Can you help find Vietnam's Missing in Action?
Just like Australians, Vietnamese families long to know the fate
of their loved ones that were killed or who remain ‘missing in action’
(MIA). Throughout Vietnam there are approximately 300,000 Viet Cong (VC)
or Peoples’ Army (PAVN) soldiers, men and women, who are MIA and for
whom there is no known burial site. Here’s a chance to help a family
know where their loved ones lie buried.
Australian and New Zealand veterans may have in their possession
items that were 'liberated' from a body during the war. Items like this
are a time-honoured tradition throughout the world and were also
collected for their intelligence value. Things like photographs,
diaries, letters, award certificates or other items can identify an
individual by name. Sometimes items of equipment like torches or
hammocks carried the name of the soldier who owned them. If you have
this sort of material and you can recall some of the details of the
contact – the approximate date or location of the contact, the number of
enemy or own casualties, or other information – you might help to
identify by name some of those Viet Cong or Peoples’ Army soldiers still
missing in action. Or maybe you'd just like to return an item to the
family of the soldier who once owned it..
In Vietnamese culture this is very important as many believe that
the spirit of those whose fate is unknown, or who died violently, will
wander forever unless the appropriate ceremony his held for them.
The
photograph (right) was found on the body of a Vietnamese killed in
action (KIA) by 3 Platoon W Company, 4 RAR/NZ (ANZAC) in a contact on 12
Aug 1968 in the Nui Dinh hills. We are now hoping to return it to his
family.
Background
A team of researchers at UNSW@ADFA consisting of Dr Bob Hall
(Vietnam veteran – 8 RAR) [See his professional biography here ], Dr
Andrew Ross, Dr Amy Griffin, Dr Spike Barlow and Mr Derrill de Heer
Vietnam veteran – 8 RAR, Psyops and 4 RAR) have been working on a
project to help the Vietnamese locate the remains of their MIA. They
have compiled a database of about 3000 1 ATF contacts which resulted in
one or more VC/PAVN soldiers being killed in action.
Australian Army policy was to inter the bodies of enemy soldiers
at the site of the contact. The database contains the date, time and
location of the contact and shows the number of VC/PAVN soldiers killed
at each. The database records the approximate burial sites of a total of
over 3700 VC/PAVN soldiers. The database, in hardcopy and CD form, was
recently given to government agencies and veterans’ associations in
Hanoi and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province. On 16 March the Minister for
Defence, Senator John Faulkner, presented a copy of the data to the
Vietnamese Deputy Defence Minister, Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh.
This Australian Research Council-funded project aims to
reciprocate the generous efforts of the Vietnamese government and people
in helping Australia to find and repatriate the remains of its six
servicemen missing in action from the war. The data is presented in the
report in table form, as locations on war-era military maps and on
Google Earth images. The Google Earth images help to locate the burial
sites in relation to current land use.
The data was very enthusiastically received by the Vietnamese
veterans’ community and by the Vung Tau Department of Labour, War
Invalids and Social Affairs. However, the data simply identifies the
location of contacts and shows the numbers killed. It cannot provide the
names of those buried.
This Is Where You Can Help
If you have any material that identifies a VC/PAVN soldier by
name and can remember roughly where you acquired it, the project team
may be able to link it to a specific contact and thereby establish the
name of some of those buried at the site.
If you think you can help, please complete the following form.
This is not meant to be a memory test, but the more information you
provide the greater the chance that we may be able to identify the
incident and attach the name of a Viet Cong or Peoples’ Army soldier to
it. Fill out the form to the best of your ability. Don’t worry if you
can’t provide an answer to every question.
Got Stuff? Let us know.