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:
| COMPONENT | COUNTRY OF LOSS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VN | VS | LA | CB | CH | TOTALS | |
| ARMY | 9 | 479 | 101 | 28 | 0 | 617 |
| NAVY | 274 | 90 | 28 | 1 | 8 | 401 |
| MARINE CORPS | 23 | 195 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 242 |
| AIR FORCE | 217 | 160 | 254 | 18 | 0 | 649 |
| COAST GUARD | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| CIVILIANS | 1 | 20 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 38 |
| TOTALS | 524 | 945 | 411 | 60 | 8 | 1948 * |
| PURSUIT STATUS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VN | VS | LA | CB | CH | TOTALS | |
| FURTHER PURSUIT | 206 | 478 | 353 | 42 | 4 | 1083 |
| DEFERRED | 65 | 111 | 28 | 3 | 1 | 208 |
| NO FURTHER PURSUIT | 253 | 356 | 30 | 15 | 3 | 657 |
| TOTALS | 524 | 945 | 411 | 60 | 8 | 1948 |
KEY
VN - NORTH VIETNAM
VS - SOUTH VIETNAM
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 637 Americans from Southeast Asia.
AMERICANS ACCOUNTED FOR POST-1973 - REPATRIATED BY:
VIETNAM: 456 *
CHINA: 2 **
LAOS: 156
CAMBODIA: 23
TOTAL: 637 ***
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 21,794 reports possibly pertaining to Americans in Southeast Asia:
| SUMMARY OF REPORTS | |
|---|---|
| FIRSTHAND LIVE SIGHTINGS | 1914 |
| HEARSAY SIGHTINGS REPORTS | 4858 |
| CRASH/GRAVE SITES | 5262 |
| DOGTAGS | 9760 |
| TOTAL | 21,794 |
Of the 1914 firsthand reports received since 1975, 1897 (99.11%) reports are resolved.
1319 (69.02%) 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 (2.35%) reports were correlated to wartime sightings of military personnel or pre-1975 sighting of civilians who remain unaccounted for.
531 (27.74%) reports were determined to be fabrications.
The remaining 14 (0.73%) unresolved firsthand reports represent the focus of the US Government analytical and collection efforts:
16 (0.84%) pertain to Americans reported in a captive environment.
1 (0.05%) 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 | 91-95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | TOTAL |
| 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
