Page 6 - March ARB Beacon 10-23-15

6 October 23, 2015
Return to Vietnam in search of POW/MIA clues
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AFN Broadcast Center
The forest was awakened by the rustling sounds
of more than 80 American and Vietnamese outsid-
ers. The heat and humidity was no match for their
determination. Their shovels, pickaxes and sledge-
hammers scoured the earth. Dirt fell through sift-
ing screens like tropical rain as they looked for hu-
man bone fragments and artifacts. Their faces were
sweaty, dirty and encircled by bugs, but, neverthe-
less, they continued on with their all-important work,
paying little regard to their present, less-than-ideal, also known as the “17th parallel,” the Annamese
conditions.
It’s hard to describe my feelings when I was con-
tacted to go to Vietnam as a translator for the Defense
POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), formerly
known as the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command
(JPAC). I have been part of many different missions
since joining the Navy but this one was special.
While serving as a TV production operator at the
American Forces Network (AFN) Broadcast Center
in Riverside, California, I was chosen to join a forty- to the site by foot.
year-plus effort to account for U.S. service members
currently listed as Prisoners of War (POW) or Miss-
ing in Action (MIA) since the Vietnam War. “I will
bring you home,” was the voice I kept hearing in my
head.
I was born in Southern Vietnam to a military fam-
ily. My dad was in the South Vietnamese Army and
an interpreter for the U.S. Army. After the war, my
dad came to the United States as a refugee then re-
turned to Vietnam to get my mother and me. It was
my Vietnamese background and language skills that
led to my selection as a linguist for a recovery team.
I’ve returned to Vietnam many times to visit, but this
time was totally different. I was there to help find the fog, was only about two feet wide. It was 9 a.m. but
remains of service members shot down during a res-
cue mission over North Vietnam.
There are four distinct DPAA mission areas: anal-
ysis and investigation, recovery, identification, and
accounting. I was assigned to a recovery team. This
type of team usually consists of a team leader, a fo-
rensic anthropologist, a team sergeant, two linguists,
a medic, a life support technician, a forensic photog-
rapher, a communications technician, an explosive
ordnance disposal (EOD) technician, and a moun-
taineering specialist. Together, we excavated the site
and screened the soil to locate all possible remains
and artifacts.
Our job could not have been done without the help
of our Vietnamese counterparts. Their team consisted
of 18 officials from central to local government. They
ing and security for the U.S. team.
The Vietnamese officials gave us a warm welcome
at Da Nang International Airport then took us to the
hotel. The next day we picked up our tools and head-
ed out to a remote location near the Laos border. I
had never been to this part of the country. Many new
things were waiting for me.
The 4x4 SUV took us by many famous land marks
from the war, such as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)
Mountains or Truong Son Mountain Range, and Ho
Chi Minh Trail. The history was literary unfolding in
front of my eyes.
After eight hours and traveling more than 350 ki-
lometers, we arrived at a small remote town to the
northeast. The Vietnamese informed us that our site
was on the side of a mountain along the Truong Son
Mountain Range. To get there it would take us a
three-hour hike through thick jungle and rigid hills,
which made it nearly impossible to get our equipment
Thankfully, our Vietnamese counterparts provided
us with an alternate solution…helicopter.
The ten-minute helo ride got us through the first
obstacle of our mission, though the real danger was
yet to come.
We landed on a mountainside; a temporary land-
ing zone which was recently cleared by local work-
ers. The actual site was still about a twenty-minute
hike away. During our journey, the jungle quickly
engulfed us in thick brush and hundred-foot trees.
The rocky trail, slippery from moisture and morning
the trail was still dark with the sun barely peeking
through the canopy’s thick brush. The temperature
was already more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit with
100 percent humidity. Our clothes were soaking wet.
Suddenly, and without warning, we were under at-
tack by a swarm of countless bugs. They came from
nowhere and were soon in our eyes, ears and clothes.
The more we sweated, the more they came.
Still, I had been bracing for my biggest fear:
snakes. To make matters worse, the most poisonous
snake in the region is a master at camouflage. Before
we arrived, a four-foot long, green and white-lipped
viper silently wrapped itself around a tree branch
about seven feet up. A bite of this kind can result in their families who are stationed or deployed overseas
intense pain, swelling, necrosis of flesh, and in some
cases, severe systemic bleeding. At first glance, I
froze, overcome by fear. I wanted to scream but noth-
ing came out.
On the contrary, the locals were overjoyed. They
drew their machetes and cheered each other on and
in less than a minute the dangerous snake became the
next meal for local workers. My fear vanished. By
mission’s end I dispatched a grand total of six centi-
pedes and one pit viper with a bamboo stick.
We finally arrived at the crash site where we saw
scattered pieces of wreckage everywhere. This is
where Americans may have paid the ultimate price
while serving their nation. Now it was up to me to try
and find them and bring them home. This is it. This is
what I’m here for, I thought.
The excavation began the following day. Two at a
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DPAA Photo
A Vietnamese helicopter sits in a jungle clearing, just
after dropping off AFN’s MC2(SW) Billy Ho on his
mission to account for U.S. Service members cur-
rently listed as POW or MIA since the Vietnam War.
Assigned to the American Forces Network Broad-
cast Center in Riverside, California, where he serves
as a TV production operator, Ho was chosen as one
of the mission translators.
time, we took on digging duties. Those of us not as-
signed to digging were on one of two stations sift-
ing dirt through screens for personal belongings and
remains. One American and one local worker were
assigned to each screen. My team would ask me to
translate at times but most of the time sign language
worked just fine. We put everything we found in buck-
ets so our anthropologist, Dr. Nicholas Passalacqua,
whom we all called “Nick,” could analyze it.
It did not take long for me to find a tooth-like ob-
ject. My heart skipped a beat. And without delay, I
dashed to Nick for confirmation. Everyone stopped
what they were doing to see the result. “It’s a rock,”
said Nick. “Keep looking, better luck next time!”
With a bit of disappointment, I came back to my
screen and resumed searching.
For 21 days, our team, including 40 local work-
ers, cleared more than 5,000 square feet of jungle,
screened thousands of buckets of dirt and rock and
recovered hundreds of pounds of aircraft wreckage.
In the end, we were unsuccessful in finding any re-
mains; however, we narrowed down the search and
provided evidence and useful information for the
next recovery team.
It is almost half a century since the end of the Viet-
nam War but the memories of those who sacrificed
their lives for the country they loved will never be
forgotten. It was a great honor to be a part of DPAA’s
recovery efforts, and together my team and I lived up
to the agency’s motto, “fulfilling our nation’s prom-
ise.”
As of today, there are more than 1,600 Vietnam
War POW/MIAs still unaccounted for.
*Editor’s Note: MC2 Ho deployed to Vietnam in
May of 2015. He currently works at the American
Forces Network (AFN) Broadcast Center in Riverside,
California, as a TV production operator. Ho provides
a touch of home to U.S. forces, DOD civilians and
and aboard U.S. Navy ships. The AFN provides view-
ers with stateside news, sports and entertainment as
well as timely and immediate force protection adviso-
ries and in-depth DOD information.