Chapter Twenty-Eight ~ It Just Keeps Coming

When I completed writing and publishing this book, I thought my leads for answers on Jim Birchim’s case had come to a stop. Having done historical research for this book, I knew that the issue of POW/MIAs would continue in the wars to come. I, unfortunately, have been proved correct on the historical phenomenon and incorrect on my husband’s case.

This country is, once again, embroiled in a war in Iraq and we have a new MIA by the name of SGT. Matt Maupin who has been in that category since April 9, 2004. Each day, body counts are rattled off by the press, but nothing is mentioned about Matt. So this country is repeating its sordid past.

Some startling events have taken place in the last year in regard to live POWs. In May of 2005, three Japanese soldiers from WWII were discovered in a remote section of the Philippines. Now in their 80s and 90s, they have been in hiding in fear of retribution from Japan.

In June 2005, 170 Humong walked out of the jungle on the boarder between Laos and Vietnam. They had been in hiding since the end of the Vietnam War, some 30 years ago. They told of others still in hiding in very remote jungle villages.

In October 2005, North Korea admitted to holding soldiers captured during the Korean War. It’s believed by the South Korean Red Cross that the numbers of POWs and abductees could number 1,031.

In November 2005, a South Korean, held in the north for more than 30 years, was released to the south.

About two years ago, another South Korean escaped from the north saying that hundreds of Americans from the Korean War were still being held in the north.

The press reported all of these stories in short articles on back pages. I have not seen follow-up reports on any these stories, nor have I seen articles that questioned our government as to what they were going to do about getting our LIVE American POWs home from Southeast Asia.

Let Vice-President Dick Chaney have a hunting accident and the press covers it for days. So why isn’t the press livid with the lack of our government’s interest about our men rotting in foreign prisons? It seems to be a golden opportunity for the press to crucify either or both political parties.

I know why our government doesn’t do anything. A four star general at the National League of Families government briefings in Washington, DC, admitted to me: our government looks at the country where the live sightings take place and if they don’t want to deal with that country, then they do not act on the live sighting reports. At least he was honest.

In December 2004, I was contacted by Dickie Hites at Joint Prisoner/MIA Accountability Command (JPAC). (This book was at the publishing house at the time.) He informed me that a recently released document had come across his desk that appeared to pertain to my husband. It was the debriefing of a Vietnamese in June 1969, in Saigon.

He had seen “a U.S. Army lieutenant on 2 April 1969 at the T-5 Liaison Station in Cambodia. The officer had been captured at Kieng in Kontum Province, SVN, by NVA soldiers. He had been wounded in the head when he attempted to flee. Despite his wounds, the prisoner appeared to be in fair condition; he was awake and alert during the observation period.”

The document describes the physical characteristics of the lieutenant, which fit Jim, and says that he was being transported north to the T-9 station. After researching all those men who were listed as POWs and MIAs in that area within six months of that April date, Dickie Hites told me the only lieutenant missing in the area was Jim Birchim. Because the government won’t admit this, they continue to label Jim with an MIA status. The document is the first to surface that puts Jim alive months after the initial incidence on 15 November 1968.

If that document isn’t amazing enough, in September 2005, I received a document from the National Archives, the result of my requesting information on Jim Birchim. The debrief of a returned POW in March 1973 at Clark AFB was one of the documents that came to me. On this statement it appears that the POW listed every man he came in contact with during his five years in the Vietnamese prison system. Of the forty-one names listed, one of them is James D. Birchim. In addition, Jim is the only one of the forty-one who has not been accounted for. The debriefed POW is alive today, but I’ve been unable to contact him. I’ve elicited the help of both JPAC and DPMO, and neither seems interested in making contact with this man on my behalf. I can only assume that they don’t want me talking with him.

Since I now have two documents that appear to show Jim was a POW, I will continue to push for him to be recognized as such. I’m sure this, too, will be an up-hill battle.

Barabar Birchim

Update January 11, 2010

AMERICANS RECOVERED: 1,721 Americans are now listed by Defense POW/MIA Office (DPMO) as missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.

DPMO recently posted the names of Major Russell C. Goodman, USAF, of Utah, KIA/BNR in North Vietnam on February 20, 1967, his remains were recovered December 15, 1993 and identified September 14, 2009.

Also announced were Staff Sergeant Melvin C. Dye, USA, of Michigan, and Sergeant First Class Douglas J. Glover, USA, of New York, both MIA in Laos February 19, 1968. Their remains were recovered November 21, 2007 and identified February 4, 2009.

The number of Americans accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is now 862, though another 63 US personnel were recovered post-incident and identified before the end of the war, bringing the total to 925.

To the family and friends of these three men, the League offers understanding and the hope that these concrete answers bring long-awaited peace of mind. Of the 1,721 unreturned veterans still missing and unaccounted for, 90% were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Laos and Cambodia under Vietnam's wartime control.