Synopses & Reviews
Code-Name Bright Light tells one of the great unknown stories of the Vietnam War: the American military's extensive secret operations to locate and rescue POW/MIAs during the conflict. It is a tale of tragedy and heroism revealed in full for the first time in this volume.
The history of the U.S. POW/MIA intelligence and wartime rescue operations has long remained concealed under the shroud of national security, unknown both to the public and to the families of the missing. George J. Veith has assembled an extensive range of previously unseen material, including recently declassified NSA intercepts, State Department cables, and wartime interrogation reports which reveal how the U.S. military conducted a centralized effort to identify, locate, and rescue its POW/MIAs.
Code-Name Bright Light also traces the development of the various national wartime POW intelligence operations and provides an in-depth look at the activities of the Joint Personnel Recovery Center, a secretive and highly classified POW/MIA unit in South Vietnam responsible for rescuing captives. Further, it uncovers one of the most tightly held POW/MIA secrets, the primary reason why the government did not think any Americans were left behind: a clandestine communication program between the POWs and the U.S. military. This still-sensitive program provided the identities and locations of American prisoners, defeating North Vietnamese efforts to keep their names and locations a secret.
The raids and efforts that make up the narrative of Code-Name Bright Light succeeded in freeing hundreds of captive South Vietnamese soldiers but resulted in the rescue of few Americans. The vast network of efforts, however, is a testament to the U.S. military's unknown commitment to freeing its captive soldiers. Veith concludes that the United States secretly went as far as any army could go in freeing its captives in this type of wartime situation. Our understanding of the war remains incomplete without this powerful history.
Synopsis
Code-Name Bright Light tells one of the great unknown stories of the Vietnam War: the American military's extensive secret operations to locate and rescue POW/MIAs during the conflict. It is a tale of tragedy and heroism revealed in full for the first time in this volume.
The history of the U.S. POW/MIA intelligence and wartime rescue operations has long remained concealed under the shroud of national security, unknown both to the public and to the families of the missing. George J. Veith has assembled an extensive range of previously unseen material, including recently declassified NSA intercepts, State Department cables, and wartime interrogation reports which reveal how the U.S. military conducted a centralized effort to identify, locate, and rescue its POW/MIAs.
Code-Name Bright Light also traces the development of the various national wartime POW intelligence operations and provides an in-depth look at the activities of the Joint Personnel Recovery Center, a secretive and highly classified POW/MIA unit in South Vietnam responsible for rescuing captives. Further, it uncovers one of the most tightly held POW/MIA secrets, the primary reason why the government did not think any Americans were left behind: a clandestine communication program between the POWs and the U.S. military. This still-sensitive program provided the identities and locations of American prisoners, defeating North Vietnamese efforts to keep their names and locations a secret.
The raids and efforts that make up the narrative of Code-Name Bright Light succeeded in freeing hundreds of captive South Vietnamese soldiers but resulted in the rescue of few Americans. The vast network of efforts, however, is a testament to the U.S. military's unknown commitment to freeing its captive soldiers. Veith concludes that the United States secretly went as far as any army could go in freeing its captives in this type of wartime situation. Our understanding of the war remains incomplete without this powerful history.
Synopsis
More than two decades after the end of the Vietnam war, U.S. government efforts to account for POW/MIAs continue to divide Americans, many of whom are persistently critical of what they believe are the government's cover-ups and ineptitude in attempting to find, rescue, and account for the missing. For decades shrouded by issues of "national security", the history of U.S. POW/MIA intelligence and wartime rescue operations is only now coming to light.
Dramatically, Code-Name Brightlight reveals for the first time the true extent of the U.S. military's extensive and risky operations designed to identify, locate, and recover its missing soldiers. Former Army Captain George Veith secured first-time interviews with intelligence and combat officers involved, and through extraordinary access to personal diaries, previously unknown records, and eyewitness accounts, he uncovers one of the most tightly held POW/MIA secrets: a clandestine communication program between the POWs and the U.S. military. This groundbreaking book is sure to cause controversy, even as it sheds welcome new light on one of the country's most divisive episodes.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 357-392) and index.
About the Author
A former army captain, George J. Veith commanded a tank battalion in West Germany and served for almost seven years in different command positions in U.S. combat units in Germany and the United States. An acknowledged expert on the POW issue, he was asked to address the 1995 League of Families convention on the subject of POW/MIAs, presented a paper in 1996 at a symposium of the Center for the Study of the Vietnam Conflict at Texas Tech University, and is frequently asked to speak before POW/MIA activist groups. Veith has been instrumental in putting the POW/MIA issue on the Internet as well. He lives with his wife and children in Aston, Pennsylvania. Code-Name Bright Light is his first book.
Table of Contents
Contents Preface: 30 Kilometers West of Soc Trang, Mekong Delta, South Vietnam
0900 Hours, October 8, 1966
1100 Hours, October 11, 1966, Can Tho
1330 Hours, October 18, 1966, Soc Trang Airfield
1400 Hours, October 18, 1966, Bien Hoa Airport, Saigon
1425 Hours, Command Helicopter, South of the Landing Zone
1600 Hours, Tree Line
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
MACV-SOG, the Joint Personnel Recovery Center, and Search and Rescue
Terminology and Geography
Research
Conclusion
2. 1961-64: Early Losses
The Plain of Jars
Communist POW Policy
Into Vietnam
The First Civilians
Eugene Debruin
Overrun
The MIA List Starts to Grow
Yankee Team Recon
3. The First Angry Family
The Kidnapping of Gustav Hertz
"I"m just trying to find my brother"
"No one even cried": The First Raids
A Hot Summer
Escapes
"Right through the front and grab the American"
"Running through the jungle blindly"
Roraback and Versace
The First Attempt: The Joint Recovery Center
Smith and McClure Are Released
4. The Men in the Caves of Laos
Sullivan Takes Over
Charles Shelton and David Hrdlicka
The Men in the Caves
Hrdlicka Makes an Appeal
Going After the Men in the Caves
Dieter Dengler Escapes from Laos
Mahaxay
POWs and Lao Politics
5. State Begins to Act
Efforts Through the Red Cross
Algiers
The Vogel Proposal
Opening Other Channels
The Threat of Trials
Questions about American POWs: Finding Out Who Was Alive
Raid in Phu Yen: Looking for Evidence Against the VC
6. The Joint Personnel Recovery Center
Bringing in the Cavalry: Activating the JPRC
The JPRC Swings into Action
Crossing Borders -- Canasta 572 and Commando 01
Changes to the Escape and Evasion Program: Code Letters
Battlefield Exchanges
Money for a Map
Cobra Tail and Hot Snap
Crimson Tide
Finally, Success
7. Reciprocal Release
Improving the E&E Program
Going into North Vietnam
Afraid to Pull the Trigger
Reciprocal Release: Scales and Monahan, Crafts and Womack
The Hunt for Douglas Ramsey and Donald Cook
The Stratton Incident: Brainwashing or Torture?
Forming the First POW Committees
The Power Behind the Throne
Still Searching in Laos
End-game for Hertz
State Continues to Deal: The Buttercup Exchange
8. "Colonel, how many men do you think one American is worth?"
Saving the JPRC: Reisner Briefs Westmoreland
"You're a crazy son of a bitch": Planning to Raid Ap Lo
"In the Central Highlands forever": The 4th ID Wants Its Men Back
Dealing with Thieves
The Return of Jackson, Johnson, and Pitzer; Finding Nick Rowe
Post-SAR Success and Failure
"We just can't do it": Disaster in Hue
Searching For Civilians: Blood, Benge, and Olsen
9. The Year of Releases
Releasing Prisoners: Two Pairs from the South
...and Three from the North
The Next Release
Escapes
Improving the JPRC: Keeping the Pressure On
Debacle in Laos: The Loss of Site 85
Brigham, Smith, and Jones
10. Camp of the Week
The Peace Talks Open
Turmoil in the JPRC
Camp of the Week
Beating the Bush for Rowe
Tightening the Noose
"Wouldn't you want to rescue a lieutenant just like you?": Rowe Tastes Freedom
Searching for Bodies
Sullivan Remains Untouched; Arthur Hesford Visits Laos
Never Give Up Hope: Code Letters and Post-SAR Attempts
Van Putten Escapes
11. MACV for JPRC
Getting the CIA More Involved
Death of a POW
Monteray Angler: Trying to Solve the Problems
Escapes and Recoveries
Growing Frustration: Oak Circle
The Families Demand Action: Laird Goes Public
Three More from Hanoi
Godley Replaces Sullivan
Updating the Lao Database
Out of the Stone