"NEVER LEAVE A FALLEN COMRADE BEHIND"

Mission POW MIA is proud to announce our involvement with the wartime artifact exchange conducted Wednesday in the Philippines between Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Vietnam's Minister of National Defense General Phan Van Giang.  Over the last several weeks we have been working closely with the Department of War as a key implementing partner in the Vietnam Wartime Accounting Initiative (VWAI) and through our Memorandum of Understanding with the Defense POW / MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) on this effort.

Last week, while in Washington, DC meeting with various Southeast Asia officials, we met with DPAA officials and turned over original wartime artifacts provided to Mission: POW-MIA by US Army veterans of the 1st Infantry Division and 9th Infantry Division, respectively, as part of our Operation: H.E.A.R.T. Program. These artifacts were returned to Vietnam along with a government report on suspected mass grave sites of Vietnamese soldiers on Wednesday by the Secretary. In exchange for these artifacts were identification media (ID cards, driver's licenses, Geneva Convention Cards) of a dozen US military personnel still listed as missing. To be clear, these items all belong to American MIAs. 

H.E.A.R.T. Stands for the "Honorable Exchange of Artifacts for Resolutions in Time". We request items of the missing; we do not request items belonging to resolved cases. We want original items and we provide original items in these exchanges. The families of the remaining 1565 missing Americans deserve to get something back related to their loved ones. We believe this program has proven itself with nearly two dozen items being returned to American families during the exchanges conducted since September of 2024.

In the 1990s work was done by US POW/MIA teams to try to catalog items on display in Vietnamese museums. Over the years, Vietnam has returned ID cards during high level visits of US officials. Unfortunately, artifacts have often been dismissed as having no probative value in case progression. We disagree wholeheartedly. The existence of an artifact, such as an ID card, can open new lines of investigation. If a pilot was suspected of going down in the water with his aircraft, why is his waterlogged ID card in the basement of a museum? It didn't just float to the surface. If a plane exploded in mid-air and no chute was observed, how is a perfectly intact ID card sitting on a shelf? Just because no chute was observed doesn't necessarily mean the pilot did not successfully eject. In these cases, it is highly likely somebody came into contact with the MIA, either alive or deceased, and physically removed these ID cards. 

Since we began Operation: H.E.A.R.T., we have had numerous success stories including exchanges with the President of Vietnam, the Minister of National Defense, exchanges conducted by DPAA and smaller scale exchanges which directly involved active American MIA family members. The exchanges have led to the return of dog tags, ID cards, Geneva Convention cards and driver's licenses. These items are not the remains of the missing, but these items were with the men when they were listed as MIA. These artifacts do give families SOMETHING and after waiting five or six decades, that is important. 

This program also does something else for the MIA families. It puts the families "IN" the fight for answers, not just on the sidelines. Our families get out and speak with veterans to collect these Vietnamese artifacts to exchange as part of coordinated efforts with the Department of War and DPAA. Our MIA families all have "skin in the game", they are the ONLY thing that has not changed in the entire POW/MIA issue. Government officials come and go, policies and practices change, enemies turn to allies and allies turn to enemies BUT the families of the missing are still HERE, and they want to see progress, they want to see results and most of all they want answers. Yesterday, one of the families that will be receiving the ID card of their MIA Dad spoke with us after they were notified of the exchange. It was truly an amazing call that solidified EVERYTHING we do has been worth it. We can't wait for the all the families to receive their loved one's personal items. 

Operation: H.E.A.R.T. is now the Operation: H.E.A.R.T. Veterans Initiative through our partnership with Vietnam Veterans of America, Project: S.I.T.R.E.P. with our partners at Healing Through History Inc and serving as an implementing partner for the Vietnam Wartime Accounting Initiative all are advancing the Mission to get answers for families.

If you are a Vietnam Veteran and have in your possession any war trophies that you are ready to part with, please reach out to us. If you are the family of a Vietnam Veteran who inherited items that you are not sure what to do with, please reach out to us. These items may lead to a future exchange with Vietnam in which families on both sides receive items of their lost loved ones. 

Mission: POW-MIA...
"Often imitated but never duplicated!"

ALPHA-MIKE
"Advance the Mission!"

The photograph above is one of the items exchanged with Vietnam. It is a unit commendation captured by a 9th INF Division soldier in April of 1969.