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mayhem riders has adopted the following P.O.W from operation just cause
Name: James Milian Rozo
Rank/Branch: E4/US Army
Unit: 595th Signal Company, 36th Signal Battalion,
2nd Signal Group, 1st
Signal Brigade
Date of Birth: 18 October 1948
Home City of Record: Buffalo NY
Date of Loss:
23 June 1970
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 110933N 1063858E (XT801340)
Status (in 1973): Prisoner
of War
Category: 1
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: 2-ton Truck
Refno: 1639
Source: Compiled from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S.
Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published
sources, interviews.
Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 1998.
Other Personnel In Incident: Robert P. Phillips; Joe P. Pederson (missing)
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: At about 1100 hours on June 23, 1970, SFC Joe P. Pederson, supply
sergeant; SP4 James M.
Rozo, armorer; and Pvt. Robert P. Phillips, unit
supply specialists, all from the 595th Signal Company, left their base
at
the Lai Khe Signal site for the Phuoc Vinh Signal site in a GMC 2 1/2 ton
vehicle on a supply mission. These men
were updating clothing records,
retrieving excess equipment, adjusting receipts and inventorying weapons of
two outlying
subunits of the 595th Signal Company.
Before leaving the Lai Khe site, Sgt. Pederson was told by three separate
individuals
to go down to the "new Phuoc Vinh road", because the "cutoff to
Ben Cat" was closed to traffic. The cutoff had been reported
to be mined,
and had a high probability of ambush.
At 1530 hours on the same day, the truck used by SFC Pederson
and the two
enlisted men was discovered by ARVN and U.S. Mobile Assistance Team 33
elements in a ditch along provincial
highway 7B in Binh Duong Province,
South Vietnam. The truck's engine was still running. Initial reports
indicated that
the vehicle had no major damage other than a blown tire, and
both front windshields shattered. Assorted signal equipment
and supply
records were found, but there was no sign of any of the personnel in the
area. A search party found one dead
Viet Cong and the three Americans'
rifles jammed, and they surmised that the men had been ambushed and
surrendered to
the enemy.
In September 1970, a Viet Cong was captured who said he was part of the
ambush and he claimed that one
of the men (Pederson) had been killed and
buried near the location of the incident, but that the other two had been
captured.
The following day, the company commander of the 595th inspected the vehicle
and found 12 small calibre bullet holes,
the left front tire shattered, a
small hole in the canvas top, and small metal objects in the cab. However,
there were
no indications of blood.
Initially, the three men were listed Missing In Action while the government
took 15 months
to determine the validity of the Viet Cong's story. Then, in
November 1971, a captured Viet Cong told interrogators he
had seen two POWs
being evacuated from South Vietnam into Cambodia. His description of the men
fit Phillips and Rozo,
whom he described as tired but healthy. Their status
was quickly changed to POW. Pederson was maintained as Missing.
In 1973, 591 American prisoners were returned home. Rozo, Phillips and
Pederson were not among them. The Vietnamese
deny any knowledge of the
three. Follow up reports on these three men remain classified in 1989,
although they have
been officially declared "presumed dead".
In October, 1985, Rozo's parents were informed that their son escaped prison
in
1973 and was not recaptured. His whereabouts are unknown. Rozo's parents
are understandably disturbed that it took the
U.S. Government 12 years to
tell them this, and wonder what additional information remains hidden from
them under the
blanket of "classified". They wonder if their son is one of
the many said to be still alive in captivity in Southeast Asia.
----------------------------------
[ssrep6.txt 02/09/93]
South Vietnam James M. Rozo
Robert P.
Phillips
Joe P. Pederson
(1639)
On June 23, 1970, Sergeant First Class Joe P. Pederson, Private
Robert P.
Phillips and Specialist Fourth Class Rozo, members of the
595th Signal Company, departed the town of Lai Khe to drive to
Phuoc
Vinh. They never arrived at their intended destination and
were declared missing. Information culled from enemy POWs during
the
war claimed that two individuals were captured alive during the
ambush of their vehicle. Additional information was received
that
the two were initially taken to the Sub-Region 5 Headquarters and
were then taken in the direction of Cambodia.
Other information
alleged they were in a prison from which they attempted to escape,
resulting in one of them being
killed and the other successfully
escaping.
Rozo, Phillips and Pederson were all listed as POW at the end of
Operation
Homecoming. They were later declared dead/body not
recovered. Returning U.S. POWs were unable to provide any
information
on their fate.
The Joint Casualty Resolution Center field investigators in Vietnam
have located witnesses to the
imprisonment of the three Americans.
Two were in captivity when they reportedly attempted to escape from
a jungle prison
and were killed by mines around the prison.
please help us with our cause and write a letter to the President, Congressmen and
Representatives. Let
them know how concerned you are about the POW/MIA's
who have still not returned home. below are email addresses
for your elected
officials:
ne
325 Essjay Road, Suite 405
Williamsville, NY 14221
Phone: 716.634.2324
Fax:
716.631.7610
1577 West Ridge Road
Greece, NY 14615
Phone: 585.663.5570
Fax: 585.663.5711
w york congressman chris lee
At a loss for words? Not sure what to tell the President or your Congressman? Well, here
are three examples that you can use in their entirety (just copy and paste), or use parts of them to construct your own letter.
Example #1:
"Dear Senator, what is being done to determine the fate of Sfc Daniel R Phillips-USASF,
who was last seen fighting his way through the perimeter during the seige of LangVei on 2/7/68? No remains were ever found
although there was an intensive search of the area later on, and no one saw him fall. There is no evidence that he was killed
and he is known to have been capable of surviving under harsh conditions. Please advise me of any action that is being taken
by you or any other elected appointed official to determine his fate.
In the event there is nothing being done, please explain why not, and tell me how you personally plan to correct this
and prevent it from ever happening again."
Example #2:
"Dear Sir, I am attaching the pertinent information on Col Harold Kahler, of Lincoln,
Nebraska. Col Kahler has been missing in action since 1969!! We want to make you aware that his family, his friends, and myself,
one among many to take up the Cause, find this an outrage, and completely unacceptable. I demand that you take a bit of time
to look into this matter--to help us find the Col, and if not to return him safely to his family, then to put this issue to
rest once and for all. It is appalling to think you have given up on a human life. An American human life! One who bravely
and selflessly fought for YOUR freedom.
>Example #3:
"Dear Sir, What is being done to determine the fate of Col Harold Kahler, USAF, who was last seen over Sam Neua, Laos,
June 14, 1969?
This is an American pilot who has remained on the MIA list for 28 years. Doesn't his devotion to his country award him
the priviledge and honor of being buried in his own homeland soil if he is in fact deceased? Should, by any miracle, Kahler
remain alive, should he be left behind in a foreign country knowing his country abandoned him? Do his family and loved ones
not deserve to know the fate of their son, brother, friend and loved one nor be allowed to put a closure to this after so
many years?
Please advise me of any action that is being taken by you or any other elected or appointed official to determine his
fate. In the event there is nothing being done, please explain why not, and tell me how you personally plan to correct this
and prevent it from ever happening again."
Actions of Our Elected Officials:
April 3, 1973: Pathet Lao (Laotian Communist) forces declare they are holding more
than 100 American POWs and are prepared to give a full accounting of them The U.S. government responds 9 days later declaring
they are all dead -- without ever talking to the Laotians about the POWs they admit holding!
1970-1976: After the French pay an unspecified sum of money to the Vietnamese, the communists release POWs captured
in 1954! The North Vietnamese had claimed all of then had died.
August 19, 1986: The Wall Street Journal reports the White House knew in 1981 Vietnam wanted to sell an unspecified
number of live POWs for $4 billion. The White House decided the offer was genuine -- and ignored it!
September 30, 1986: The New York Times reports a Pentagon panel estimates up to 100 live American POWs are held
in Vietnam alone.
October 7, 1986: CIA Director William Casey says: "Look, the nation knows they (the POWs)are there, everybody
knows they are there, but there's no grounds well of support for getting them out. Certainly, you are not suggesting we pay
for them, surely not saying we could do anything like that with no public support."
January 1988: A cable from the Joint Casualty Resolution Center states that during General Vessey's visit to
Hanoi, "The Vietnamese people were prepared to turn over 7 or 8 live American POWs if Vessey told then what they wanted to
hear. All the prospective returnees were allegedly held in a location on the Lao side of the border."
September 1990: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Interim Report on POW/MIA's in Southeast Asia concluded
that despite public assurances in 1973 that no POWs remained in the region, the Defense Department ". . . in April 1974 concluded
beyond a doubt that several hundred American POWs remained in captivity in Southeast Asia."
October 1990: Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach admits Vietnam still holds American POWs but is willing
to release "as many as 10 live American POWs." His offer, like others before it, is ignored by Secretary of State James Baker
III.
February 1991: Colonel Millard Peck, Chief of the Pentagon's Special Office for Prisoners of War and Missing
in Action, resigns in protest of being ordered by policy makers in the POW/MIA Inter-Agency Group not to investigate live-sighting
reports of American POWs!
April 25, 1991: Senator Bob Smith addresses the Senate and reveals that, of more than 1,400 eyewitness sightings
of live POWs, NONE has ever received an on-site investigation!
May 23, 1991: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Examination of U.S. Policy Toward POW/MIAs concludes that
the U.S. has ignored thousands of American POWs, and left them to rot in Soviet slave labor camps and North Korean and Vietnamese
prisons. "Any evidence that suggested an MIA might be alive was uniformly and arbitrarily rejected."
Summer 1991: A flood of new evidence of live POWs pours from Southeast Asia: pictures, handwriting samples, hair
samples, blood samples, fingerprints, foot-prints, maps and other physical proof. The Bush administration disregards the evidence
and attempts to discredit it by rumor and innuendo. Some of the photos are scientifically validated -- and have never been
scientifically disproven!
All these facts are a matter of public record and clearly indicate that we have some serious problems in the POW/MIA
arena that our elected officials refuse to acknowledge.
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