Genesis of the POW-MIA Bracelets:

In 1970, long before the Vietnam War ended, Americans were introduced to the first bracelets bearing the name, rank and incident date of the American serviceman who was listed as a Prisoner Of War or Missing In Action.

Those bracelets were the brainchild of former Congressman Robert K. "Bob" Dornan of California. Mr. Dornan, a former Air Force fighter pilot, had a good friend who was captured by the Communist Pathet Lao forces. Colonel David Hendricks was a well documented POW being held in the massive cave complex near Sam Neua, Laos.

During a meeting of POW-MIA family members and concerned citizens in California, Bob Dornan put forward an idea to modify the Montagnard friendship bracelet to one bearing the name of a missing American that would be used to publicize the plight of Prisoners Of War and Missing In Action. Representatives of VIVA (Voices In Vital America), an early POW-MIA organization in Los Angeles, saw the benefit in Dornan's idea and arranged for production and distribution of the bracelets.

The American public, hungry for a way to demonstrate their unwavering support for prisoners and the missing, found the bracelets an ideal way to recognize, honor and support them. Meanwhile, word of the bracelets and their message circulated through the prison camps of Southeast Asia as new prisoners entered the system. In a few cases, new prisoners met men in captivity whose POW-MIA bracelets they wore!

By the time the Paris Peace Accords were signed on 27 Jan 1973, over 5 million bracelets were being worn by Americans all over the world--and those bracelets, with the name of the POW-MIA boldly engraved in the band, inexplicably bound the wearer in a way no one could have foreseen. In many instances the bond formed between the wearer and the imprisoned or missing man or woman was stronger and more enduring that blood ties.

Since the bracelets were introduced, 28 years ago, they have evolved into a symbol of the POW-MIA issue in general--and the men and women they represent in particular. Like the POW-MIA flag, the bracelets are a visible sign to everyone that this issue is not going-away until we have a full, fair and real accounting for our fellow countrymen and women.

POW-MIA bracelets are now found in a variety of materials, styles and colors--some even bear the prisoner or MIA's picture. And, like the POW-MIA flag, the bracelets' purpose has expanded to represent all those who have vanished in all wars and "conflicts." There are bracelets available for those lost in WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Desert Storm. There are even "In Memory" bracelets to honor those whose remains have been returned. Above all else, POW-MIA bracelets convey the history and importance of the issue to the American people on a one-to-one basis.

The Issue:
There ARE Live American Prisoners Of War in Southeast Asia and Our Government Knows it!

A brief look at the well documented chronology of the POW-MIA issue speaks volumes to why the men and women--military and civilian--listed herein are much more than the sum of their numbers. The burning question of how to "resolve" this issue has always been a thorny one for our government to deal with--never seeming to know how to move any Communist government to return our people. The issue is, and always has been, THE RETURN OF AMERICAN PRISONERS OF WAR--BOTH THE LIVING AND THE DEAD, not a "cloaking" of the matter in the shadowy classification of "Missing In Action!"

This issue is about Communist countries in Southeast Asia holding our POWs in one form or another of captivity--as can be seen in the public record:

1954-1976: After the French paid an unspecified sum to Vietnam (for the "maintenance of French cemeteries") the Communists released 1,000 to 1,500 Legionnaires--alive--sending them home in small groups, at irregular intervals, over a 22 year period. Even today live sightings report prison camps holding Legionnaires from the First Indochina War!

3 Apr 1973: Laotian Communist forces declare holding more than 100 American POWs and prepare to give a full accounting. Nine days later the U.S. Government responds by declaring all POWs Dead--without even talking to the Laotians!

25 Jun 1981: DIA Director Eugene Tighe testifies before the House Sub-committee on Asian/Pacific Affairs that live American POWs remain in Southeast Asia.

7 Dec 1984: The Washington Times reports that Bobby Garwood, released by Vietnam in 1979, saw up-to 70 live captive Americans long after the war had ended.

28 Jun 1985: The Washington Times reports the DIA Director testified Hanoi still holding 50-60 live American POWs.

15 Oct 1985: The Wall Street Journal reports that National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane says live American POWs remain in S.E. Asia.

19 Aug 1986: The Wall Street Journal reports the White House knew in 1981 Vietnam wanted to sell 57 live POWs for $4 billion--and ignored it!

30 Sep 1986: The New York Times reports a Pentagon panel estimates up-to 100 live American POWs are held in Vietnam alone.

7 Oct 1986: CIA Director William Casey says: "Look, the nation knows they (the POWs) are there--everybody knows they are there--but there's no groundswell of support for getting them out. Certainly you are not suggesting we pay for them, surely not saying we could do anything like that with no public support."

January 1988: A cable from the Joint Casualty Resolution Center in Thailand states that during Gen. Vessey's visit to Hanoi, "The Vietnamese people were prepared to turn-over 7 or 8 live American POWs if Vessey told them what they wanted to hear. All the prospective returnees allegedly held in a location on the Lao side of the border."

10 Jun 1989: The Washington Post reports a Japanese monk released after 13 years in a Vietnamese prison had American cellmates who nursed him back to health.

September 1990: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's "Interim Report on POW-MIAs in Southeast Asia" concludes that despite public assurances in 1973 that no POWs remained in the region, the Defense Department "...in April, 1974 concluded beyond a doubt that several hundred American POWs remained in captivity in Southeast Asia."

September 1990: Senator Jesse Helms: "The deeper story may be that there was a deliberate effort by certain people in the government to disregard all information or reports about living MIA-POWs. If there could be even one American over there and forgotten by his country, it would be worth it if we could find him and bring him back home."

October 1990: Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach admits Vietnam still holds American POWs and will release "...as many as 10 live American POWs." His offer, like others before it, was ignored.

February 1991: Colonel Millard Peck, Chief of the Pentagon's Special Office for Prisoners of War and Missing in Action, resigns in protest of being ordered by policy makers in the POW-MIA Inter-Agency Group not to investigative-sighting reports of American POWs!

25 Apr 1991: Senator Bob Smith addresses the Senate and reveals that of more than 1400 eyewitness sightings of POWs, none has ever received an on-site investigation!

23 May 1991: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's "Examination of U.S. Policy toward POW-MIAs" concludes that the U.S. has ignored thousands of American POWs and left them to rot in Soviet slave labor camps and North Korean and Vietnamese prisons. "...Any evidence that suggests POW and MIA might be alive was uniformly and arbitrarily rejected."

Summer 1991: A flood of new evidence of live POWs pours from Southeast Asia: pictures, handwriting samples, hair samples, blood samples, fingerprints, footprints, maps and other physical proof. The Bush administration disregards the evidence and attempts to discredit it by rumor and innuendo. Some of the photos are scientifically validated, however, and have never been scientifically disproved!

2 Aug 1991: President Bush says: "Until we can account for every person missing we have to run-down these leads to prove that nobody is held." The President sees it as his duty to prove Vietnam holds none of our citizens--rather than to gain their freedom.

1 Jan 1992: Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman David Boren: "I think we're going to see, potentially, that a lot more (POWs) were left in Laos... it's been true in administrations of both parties--when the agreements were made, and they were anxious to get agreements at the time--there were people involved that simply wanted to get the agreements and didn't want to have all the questions raised at that time... it was too embarrassing. The longer it went, the more embarrassing it got to be... A lot more information is going to come on Laos... It's things that happened over time. Then, once somebody found out how bad it was, nobody wanted to take the blow. They always thought, well. I'll hand this on to the next guy to admit that we really made a big mess... Those who knew the truth kept handing it on. There are people, obviously in the military and otherwise, in the foreign policy establishment, who feel they're going to be embarrassed now, if this comes out, and so they keep the secret... it has to come-out and it will."

5 Jun 1992: Lt. Peter R. Mathes, USAF, puts his last name and secret authenticator code--GX2527--outside his prison camp in North Vietnam.

June 1992: Major Henry M. Serex, USAF, puts his last name and authenticator--72TA88--right outside the prison wall of the camp where he was held in North Vietnam.

Note: Both locations were photographed by satellite due to solid live-sighting reports of U.S. POWs being held there. These are just the latest reports made public--no doubt there are more!

9 Jun 1995: U.S. Government offers reward for return of POW-MIAs: Per DPMO Policy Memo: "Consistent with existing policy and commitments, such as those extended in service personnel blood chits, DoD will monetarily reward an individual or group who directly liberates an American service member detained against his or her will in a foreign country as a result of his or her status as a U.S. combatant. To receive such a reward, the individual must be returned to U.S. custody and identified as an actual POW or MIA from a recognized conflict."

February 1996: MSgt. Meteo Sabog, 24-year U.S. Army veteran who vanished 25 Feb 1970 in South Vietnam after out-processing from his second tour of duty surfaces in Northern Georgia where he has lived since 1985. How and when did he leave Southeast Asia? Where was he from 1970 to 1985? Southeast Asia or the U.S.? Was he a deserter or secretly-returned POW-MIA brought back by our government?

These and many other questions must be answered!