of 1978, this one of two bound Caucasian prisoners and three guards reportedly seen in a motorized sampan in the central U-Minh. 101 (Authors’ color map entitled "Reported Sightings of U.S. Prisoners In and Around the U-Minh Forest 1975-1978," point 7). Additional reporting from other sources told of American prisoners being held in the central U-Minh and still others at a camp near Xom Chi Chanh on the Forest’s northeastern border. 102 (Authors’ color map entitled "Reported Sightings of U.S. Prisoners In and Around the U-Minh Forest 1975-1978," points 8 and 9).

All of the aforementioned reports of Americans being detained in and around the U-Minh were in the Special Office files at the time the former student informed JCRC of his and his friend’s 10 May 1978 sighting of the six black-pajama clad American prisoners and their two similarly dressed Vietnamese guards disappearing into the U-Minh near Da Bac, near the coast some 35 kilometers (approximately 20 statute miles) due west of Ca Mau city. (Authors’ color map entitled "Reported Sightings of U.S. Prisoners In and Around the U-Minh Forest 1975-1978," point 10).

Disposition of the Case: When the JCRC report of the former student’s sighting arrived at the Special Office, it was logged in as Case #3115 and assigned to Senior Vietnam Desk Analyst Sedgwick Tourison for investigation.

Tourison began his investigation by requesting that JCRC contact and re-interview the former student. Then, without awaiting the results of the re-interview, he (Tourison) issued the following interim assessment of the sighting:

Source 3115 reported observing a group of eight individuals entering the U-Minh Forest during May 1978. Two of the individuals were armed Vietnamese and six were Caucasian males whom local laborers rumored were American PWs captured prior to 1975.

Although DIA has received no other first hand accounts of sightings of possible PWs at the location and date cited by Source [3115], there have been some reports of unidentified Caucasian males believed to be Soviet technical advisors in Minh Hai Province on a regular basis since at least 1978.  Also, one American who discussed with DIA a visit to the Mekong Delta region, circa 1979, as part of a humanitarian mission, noted that given the very casual garb (including open sandals) of the American members of his group, and the fact that they were accompanied at all times by at least one armed soldier or public security officer, he would not be surprised if a Vietnamese casual observer mistakenly concluded that the Americans in his group were prisoners.

DIA is attempting to reinterview this source. 103

"FYI: ALTHOUGH WE HAVE NO PREVIOUS FIRST HAND ACCOUNTS OF POSSIBLE U.S. PWS AT THE LOCATION AND DATE CITED BY [the former student], THERE HAS [sic] BEEN SOME REPORTS OF SOVIET TECHNICAL ADVISORS IN MINH HAI PROVINCE ON A REGUALR [sic] BASIS SINCE AT LEAST 1978 ALSO, ONE AMERICAN WHO DISCUSSED WITH US A VISIT, CIRCA 1979, TO THE MEKONG DELTA REGION WITH MEMBERS OF A PRIVATE HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATION, NOTED THAT THE VERY CASUAL GARB (INCLUDING OPEN SANDALS) WORN BY THE AMERICAN MEMBERS OF HIS GROUP AND THE FACT THAT AT ALL TIMES THEY WERE ACCOMPANIED BY AT LEAST ONE ARMED SOLDIER OR PUBLIC SECURITY OFFICER, HE WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED IF A VIETNAM CASUAL OBSERVER MISTAKENLY CONCLUDED THAT THE AMERICANS IN HIS GROUP WERE PRISONERS….

POINT OF CONTACT AT DIA/DC-2 IS SEDGWICK TOURISON. 104

As Tourison awaited a reply from JCRC, his "American civilian aid worker" plan hit an unexpected snag when one of his superiors, the new DIA Assistant Deputy Director for Collection Management, Commodore Thomas Brooks, USN, who, though new to DIA, was already a participant in the coverup, got wind of Tourison's intentions and gave him some fatherly advice. Brooks warned Tourison that declaring the six GI’s were American civilian aid workers was too risky, because, as Brooks said, "[a] private humanitarian group would be unlikely to be wearing black pajamas." There was a better way to shoot down the former student’s sighting, Brooks counseled. Wasn’t polygraphing the source, he queried Tourison, the best way to "close [the] case?" 105

It should be noted that Brooks had not asked "wasn’t polygraphing the source the best way to help us determine his truthfulness," or "wasn’t polygraphing the source the best way to test his veracity;" but instead, after warning Tourison that the American aid worker scam could not withstand even minimal scrutiny, Brooks had suggested that a polygraph would be the best way to "close [the] case."

Tourison took Brooks’ advice and after their meeting set out to find the former student and have him polygraphed. 106

After a search that consumed seven months, it was determined in the spring of 1986 that the former student could not be found. 107

In May 1986, Tourison, not having heard back from JCRC in Bangkok on his request for intelligence about Russians and/or American aid workers being seen in the southern U-Minh, turned to the CIA and asked for their assistance in obtaining information about persons seen there who, in Tourison’s words, "either resembled an American or could be confused with being an American." In his request to CIA, Tourison listed the following among the possible options: (1) Eurasian residents of mixed French/Vietnamese parentage, (2) Amerasians, (3) foreign tourists, (4) members of a foreign technical group, (5) Soviet technicians or advisors, including members of a Soviet bee research team rumored to have been in the area of Kien Giang Province, (6) Soviet tourists, (7) Afroasians or (8) western yachtsmen who may have been apprehended by Vietnamese authorities for either intruding into Vietnamese territorial waters or for spying. 108

More than a year passed without any word from either JCRC or CIA that Russians or other foreigners "who could be confused with being an American" had been sighted in the area where the former student said he and his friend had seen the six American prisoners and their two Vietnamese guards heading off into the U-Minh. Then, in mid-1987, Tourison finally ran across a tidbit of "intelligence" that, though not what he had had in mind, proved sufficient to enable him to make a final ruling in the case.

This tidbit was contained in a report of "camp only" (non-POW-related) information gleaned from a former ARVN during his routine refugee debrief. Tourison discovered that this ARVN had told U.S. refugee officials that after the war he had been held in a reeducation camp near the southern U-Minh and mentioned that the guards at his camp wore black pajamas. The ARVN had also mentioned that ARVN inmates were sometimes transferred under guard to other camps in the area.

At that point, the light must have come on: Vietnamese guards in the area of the southern U-Minh wearing black pajamas/Vietnamese guards in the area of the southern U-Minh wearing black pajamas and on occasion escorting ARVN reeducation camp inmates from camp to camp in the area. Those six GI’s weren’t American civilian aid workers, Eurasian residents of mixed French/Vietnamese parentage, Amerasians, foreign tourists, members of a foreign technical group, Soviet technicians or advisors, members of a Soviet bee research team rumored to have been in the area of Kien Giang Province, Soviet tourists, Afroasians or western yachtsmen who may have been apprehended by Vietnamese authorities for either intruding into Vietnamese territorial waters or for spying —they were ARVNs!

Tourison handed down his final decision in the case on 6 July 1987. Citing as the basis for his ruling the statements of the former reeducation inmate that the guards at his camp wore black uniforms and at times escorted ARVN inmates to other camps in the area, Tourison declared "[t]he individuals that [Source] reported observing in the area of Da Bac Hamlet were Vietnamese prisoners under armed guard…and were not Americans." 109

On 14 July 1987, the IAC approved Tourison’s finding. With that, Case 3115 was officially declared "Resolved" and the approval of the IAC was entered into the official DIA roster as follows:

CASENO	SIGHT	INFORMATION	DOS	CNTRY	IAC COMMENTS
03115	POW-F/H	6 PWS 200M AWAY U-MINH	7805	VS	870714 IAC APP’D NON-U.S. ASIAN 110

[NEXT: (10) The American POWs Seen Under Guard Near the Ham Tan Reeducation Camp Complex in Southern Vietnam in 1983.]