I
Th Dairy Tgr Hl ; . Friday, Feb. 21, 1975
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Editors note: Bella English, a senior
journalism major, conducted personal
interviews with wives or mothers of MI As in
Goldsboro, Raleigh, Fayetteville and Dunn.
In telephone interviews, she talked with
'numerous other MIA relatives, and with
U.S. Department of Defense and Air Force
officials. She also interviewed a former
POW and spokesmen in the UNC Naval
ROTC and the state government.
Paul Underwood climbed the bright
yellow metal ladder up to the cockpit of the
sleek F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bomber.
To 39-year-old Underwood, it was just
another bombing run. He had already
piloted 101 missions over Korea and now
more than 20 over North Vietnam.
The 19-year veteran of the Air Force, he
had made major, and lieutenant colonel
should come soon. He was on his last tour of
duty.
He settled his large frame into the narrow
cockpit, adjusted the red-and-white helmet
over his dark hair and glanced up at the sky.
Soon he was airborn.
It was March 16, 1966.
Not long after takeoff from the Thailand
base, he Jived to bomb a bridge at
Dienbienphu, a North Vietnamese city near
the border of Laos. Suddenly antiaircraft
fire erupted from the ground. The F-105 was
hit. It lost altitude and crashed into a
mountain.
Other U.S. pilots said they saw a
parachute. But today, almost nine years after
the plane crashed, the U.S. government and
Underwood's family still don't know if he's
alive or dead. He's listed as missing in action.
"We always have some hope, but 1 really
don't believe anyone's alive over there," Mrs.
Gloria Underwood, his wife, says. She
finally decided last year that her husband
wasn't coming home.
She is sitting in the living room of her
white-frame home in Goldsboro. She holds a
black scrapbook filled with pictures and
newspaper clippings of her husband. She
goes through it occasionally. "But I never go
back through his letters," she says. "1 try to
block most of that out."
She leaves the room and returns with the
jacket of an Air Force uniform. Ten medals
gleam above the left pocket. "1 don't even
know what some of these are for," she says
with a sigh. "1 think one of them is a
Distinguished Flying Cross." She smoothes
a wrinkle in the jacket.
She and Paul had six children: Marilyn,
now 25, Kathy, 22, James and Richard, 20-'
year-old identical twins, David, 14, and
Patty. Now 9, Patty was three weeks old
when her father left for Vietnam.
The children now accept the fact that their
father may be dead.
Mrs. Underwood says she is not bitter at
the government. "To me, the government's
hands are tied, and they're doing the best
they can." She says she is not the banner
waving type and hates sympathy:
"Paul was doing what he loved most of all.
He only had to fly 100 missions over Korea,
but he flew an extra one for a buddy who had
been killed. He flew something like 23 in
Vietnam. 1 really can't remember. I've kind
of blocked that part out." Her voice
breaks. But she is bitter about Vietnam. "The
whole war was a wasTe of time, money and
lives. When 1 get requests for money to help
rebuild South Vietnam and to take care of
the kids, I get angry. Why doesn't the U.S.
look after its own poor kids'?"
Monthly Pay
As long as her husband is missing in action
(MIA), Mrs. Underwood receives his
monthly paycheck. She also receives 10 per
cent interest by putting her money in savings
in the U.S. Service Deposit Program. She
pays no federal income taxes unless she goes
to work or her husband returns.
Her situation is not unlike those of at least
27 other wives or parents in the state, all with
an MIA husband or son. North Carolina
with its large Army base at Ft. Bragg, and
Seymore Johnson Air Force Base at
Mr. and Mrs. Flntress Johnson of Rocky Mount with
daughter, Caroline, and son, Darrell. The picture was taken
Vietnam still a living tragedy for 28 Tar Heel
Goldsboro has more MI As than any other
Southern state. South Carolina, for
example, has 10.
Because U.S. troops pulled out of
Vietnam in early 1973 and most POWs were
released by the spring of that year, the
Vietnam war is not headline news today. But
it continues to haunt 28 Tar Heel families.
Tar Heel MI As come from all over the
state. One was reported missing in June
1973, five months after the Paris peace
pact was signed. Seven have been missing
since 1966, two years longer than any MI As
from WWII or Korea. A statute that
previously declared MI As dead after seven
Pentagon efforts
What is the U.S. government doing about the MI As?
Maj. Larry Ogle, a Defense Department public affairs spokesman,
explained government actions recently in a telephone interview.
"A four-party joint military team including the North and South
Vietnamese, the Viefcong and the United States was set up by the Paris peace
pact. Its purpose is to locate the missing and the remains of the dead whose
bodies weren't found." ,
The North Vietnamese and Vietcong have boycotted the Saigon meetings
for the past year, Ogle said. "We meet with the South Vietnamese, but so
many areas are controlled by the North Vietnamese that there's not much we
can do."
But American investigators have worked out a system with South
Vietnamese troops. According to a United Press International report, South
Vietnamese troops conduct the actual search in areas where security is poor,
and U.S. team members direct activities from nearby safe areas.
Headquarters for the probe is the Joint Casualty Resolution Center at
Thailand's isolated Nakhon Phanom Air Base, the U.S. military headquarters
for Southeast Asia.
Last year, search teams brought the bodies of 65 persons. Five MIAs were
identified positively, but word on the other 60 bodies has not been released.
On Dec. 13, the Pentagon sent a statement to the North Vietnamese and
Vietcong urging the release of information on 87 other MIAs. A State
Department spokesman said photos and articles in Communist publications
show that there is information on the men's fate. But nothing has come of it
yet.
years doesn't apply to Vietnam because
Congress never declared war.
Some children of MIAs never saw their
fathers. Others have dim recollections. A few
Tar Heel families have had an MIA husband
or son declared killed in action (KIA), but
most still hope for word of their loved ones.
Nationally, the Pentagon listed 941 MIAs
in Southeast Asia in late 1974. But private
groups organized to determine the fate of the
MIAs say there are more. Some groups pay
for billboard space along highways to say
that "1300 American Men Are Missing."
Whatever the exact number, the
percentage of M IAs in Vietnam islower than
in World War II and the Korean conflict.
Dr. Roger E. Shields, U.S. deputy
assistant secretary of defense, testified before
the House Armed Services Committee on
Nov. 19 that 1,363 MIAs and 1,100 KlAs
(bodies not recovered) a total of 2,463
men were unaccounted for after the POWs
left Vietnam. That is approximately 4.3 per
cent of the total American deaths in
Vietnam, compared to 33 per cent of the
total M IAs and bodies unaccounted for after
both WWII and Korea. :
Shields said that even if North Vietnam
cooperated fully with the United States,
some MIA cases would not be resolved. The
Paris Peace Pact has no provision to account
for the more than 300 Americans who died
or are listed as missing in Cambodia, China
or Laos.
"If we consider.i.the ravages of war and
passage of time..., there may still be some
men for whom the other side simply cannot
account, and where searches may prove
fruitless," Shields said. He cited men
declared missing in 1942 whose bodies were
not found until 1974. Their funerals were
held then. Despite such explanations from
government officials, most Tar Heel families
interviewed say the government isn't doing
enough.
"If President Ford would stay at home
instead of going to Japan and places like
) ?
that, they could go over there and try to find
our boys," Mrs. Myrtle Butler of Dunn says.
Mrs. Butler's eldest son, James, has been
missing since March 20, 1970, when his plane
was shot down near the Mekong Delta. She
learned of the incident on March 24, on her
return from a trip to California for her
youngest son's wedding. Army personnel'
met her at her front door.
"Later they sent me an outline of the little
ole plane Jimmy was in," she recalls. "Now
how they know how the bullet went through
that plane when they said they never found
the plane I'll never understand." She
shakes her head.
"Jimmy put his whole heart into flying,"
Mrs. Butler says. "He wanted to buy a plane
and do commercial flying when he got
home."
Hopes and Doubts
Mrs. Butler talks about her hopes and
doubts. "Sometimes I think he'll come back,
and then sometimes I think he couldn't
possibly be alive after that. But I tell you, if
he don't come back..." Her voice trails off.
She holds up her right arm, showing a
bracelet inscribed "James E. Butler, 3-20-70."
"I'm not taking it off-until 1 hear
something more about my son," she says. 1
Another Tar Heel mother wears a bracelet
with her son's name and the date he was
listed as missing. 1 haven't taken it off since
I put it on," Mrs. Berte Howell, 54, of
Fayetteville says.
Capt. Carter Howell's plane was shot
down by ground fire on March 7, 1972. The
New York Times reported the incident three
days later
In a delayed report, the United States
command said one F-4 was shot down
- Tuesday by ground fire while attacking the
Ho Chi Minh supply trail network in
southern Laos. The two crewmen are
missing, the command said.
Mrs. Howell discusses the incident: "I
won't accept the fact that he will never come
home because they haven't searched Laos
since the peace pact."
The Howells are a military family. Mrs.
Howell's husband, retired Army Col.
Alphonso Howell, 57, attended the Citadel
in Charleston, S.C. H is only other son is now
a junior there.
"It's just second nature for Carter to want
to go to Vietnam," Mrs. Howell says. "I'll
never forget when Carter left for Okinawa.
He said to his father, 'Now Daddy, don't go
clean up Vietnam. Wait for me to help you
out.'
A friend of the Howells, Lt. Col. Ray,
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the day before Darrell, then 21, left for Vietnam. He has been
missing in action since 1SS3.
Schrump, was a POW for five years in South
Vietnam. He wears Carter Howell's bracelet
and speaks on behalf of MIAs throughout
the state.
Schrump believes most MIAs are dead but
that the government should try to account
for as many as possible.
44The government's apathy is
overwhelming," he says. Schrump and
others have asked G ov. J ames H olshouser to
deliver a personal resolution to President
Ford stating that North Carolina wants her
MIAs accounted for.
Another person who wants more
government action is Mrs. Susan Borden.
Her husband, Capt. Murray Borden, was
flying his 86th mission on the night of Oct.
13, 1966. His plane was shot down over the
Ho Chi Minh trail.
On Feb. 8, 1974, nine years after he
disappeared, she requested that he be
declared killed in action (KIA).
Mrs. Borden, 32, now is a systems
engineer for IBM in Raleigh. She explains
that her husband's status change does not
mean he is dead legally. By law, there mus1
be a body to declare death. The change
cleared up financial matters.
Many wives don't want their husbands
declared KIA, Mrs. Borden says. "Those
who are older with children and who
probably won't remarry say 'Why should I
have him declared dead when 1 can get his
salary every monthT But nobody can pay for
that life, even though the government tries."
She says her husband's absence ruined the
best years of her life. "I prayed for Murray's
death a year after the accident. There are
worse things than death." No one can exist
under those circumstances and remain sane,
she says.
"You accept what happens, you go on, you
live, and you get happy," Mrs. Borden says.
"I never said 'Why me?' A lot more people
have a helluva lot more to endure than me."
But the tall attractive blonde says she is
bitter over what she calls the insensitivity of
the state government.
North Carolina fined her for not having
her husband declared dead eight years ago,
she says. State officials inisisted that she pay
some back taxes for the last eight years.
"Sixteen dollars for eight years. How
ridiculous is that?" she asks. She refuses to
pay the sum.
Rocky Mount Mother
One Rocky Mount mother is optimistic
that her son will return. Mrs. Mildred
Johnson, 52, describes his disappearance
during a recent telephone interview.
S. Sgt. Darrell Johnson has been missing
since Jan. 19, 1968, when his company
encountered a large North Vietnamese force -in
the central- highlands of South. Vietnam.
His platoon was left to help cover the
withdrawal of allied troops. The men heard
an English-speaking voice.
"As lead man, Darrell went into a ravine
to investigate, and it turned out to be a North
Vietnamese speaking English," Mrs.
Johnson says.
A soldier who was nearby wrote Mrs.
Johnson recently that Darrell had hidden
behind a tree and was alive when the soldier
saw him last.
Darrell Johnson was 21 when he
disappeared seven years ago. He was 6 feet
tall and , weighed 195 pounds "real
muscular" his mother says.
As state coordinator of the League of
Families, Mrs. Johnson attends annual
Stories
by
Bella English
Support of MIA families
costs government millions
Support for the MIA families across the
nation costs more than $20 million a year. It
amounts to $280,000 annually in North
Carolina, at the very least.
Some North Carolina families fear that
the government will soon declare the MIAs
killed in action, partly because of the
monthly paycheck each family continues to
get.
But one Defense Department official
denies this, saying money is not the main
issue. "The men were in service to their
country," Col Lawrence Robson said in a
recent telephone interview. "We have to
make every effort to provide their pay to
their families.
"And when you consider that the
government has a military budget in the
billions, it's really a small amount that we
pay the families," Robson said.
President Ford has asked the Congress to
increase the military budget from $84 billion
allocated in 1974 to $95 billion for the 1975
fiscal year.
Approximately $23 million went for
payments to MIA families in 1974, a Defense
Department spokesman estimated. Each
paycheck depends on the amount the
missing man designated for his family in case
he was killed in action or missing. The rest
usually goes into a federal savings program;
if the MIA comes home or is declared dead,
the family receives the savings.
Most MIAs have been promoted in rank
since they were reported missing. In the
military, like many private firms, men draw
higher salaries as their tenure increases. The
MIA families receive the increases.
The promotions depend on tenure and
rank. A full colonel is the highest rank to
1
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Col. Paul Underwood of Goldsboro In
base In 1968, shortly before his plans
league meetings in Washington, D.C., writes
letters to congressmen and the President,
organizes the sale of MIA bracelets and
bumper stickers and participates in marches
for MIAs.
She talked briefly with President Ford
when he came to Southern Pines in
September to dedicate the National Golf
Hall of Fame. He told her the North
Vietnamese are very hard to deal with.
"It seems we could threaten to cut off trade
with Communist countries or use our
economic power somehow to pressure the
North. Vietnamese to send us word," she
says.
H ope keeps her going, M rs. J ohnson says.
"It's been a long seven years, but I've felt
from the start Darrell is alive." .
Robert Hall, 67, of Waynesville, is also
active in.lhe.MI A.-awarenes& campaign H is
onlychild, FrederickTwas reported missing,,
on April ,'l27" 1969,' when " mT plane
disappeared into a cloud bank during bad
weather.
Through Mr. Hall's efforts, Waynesville
had an MIA awareness week in the fall. The
local Jaycees convinced state Jaycees to take
on an MIA-awareness project.
Local chapters adopt an M I A and pay $5 a
month to the League of Families. The league
uses the money for various MIA projects.
Hall says.
Fred Hall, a University of North Carolina
graduate, is 3 1 years old. His wife, the former
Julie "Keith of Houston, Tex., is 27. They
were married only three months when he was
reported missing. '
Despite a "long six years and a lot of ,
which an MIA has been promoted, Robson
said.
. Title 37 of the U.S. Code allows the
secretary of each military branch to increase
an individual family's allotment with the
changing economy, if he sees fit. The
accompanying chart shows an average pay
scale for an officer with 10 years of service.
For the 28 Tar Heel MIAs, fjie least
possible amount of annual support to the
families would be $280,000. It is certain that
that figure is an understatement, for it is
derived from basic pay for the lowest rank
and ignores food and other allowances.
BASIC MONTHLY PAY
OFFICERS WITH 10
The first ranking in each pair is a
or Air Force equivalent.
Captain
Colonel
Commander
Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant Commander
Major
Lieutenant
Captain
Lieutenant Junior Grade
First Lieutenant
Ensign
Second Lieutenant
ns. .run
fYivN (of nil I
families
'
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front of his F-105 Thunderchief at a Thailand
was shot down.
discouragement," Mrs. Irene Hall, 61. still
hopes her son will return. "Parents never
give up hope on their children," she says.
The Halls express disappointment over
the lack of government intervention.
"The Paris peace pact isn't worth the
paper it's written on," Hall says. He read the
entire pact and says the North Vietnamese
have not adhered to it by refusing to allow
search teams in their country.
"The last words Nixon said when he spoke
to the League were 1 will not let you down.'
Of course, those were just vords," Mrs. Hall
says.
It's easy to understand the feelings of the
Halls and the other MIA families, since their
loved ones are involved. And they have had
false hopes. The U.S. government promised
an active involvement in accounting for the
missing men, b;ut, many pepple say that
nyo (vdinent;? Kvav; Jb Orietf first under
Watergate and riow under the oifcrisis and
inflation. The North Vietnamese have
blocked U.S. efforts to search Communist
territory for clues of the M IAs. Some people
say the news media are too silent on the MIA
issue, for 21 newsmen are among the
missing.
And as the waiting, hope, patience,
despair and discouragement continue for the
Tar Heel families.
Ray Schrump, the former POW. says
emphatically: "If there are any M IAs alive in
Vietnam, you can be sure they're counting on
the American people to help them."
But now after the Jan. 27 second
anniversary of the Paris peace pact, it looks
more and more doubtful that they're alive.
In addition to basic monthly pay. each
MIA family receives a monthly basic
allowance for food and housing. The
amount depends on the man's rank and the
number of dependents. For example, an
officer 3 with dependents receives $206.40
per month for housing. All officers receive
$50.52 per month for food. So an officer 3's
family receives $606.24 for food plus
$2,476.80 for housing, annually. Hoslile fire
pay, flight pay and hazardous duty pay are,
also given to the families, if the man was
receiving the money when he was declared
missing.
EFFECTIVE OCT 1 1974
YEARS OF SERVICE
Navy officer, the second is the Armv
3
Month
$1,565.70.
1,384.20
1330.50
1,267.50
1,011.60
798.30
Year
$18,788.40
16,610.40
15,966.00
15,210.00
12,139.20
9,579.60