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The Vietnam-Era Prisoner-of-War/Missing-in-Action Database

Subject: Vietnam-Era Unaccounted for Statistical Report

CURRENT AS OF: April 3, 2001

BACKGROUND: The Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Service, and the Department of State report the current numbers of Americans who are unaccounted for in Southeast Asia:

AMERICANS UNACCOUNTED FOR IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

COMPONENT
COUNTRY OF LOSS

VN VS LA CB CH TOTALS
ARMY 10 479 105 35 0 629
NAVY 276 92 28 1 8 405
MARINE CORPS 24 202 18 8 0 252
AIR FORCE 218 165 255 18 0 656
COAST GUARD 0 1 0 0 0 1
CIVILIANS 1 21 12 5 0 39
TOTALS 529 960 418 67 8 1,982 *

PURSUIT STATUS

           
FURTHER PURSUIT 226 487 364 49 4 1,130
DEFERRED 60 116 28 3 1 208
NO FURTHER PURSUIT 243 357 26 15 3 644
TOTALS 529 960 418 67 8 1,982

VN = VIETNAM, NORTH VS = VIETNAM, SOUTH CB = CAMBODIA

CH = CHINA LA = LAOS

* INCLUDES 459 AT SEA/OVER WATER LOSSES

ACCOUNTING FOR U.S. PERSONNEL: The Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii reports that since 1973, the U.S. has accounted for 589 Americans from Southeast Asia.

AMERICANS ACCOUNTED FOR POST-1973

REPATRIATED BY:

VIETNAM
436
*
CHINA 2 **
LAOS 149
CAMBODIA 16
TOTAL 603 ***

NOTES:

* 34 remains from the Official Died in Captivity Lists provided by the Vietnamese in 1973.

** 2 ashes returned from China.

*** 4 remains were recovered and turned over to the U.S. by indigenous personnel; 1 from North Vietnam and 3 from Laos. They are included in the country count.

U.S. GOVERNMENT EFFORTS: Since the fall of Saigon in 1975, the U.S. Government has acquired 21,765 reports possibly pertaining to Americans in Southeast Asia:

SUMMARY OF REPORTS

FIRSTHAND LIVE SIGHTINGS
1,910
HEARSAY SIGHTINGS REPORTS 4,846
CRASH/GRAVE SITES 5,257
DOGTAGS 9,752
TOTAL 21,765

Of the 1,910 firsthand reports received since 1975, 1896 (99.27%) reports are resolved.

  • 1,318 (69.01%) reports were equated to Americans who are accounted for (i.e., PW returnees, missionaries, civilians jailed at various times for violation of Vietnamese codes).
  • 45 (2.36%) reports were correlated to wartime sightings of military personnel or pre-1975 sighting of civilians who remain unaccounted for.
  • 533 (27.91%) reports were determined to be fabrications.

The remaining 14 (0.73%) unresolved firsthand reports represent the focus of the U.S. Government analytical and collection efforts:

  • 13 (0.68%) pertain to Americans reported in a captive environment.

  • 1 (0.05%) reported sighting of an American in a non-captive environment (i.e. working as truck drivers; married with Vietnamese family).

The following timeline presents an overview of unresolved firsthand sightings by the year of the sighting:

TIMELINE: UNRESOLVED LIVE SIGHTING REPORTS

Pre-76
76-80
81-85
86-90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
Total
13
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14
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  December 8, 2015
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