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

Subject: Vietnam-Era Unaccounted for Statistical Report

CURRENT AS OF: October 18, 2000

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 10 486 105 35 0 636
NAVY 277 92 28 1 8 406
MARINE CORPS 24 202 18 8 0 252
AIR FORCE 219 165 258 16 0 658
COAST GUARD 0 1 0 0 0 1
CIVILIANS 0 22 12 5 0 39
TOTALS 530 968 421 65 8 1,992 *

PURSUIT STATUS

           
FURTHER PURSUIT 229 499 365 48 4 1,145
DEFERRED 58 110 30 2 1 201
NO FURTHER PURSUIT 243 359 26 15 3 646
TOTALS 530 968 421 65 8 1,992

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 591 Americans from Southeast Asia.

AMERICANS ACCOUNTED FOR POST-1973

REPATRIATED BY:

VIETNAM
425
*
CHINA 2 **
LAOS 148
CAMBODIA 16
TOTAL 591 ***

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 21,731 reports possibly pertaining to Americans in Southeast Asia:

SUMMARY OF REPORTS

FIRSTHAND LIVE SIGHTINGS
1,908
HEARSAY SIGHTINGS REPORTS 4,832
CRASH/GRAVE SITES 5,251
DOGTAGS 9,745
TOTAL 21,736

Of the 1,908 firsthand reports received since 1975, 1,879 (98.48%) reports are resolved.

  • 1,309 (68.61%) 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.

  • 525 (27.52%) reports were determined to be fabrications.

The remaining 29 (1.52%) unresolved firsthand reports represent the focus of the U.S. Government analytical and collection efforts:

  • 26 (1.36%) pertain to Americans reported in a captive environment.
  • 3 (0.16%) reported sightings of Americans 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
22 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 29
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  December 8, 2015
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