The American Pearl
Page 41
“Pattie, tell me where you are. I’ll come get you.”
“Where’s Mom? Is she there?”
She hears a deep breath from the other end.
“She’s passed, baby. Years ago. She hadn’t been well.”
“Oh, Dad.”
“I can’t believe it! Where are you? Tell me where you are. I’ll come get you.”
Elaine had prepared her words, and now they spill out like marbles to the floor. “I’m married, Dad, and we have a good life, and I’m working part time. At a real estate office. It’s good where I am, and I’m happy and I don’t want you to worry about me. Please don’t worry about me.”
“Please, baby, tell me where you are.”
She checks the kids again. Glances up and down the street.
“Dad, I can’t stay on. But I love you. I’m really fine. I had to let you know. And I’ll call back, Dad. I hope soon. I promise.”
“Wait, Pattie!”
“I promise, Dad. I promise. I have to go. I love you, Dad.”
Elaine McCann hangs up. Her whole body is shaking. She tries to collect herself as she makes her way back to the car. Through her tears, she can see the kids watching her as she approaches.
She gets behind the wheel. Her blouse is soaked. Her mind a million miles away.
“Ice cream!” Alexander yells from the back. “Can we get some ice cream?”
Stabs of pain down her back as Elaine turns toward them. But it’s nothing, now. Nothing. She’s fine. Fine.
She manages a smile. “Ice cream, you say?” she says, putting her finger to her chin, pretending to consider it. “Hmm. Let’s see. How about at Dairy Queen?”
Their eyes grow wide. “Yeah,” Alexander shouts. “I want chocolate!”
“I want chocolate too!” Ava chimes in.
Elaine McCann starts the car. “I think I’ll have a tall vanilla swirl,” she tells them. “With rainbow sprinkles on top.”
“And a chocolate dip, too,” Alex says. “You always get that.”
Elaine McCann heads down the street, looking left and right. “There must be a Dairy Queen around here somewhere,” she tells them.
“Let’s see if we can find it.”
Thank you
To my son, Preston Dane,
for bringing an actor’s eye to the details,
and keeping this story on the straight and narrow
To Katherine Picket
of POP Editorial Services,
whose insights and thoroughness
advanced this story at every level
A SPECIAL NOTE TO MY READER
I hope you enjoyed THE AMERICAN PEARL.
Independent authors depend on reviews. Thank you in advance.
If you’d like to contact me personally. Feel free to email me at: Hello@PeterGilboy.com
Thank you again.
A Conversation with
Author Peter Gilboy
Q. Did you have any involvement with MIA’s and prisoners held in Vietnam?
P.G. I was part of Operation Egress Recap, an odd name apparently referring to the “egress” and “recapture” of Americans held in North and South Vietnam.
Q. What were your responsibilities?
P.G. I was part of a three-man team that ran intelligence networks from Qui Nhon, South Vietnam, out into Binh Dinh Province. One of our tasks was to gather any information on “bright lights,” which was the code name for Americans still held by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese.
Q. Did we leave American soldiers behind when we left Vietnam?
P.G. As with so much about the Vietnam War, there is more than one side. The government, with some exceptions, claims we left no one there. But there is an underground of citizens made up of former intelligence operatives, former POW’s, their families and others who set forth very different views.
Q. What do you think?
P.G. I think that we left soldiers behind. Maybe a lot of them.
Q. Can you prove that?
P.G. No, I can’t. I’m relying on the statements of those who knew. In 1992, General Eugene Tighe, then director of the Defense Intelligence Agency admitted to congress that indeed we had left soldiers there. He said that he based this on the evidence he had.
Two secretaries of defense came to the same conclusion. Melvin Laird, Secretary of Defense from 1969 to 1972. Laird testified to congress, under oath in an open session, “I think that as of now that I can come to no other conclusion…some were left behind.”
James Schlesinger was Secretary of Defense from 1973 to 1975. Regarding the U.S. need to expeditiously leave Vietnam, he testified to Congress, “One must assume that we had concluded that the bargaining position of the United States…was quite weak. We were anxious to get our troops out and we were not going to roil the waters…”
Q. Were there others who made similar assertions?
P.G. Yes. Simple Internet searches will reveal their names and positions, as well as the oppositions to their views, in many cases simply by disqualifying an otherwise credible source by attacking his character.
Q. What about all the sightings?
P.G. The government insists they are all mistakes or hoaxes.
Q. What benefit is it to the Vietnamese to keep our soldiers?
P.G. Le Duc Tho, the Vietnamese negotiator at the Paris Peace Talks, claimed that the issue of our POW’s was tied to “the question of reparations” for the destruction caused to their county.
Nixon had promised North Vietnam 3.25 billion dollars to rebuild the country. The Vietnamese have a long history of holding back captured soldiers for barter and ransom. By holding our soldiers as ransom, they hoped that Nixon would keep his reparations promise. Nixon had other problems, though, when he was dealing with the Watergate scandal and attempts at his impeachment. He never made good on the promise.
Q. Are all those who promote the view that we left soldiers there trustworthy?
P.G. Not all of them. Some are simply opportunists. Some liars.
Q. This was a long time ago for you? Have you had any involvement since then?
P.G. In the 1990’s I received a package forwarded to me by a former Vietnamese spy I had worked with. I emptied out the contents onto my dining room table, and found bones parts, rubbings of American dog tags, and some other things, including a letter purportedly written by an American still there.
Q. What did you do?
P.G. That began my investigation into the current MIA issue. Like most people, I had thought it was all over and resolved. I began researching all that I could and contacted as many people supposedly “in the know,” including the head of the DIA’s POW/MIA Joint Command.
Q. What did you learn?
P.G. My conclusion was that there are zealots on both sides of the issue. I didn’t know who to believe or trust. I ended up turning the artifacts over to a contact at the DIA. I never heard back from them.
Q. How can we get the facts?
P.G. The facts are out there, but sorting through the many claims and refutations, the “confirmations” and all the attempts to debunk them, as well as the attempts to discredit individuals personally, takes persistent inquiry and an open mind.
Q. Is The American Pearl a true story?
P.G. The characters are fictional, of course. But the places mentioned in the story are real. Even the coastal village of Cuy Hoa. As for the description of facts brought out regarding the men we left behind, I am basing much of that on my own research and personal conversations with knowledgeable individuals whom I trust.
Q. Can we contact you?
P.G. Yes, of course. My best email is Hello@PeterGilboy.com Please see my website too, at www.PeterGilboy.com.
Want to know more?
For Book Clubs to Explore & Discuss
1. Why did the U.S. fight in Vietnam?
https://www.thoughtco.com/why-did-us-enter-vietnam-war-195158
2. Another view on why the U.S. Fought in Vietnam:
ht
tps://www.prageru.com/courses/history/why-did-america-fight-vietnam-war
3. Link to our POW/MIA office:
http://www.dpaa.mil
4. Official POW/MIA list:
http://www.dpaa.mil/Our-Missing/Vietnam-War/Vietnam-War-POW-MIA-List/
5. Casualty summary:
http://thewall-usa.com
6. American women killed in Vietnam:
http://www.virtualwall.org/women.htm
7. CIA documents regarding POWs/MIAs
https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/collection/pow-mia
8. 41 Men left behind in Laos?:
http://peteralanlloyd.com/new-documents-link-some-pows-to-laos-evidence-suggests-up-to-41-men-were-left-behind-in-laos/
9. Who is Bobby Garwood?
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-07-09/news/9307090202_1_pow-mia-robert-garwood-sen-robert-smith
10. Who is John Syphrit? Why didn’t he testify?
http://www.beyondthekillingfields.com/did-america-abandon-vietnam-war-p-o-w-s-part-2/
http://www.beyondthekillingfields.com/did-america-abandon-vietnam-war-p-o-w-s-part-2/
11. Rep. Bill Hendon chains himself to a gate: - do you want a colon there?
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/05/world/world-news-briefs-mia-hunter-in-hanoi-chains-himself-to-gate.html
12. Discrediting Bill Hendon:
http://www.miafacts.org/hendon.htm
13. Who is Dieter Dengler?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartander-son/2017/05/20/dieter-dengler-heroic-immigrant-pi-lot-who-escaped-pow-camp/#35abdb4f35fb
14. The Scott Barnes story:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-01-29/news/8601080050_1_james-bo-gritz-laos-captive
15. Discrediting Scott Barnes:
https://www.agingrebel.com/13511/comment-page-1
16. MIA “facts” are simply “myths”:
http://www.miafacts.org/#about
17. Here is the “Walking K” satellite photo:
https://i0.wp.com/peteralanlloyd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/peter-alan-lloyd-BACK-novel-POWs-MIAs-in-Laos-backpackers-ind-anger-Ho-CHi-Minh-Trail-mysteries-secret-war-in-laos-POW-markings-signs-for-help-MIAs-4.jpg
18. Obama urged to Press Vietnam on POW/MIA’s
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/21/obama-urged-to-press-vietnam-over-missing-us-prison-ers-during-hi/
19. The first POW:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/no-man-left-behind/articles/behind-the-vietnam-war/
20. The last POW:
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,163082,00.html
21. Abandoned in Korea?
https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/foreign-policy/item/23970-some-u-s-and-uk-pows-may-still-be-alive-in-north-korean-camps-says-uk-paper
Peter Gilboy lives in Upstate New York with his dog, Dollar.
His website is: www.PeterGilboy.com
Peter is available for book club discussions and interviews.
He can be reached through email at: Hello@PeterGilboy.com