Shareware Supreme Volume 6 #1/swsii.zip/swsii/009/P096.ZIP/P096.TXT

Text File | 1989-11-11 | 4KB | 69 lines

PEDERSON, JOE PALMER

Name: Joe Palmer Pederson
Rank/Branch: E7/US Army
Unit: 595th Signal Company, 36th Signal Battalion, 2nd Signal Group, 1st Signal
Brigade
Date of Birth: 12 July 1935 (Manatt WA)
Home City of Record: Seaside CA
Date of Loss: 23 June 1970
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 110933N 1063858E (XT801340)
Status (in 1973): Missing in Action
Category: 1
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: 2-ton Truck
Other Personnel In Incident: James Rozo; Robert P. Phillips (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.