Congressmen Say Americans Live in Vietnam

Members of a congressional delegation just back from Southeast Asia said today they believe that there are Americans living in Vietnam, but they declined to discuss their evidence.

“We determined after this visit and lengthy discussions with Vietnamese officials that it is not a question of whether there are live Americans in Vietnam. The question is, Who are they? Why are they there?” Rep. Gerald B. H. Solomon (R-N.Y.) said at a news conference.

Solomon led a nine-member congressional delegation that traveled to Southeast Asia and met with Vietnamese officials to demand a full accounting of Americans still missing in action.

Solomon said he and other members of the delegation met today with members of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency who have agreed to reopen some cases of missing Americans.

Will Reopen Some Cases

Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman (R-N.Y.), another member of the delegation, said the intelligence agency “assured us they would reopen a number of the cases,” but he did not say how many.

Members of the delegation were asked repeatedly by reporters to discuss what evidence they had that led them to conclude that live Americans were still in Vietnam. They said they could not discuss specific cases but conceded that they had not seen any live Americans during their trip.

“If you keep probing us with good questions, we’re going to look evasive,” Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) said.