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PHOTOS of US Special Forces officer captured by Viet Namese troops


RTFREY
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post-3702-1223399272.jpg

 

 

These photos are copies made by me from an original NVA photo album that I was allowed to copy portions thereof.

 

They show a US Airborne Ranger after he was captured by the VC / NVA.

 

He is obviously wounded and in one photo he is shown getting a light for his cigarette from one of his captors.

 

I cannot ascertain his name due to the quality of the copies. At the time and place I made these this was the best I was allowed to do.

 

There is Vietnamese writing on the two large pages that may give some information if you have access to a VN speaker.

 

I have no idea of the fate of this soldier.

 

I have NO FURTHER INFORMATION on this other then what is shown.

 

 

regards,

Bob Frey

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Appears to be an SF officer.

 

Definitely an SF Officer.

 

Copran will be able to translate the Vietnamese.

Do you have larger sized scans of the writing.

 

I have a list of POW SF officers somewhere on my computer.

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Hey,

My coworker Binh said the the first part "trai giam" translates to "take to jail" (we kinda figured that part out I guess...). He had trouble reading the lighter part and if you can make it darker he can translate the rest.

Thanks,

Fielding

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There were 6 SF Officers known to be captured during the Vietnam Conflict.

 

4 of those 6 six cam be immediately discounted because of the date of capture.

Capt Moon 1961

Maj Rowe 1963

Capt Versace 1965

LTC Thompson 1964

 

The type 3 Jungle Fatigue that is seen in the photos has subdue name tapes, wings and BOS.

I would date the uniform from the 1967 to 1970 period.

 

There were only 2 officers known to be captured during that period.

 

Capt William H. Hardy captured 29 June 1967 and released 12 Feb 1973.

1LT Stephen R. Leopold captured 9 May 1968 and released 5 Mar 1973. He was the CAPO of Det A-244.

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The following information is from the www.pownetwork.org.

 

STEPHEN R. LEOPOLD

Captain - United States Army

Captured: May 9, 1968

Released: March 4, 1973

 

Capt. Leopold was born June 19, 1944. He attended elementary and junior high

in Oklahoma City. At Shorewood, Wisconsin Senior High he edited the school

paper, qualified for a National Merit Scholarship and lettered in three

sports, while at Stanford University he was editor of the university

newspaper and graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa in Political

Science, Government, and History. Having to decide the possibilities for

post graduate life styles, he chose the Green Berets, supposedly to last two

years, ten months.

 

TRAVELS WITH CHARLIE

On May 9, 1968, I was captured in a pre-dawn engagement, two miles east of

the Lao-Cambodian Vietnam border, while I was advising a company of

Montagnard troops along with one other American. The only wound I received

was some strategically placed schrapnel in the back of the right ankle which

prevented me from accompanying the troops (they broke and ran). The NVA took

me to a prison camp in northeastern Cambodia where I remained 18 months.

 

Life in this camp was very severe in terms of physical deprivation. Life on

8 teacups of rice per day, almost no medical care and 12 hours in the stocks

at night was a constant physical and mental strain. We lost three men out of

19 while at another camp where the men had to work, they lost 13 out of 27.

Our diet was so poor that many of us contracted diseases.

 

In Cambodia I spent all but three months in solitary. I had some roommates

in March - May 1969, but was put back in solitary when I flunked a Political

Science exam given by the prison camp commander. He said I used "the logic

of a double-stubborn Washington robber" and that I was still a "pig-headed

imperialist aggressor who needed to think about his crimes more carefully."

 

Fortunately in November we were moved north to Hanoi. The trip took 48 days

walking and ten days on trucks. We took the "scenic route" through Laos via

the Ho Chi Minh trail.

 

Our new camp was about 20 miles west of Hanoi. It was a real hellhole. I

lived in a small, black washed cell with a wood bed on the floor. The camp

routine consisted of getting up at 5 a.m. (you had to follow this schedule

or be punished), folding up your blankets and sitting on your bed until 7

a.m. when a guard took you to the well to wash and empty your chamber

bucket, returning to your room and sitting on the bed until 11 a.m. when

lunch was served (that's right, no breakfast until August 6, 1970), laying

down for two hours after lunch, getting up and going through the same

routine until the 4 p.m. meal, then sitting on your bed in the dark until 9

p.m. gong sounded. The "criminals" were not allowed to exercise, walk in the

rooms, lay down, sleep at odd hours, or lean back against the walls -

nothing but sit and think about "your crimes." Our diet had a little more

nutritional value than what we had in the South, but the quantity was still

minute, purposely prepared either burned or uncooked without seasonings and

generally unpalatable. The camp commander was something out of a Grade C

Korean War prison camp movie: scrawny, effeminate, bureaucratic and

extremely sadistic - in brief, an Oriental Eichmann eagerly awaiting the

"final solution" to the American POW problem. Fortunately for us, NVN's

prisons had been somewhat reformed in October 1969 and the "punishment" was

not as widespread as before. However, my roommate was beaten every day for a

week and forced to spend 16 hours a day either on his knees or standing up

with his hands over his head. This was supposedly for tapping on the walls

during the noon nap; he hadn't, but he had been awake due to his inability

to get under a mosquito net in the unbelievable hot summer of the Red River

valley.

 

Life continued - it was all bad and unbelievably monotonous. Our names were

never released and I personally never sent or received any mail.

 

"Without the cold and desolation of winter There could not be the warmth and

splendor of spring. Calamity has tempered and hardened me And turned my mind

into steel." "Advice to Oneself" The Prison Diary of Ho Chi Minh.

 

For once in his life, Ho told it like it is, particularly in the opening

couplet. During my five years of imprisonment throughout Indochina, I

learned the true meaning of the word "desolation" - at least as it relates

to individual experience. And by gaining that knowledge I came to appreciate

fully all that I had taken for granted, including personal freedom.

 

Today, ice cold water, a fresh breeze, the freedom of movement, and other

things that free Americans enjoy daily, still have a special significance to

me. Perhaps in time my constant awareness of this regained "warmth and

splendor" will fade, but I doubt seriously if it will ever disappear.

 

For awakening this awareness of life, I thank the Vietnamese Communists; for

helping me celebrate life this joyous Spring, I thank the American people.

They have done much to assuage the bitterness that I might have felt because

five years of my life were wasted in deadly dull confinement. I only hope

that they show a similar concern for the disabled veterans who all-too-often

were welcomed home with apathy and disinterest. If we as prisoners

sacrificed years, they sacrificed limbs; their rewards should at least equal

ours. It will take private and corporate generosity to pay these men their

due.

 

December 1996

Stephen Leopold resides in Wisconsin.

 

and

 

WILLIAM H. HARDY

Major - United States Army

Captured: June 30, 1967

Released: February 13, 1973

 

In was late in the afternoon when I was returning from Saigon, via Bein Hoa,

following a truck filled with troops along a highway which I had not travelled

before. The truck stopped in a small village, but I continued on because the

1st Division had recently cleared this road - it was a presumably secure area.

I passed an American platoon, then a mine exploded near the lead tank and blew

a hole in the road. Suspecting ambush, I stopped my vehicle, turned around and

drove down the road away from the explosion. Suddenly, about 30 VC stood up

and started firing at me. I attempted to evade the gunfire, applied the brakes

and skidded across the road. The VC surrounded me and ordered me out of the

vehicle; I was in a presumed clear area and they were armed, including

anti-tank weapons. I became their captive that day in 1967.

 

For the next six years the living conditions were simple, crude and

uncomfortable. I was moved to several different compounds, all constructed

basically the same. The buildings had dirt floors about 12 to 18 inches higher

than the surrounding ground to keep out the water; thatched leaf roofs; sides

constructed of logs close enough to prevent one from putting his head between

them. The cells were small and contained a bed made of bamboo or wood;

sometimes we POW's were allowed to make tables. When there was no apparent

danger, the cell was locked; if they thought there was danger, we were chained

inside the cell and the door was locked.

 

Due to poor medical aid and worse food, most POW's were sick during

confinement. The medical personnel were ill trained to perform any function

greater than administering injections. Because of this lack of experience and

medical supplies, the POW's I saw suffered from various illnesses including

beriberi, malaria and diarrhea. The food was sparse and did not contain much

nourishment. I was able to survive on some food that killed others; I had had

it very hard when I was growing up, so some of the foods didn't bother me.

 

Our limited clothing and cold weather also contributed to sickness. I used a

piece of nylon to keep some of the rain from blowing through the cracks and

into my cell.

 

The treatment of POW's by the captors included questioning and harassment.

After I was captured I asked questions about the military situation; these

sessions were usually quite lengthy. Harassment varied a lot; the lower

the mentality of the guards the greater the harassment. However the N.V.A.

regulars were more brutal than any of the VC. I was never tortured except

to have my food taken away from me. In my opinion that was worse than being

beaten because we simply didn't have enough food. I've stolen food from the

hogs because they were being fed better than I.

 

In all of our of years there we were never issued any Red Cross packages. I

was permitted to write but I know the letters were never mailed. I did receive

three letters from my wife all in August of 1970 as part of the propaganda

move because at that time a peace settlement was being negotiated.

 

My internment began while I was serving as a province advisor to MACV Team 91

Special Duty to the USAID Pacification Office of Civil Affairs. There were

times when I felt that I would never be released that I had lived my last

minutes. If you would speak in terms of a person having nine lives I could

attempt to tell you how it feels to have lived all nine of them to the last

second.

 

 

William Hardy retired from the United States Army as a Lt. Colonel. He lives

in North Carolina.

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101combatvet

1LT Leopold was 24 at the time of his capture.

 

"The only wound I received was some strategically placed schrapnel in the back of the

right ankle which prevented me from accompanying the troops (they broke and ran). The

NVA took me to a prison camp in northeastern Cambodia where I remained 18 months."

 

 

Not sure of Capt Hardy's age but he was captured without wounds according to his Bio.

 

It maybe someone other then these two officers. think.gif

 

 

The type 3 Jungle Fatigue that is seen in the photos has subdue name tapes, wings and BOS.

I would date the uniform from the 1967 to 1970 period.

 

There were only 2 officers known to be captured during that period.

 

Capt William H. Hardy captured 29 June 1967 and released 12 Feb 1973.

1LT Stephen R. Leopold captured 9 May 1968 and released 5 Mar 1973. He was the CAPO of Det A-244.

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In my most non-expert and humble opinion, the photos seem posed and contrived, almost as if they just dragged out some POW for a photo op in a captured SF uniform. He has an obvious wound to his upper right arm, something that neither of the aforesaid captured SF officers in their detailed accounts mentioned. I've seen other photos of "just captured" aircrews, and they oten have the same feel about them.

 

Just my two cents worth !

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In Nick Rowes book"Five Years to Freedom"I believe he has some pics of one other he was captured with.I dont remember as I read the book in the late 1970s if the man was a NCO or Officer.I was thinking an NCO and never returned.Anyone know??Thanks

 

RON

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In my most non-expert and humble opinion, the photos seem posed and contrived, almost as if they just dragged out some POW for a photo op in a captured SF uniform. He has an obvious wound to his upper right arm, something that neither of the aforesaid captured SF officers in their detailed accounts mentioned. I've seen other photos of "just captured" aircrews, and they oten have the same feel about them.

 

Just my two cents worth !

I agree with Steindaddie, it looks staged...

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I agree with Steindaddie and Andrei, looks staged. Maybe it is just me, but this guy is pale-white and has an emaciated look to him. Not exactly what I would expect a USSF officer to look like. Looks more like a guy who has been a POW for awhile. Just my two cents worth.

Arch

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post-3702-1223419152.jpg

 

 

 

post-3702-1223419120.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm adding the writings that were out of view previously, as requested.

This is the best I could clean them up. The originals were on a very thin rice type paper and difficult to work with.

Perhaps a native speaker can get some more from these.

regards,

Bob Frey

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101combatvet

Maybe, so.... but if you really think about it.... most photographs are actually staged. The scans and the condition of the photographs make it difficult to really judge one way or the other. The real question should be.... are they period.

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Maybe, so.... but if you really think about it.... most photographs are actually staged. The scans and the condition of the photographs make it difficult to really judge one way or the other. The real question should be.... are they period.

 

The communists were famous for staging photos after the event.

 

The assault on the command bunker at the end of the battle of Dien Bien Phu is the classic example.

 

RTFREY

have you got a larger scan on the pic 4635?

That shows the trooper form the right hand side.

It my be possible to work something out from the name tag, even making out a single letter would help.

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In Nick Rowes book"Five Years to Freedom"I believe he has some pics of one other he was captured with.I dont remember as I read the book in the late 1970s if the man was a NCO or Officer.I was thinking an NCO and never returned.Anyone know??Thanks

 

RON

 

Rowe was captured with:

 

SFC Daniel L. Pitzer who was later released 11 Nov 1967.

Capt Humbert R. Versace who was executed on 26 Sept 1965.

 

Remember that the uniform in the above pictures is a much later uniform then was worn when Rowe, Pitzer and Versace were captured in 1963.

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Thanks X

Versace was the one I was thinking of.Didnt he go by Rocky or Rock??

 

There is a nice pic of Rowe and a guy in tigers in the book.

 

RON

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The communists were famous for staging photos after the event.

 

The assault on the command bunker at the end of the battle of Dien Bien Phu is the classic example.

 

RTFREY

have you got a larger scan on the pic 4635?

That shows the trooper form the right hand side.

It my be possible to work something out from the name tag, even making out a single letter would help.

 

 

Photo 4635 is to dark in the area of the name tag to show anything.

I have looked at photo 4644 thru a high powered loupe and perhaps one of the letters is an " R ".

I tried to submit it as a posting attachment but it is still to vague.

regards,

R Frey

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Photo 4635 is to dark in the area of the name tag to show anything.

I have looked at photo 4644 thru a high powered loupe and perhaps one of the letters is an " R ".

I tried to submit it as a posting attachment but it is still to vague.

regards,

R Frey

 

 

What you can see in 4644, which is taken from the left hand side, is the "R" on the "US Army" tape.

Name tape were on the right hand side.

 

4636 also looks to show the left side of the jacket, can you make out anything on that one? I know its a long shot as it will be tiny.

 

By the way, thanks for posting these very interesting pictures. thumbsup.gif

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post-3702-1223419152.jpg

post-3702-1223419120.jpg

I'm adding the writings that were out of view previously, as requested.

This is the best I could clean them up. The originals were on a very thin rice type paper and difficult to work with.

Perhaps a native speaker can get some more from these.

regards,

Bob Frey

 

Thanks for posting these text scans.

 

We'll have to wait for Copran to have a look at it.

He is a native speaker.

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