Uncovering the real story of the MIA/POW in Laos, Cambodia & Thailand

Anyone who knows anything about the Vietnam war knows that there was a lot of unofficial action by US/"allied" forces in both Laos and Cambodia. I believe there is an ethnic group of people there called the "Hmung" IDK if they are a minority in all the countries but IIRC, they were one of our strongest unofficial (in non combatant countries) allies and many moved to the US or were left behind to deal with the encroachment of Communism. This is a major story that is rarely if ever discussed and it goes along with another taboo subject of the MIA/POW's of that war, many considered left behind and abandoned after the war. Listening to these stories of the brave men who served there, often in countries they were not "supposed" to be in, but they had no choice as to where they served.


Looking back at what happened with the "hidden war" in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, etc and the number of men who didn't return and there is very little explanation as to where the might be, it seems like there is a direct correlation to these men having served in these countries where we weren't supposed to be, so if they were killed or captured, we couldn't claim them. That is an unimaginable circumstance to have to explain to those serving at the time and to the families today.

With reports of up to 80,000 MIA/POW's remaining, I think there needs to be some disclosure from the Pentagon to shine some light on this subject and maybe give some of the families a little relief or at least some closure. I don't know how this would even happen, what needs to be done, or who has the power to declassify this information, but I think this is one topic that is worth the effort to do so.

On another note of declassifying information, there are files on Martin Luther King Jr (very large file I am told) that is to stay classified until 2027 and I think that this is outrageous that they can keep this information hidden. Keeping all of these files classified for these extended periods of time is supposedly for "national security" reasons, but in truth, it is to protect a very small number of individuals who might face backlash for their actions - and all the while, the nation lives with the lie and is the worse for it - all to protect people who shouldn't be protected (for over 60+ years...). I understand keeping info classified for 20-30 years or more, if agents are still active, but most are no longer at risk of exposure - and this is basically the same thing with the POW/MIA issue.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

The only reason one would not want to declassify after so much time has passed is because it may have unofficially extended and is still an ongoing matter. So the declass would definitely expose current lies that have springboarded from the original lies.

a reply to: CynConcepts
If it’s still classified the DOD is covering their ass about something that would be embarrassing to the US or DOD.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Here's the thing...and this really pisses me off!

Troops or personnel in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand was classified for one reason and one reason only...to keep it from the American people, and only the American people! This is NOT a justifiable reason to classify information!

It was common knowledge China and Russia were aiding the North Vietnamese using Cambodia, Laos and Thailand as a means to do this. However, the official public face/mantra of the American conflict in Vietnam was that it was isolated to Vietnam exclusively. Acknowledging US forces in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand would have meant the US military having to acknowledge to the American public that Vietnam was escalating into a regional conflict. In other words, it was no longer about North versus South Vietnam, but rather about the US versus China/Russia. The people in power at the time knew the American public would not stand for a wider conflict in SE Asia, so they classified any military or strategic actions outside of Vietnam proper.

All of this had nothing to do with national security and everything to do with obfuscating what was really happening in SE Asia!!!

So, to the point of declassifying the information now, it should have never been classified to begin with (and they in power know this), but because it IS classified now they have to keep it classified to prevent the real story from coming out...and suffer the delayed backlash as a result. Every president since Kennedy/Johnson has faced this same issue, and none of these cowards wanted to deal with it.

Initially, the thinking was the prisoners in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand could be freed through diplomatic means, but after a dozen years this was clearly no longer the case. Following this there was absolutely no reason to keep the records classified, certainly not for the prisoners anyway as any on-going missions they may have been on would have been compromised by then!

Any living person or persons who were or still are involved in the classification of records of these prisoners should be drawn and quartered in public!

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

I’m not asking this to be a dick but the reports of up to 80,000 missing you were saying about, I’m really interested in knowing which ones your talking about. Could you link me some of that please? I know that lots of people were MIA or captured, I just didn’t realize it was almost half as many people in the Marine corps infantry by today’s standards, that’s a lot of missing warfighters for damn sure.