Capital City recognizes service of soldiers missing in action

Thomas A. Ward, center, salutes with fellow members of VFW Post 1003 to honor Vietnam veteran Paul Hasenbeck during POW-MIA Recognition Day Friday at the Capitol Rotunda. Hasenbeck was reported missing in action on April 21, 1967, in the Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam.
Thomas A. Ward, center, salutes with fellow members of VFW Post 1003 to honor Vietnam veteran Paul Hasenbeck during POW-MIA Recognition Day Friday at the Capitol Rotunda. Hasenbeck was reported missing in action on April 21, 1967, in the Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam.

There are more than 83,000 soldiers still listed as missing and not accounted for who fought in our nation's wars.

To recognize their service, a POW-MIA Recognition Day was held Friday night in the Capitol Rotunda.

Jefferson City Veterans Council President Don Hentges said, "We must also remember the sacrifices of the families of these soldiers. We must never forget these men and women and we must do everything possible to continue to account for them."

Among those who continue to do all they can to find out the whereabouts of their family members are Jeanie and Larry Hasenbeck.

Speaking to the crowd, the brother and sister told of their efforts on behalf of their brother, Paul Hasenbeck of Freeburg, who was reported missing in action in April 1967 in Vietnam and has not been seen or heard from since.

"Paul was the sixth of the eight children in our family," Larry said. "Prior to his missing in action, Paul received numerous medals and it was as he was recovering from wounds for which he received those medals that he was asked to go on another mission, which he volunteered for and never came back from. In May 1974, a memorial service was held for Paul. In many small towns at that time, there was not any running water in the house, and in one of the last letters Paul wrote home, he said he was saving money to get the water. In 1974, the military released his pay and my mom and dad got their running water."

Not long after Paul went missing in 1967, Jeanie joined the American Red Cross' Service to Military Hospitals in hopes of finding Paul.

During her year in Vietnam, Jeanie was able to begin searching for her brother. However, she said, "Once I got to Vietnam, I realized how impossible it would be for me to find him."

Back in the U.S., Jeanie continued to search for answers.

Once, the U.S. government informed her 16 personal items from her brother were on display at a museum in Hanoi. She asked friends, who were members of the Vietnam Veterans of America and traveling back to that country, to look for the items; nothing was found.

Paul has a 19-inch classified file.

"They would not have that, if he died the day he was lost," Jeanie said.

She once took her mother to the Pentagon to look at that file. But they allowed only one page at a time in the room with her.

Other agencies also had reports on her brother's team.

But they varied.

One said he died four days after being captured and another said seven years.

One said he was dropped into underground tunnels and forced to teach English. Another said they were held in caves.

"There is so much conflicting information," Jeanie said.

Serious U.S. and Vietnam "normalization" talks began in 1991. Paul and his team members were discussed specifically on the floor of the U.S. Senate, due to the lack of explanation.

"Paul's case became "notorious,'" Jeanie said.

Renewed hope for closure came in 1992 when an ABC news report showed Sen. John Kerry talking with Col. Pham Duc Dai, whose diary said he witnessed the execution and burial of four men from the 196th in April 1967 - same unit, same coordinates and same time as Paul's team.

But again, they didn't have the truth.

"We can debunk some, but we can't prove any of it," Jeanie said. "It's really frustrating. I wish they wouldn't hold out the possibility and then not come through with an answer. Families don't need more false hopes and disappointments. How do you put it behind you with no resolution?"