Pentagon Confirms Bones Are Animal’s, Not MIA’s

The Department of Defense acknowledged Friday that bones claimed by the Vietnamese government to be remains of Air Force Col. John L. Robertson were “non-human mammal remains.”

But as he confirmed statements made by Robertson’s family, Cmdr. Ned Lundquist, a Pentagon spokesman who specializes in POW-MIA affairs, said military researchers still believe the flier was killed when his F-4C crashed nearly 25 years ago in North Vietnam.

Robertson is one of three middle-aged Caucasian men whose images purportedly appear in a photograph that has renewed longstanding questions over unsubstantiated reports that some Americans presumed killed in the Vietnam War are still alive and perhaps held captive in Southeast Asia.

Close relatives of the men claim that Robertson is pictured with Air Force Maj. Albro L. Lundy and Navy Lt. Larry Stevens, fellow fliers who vanished during the war. A cryptic message appearing in the photo suggests that it was taken on May 25, 1990. Relatives of all three men reside in Southern California.

The families’ contentions have prompted U.S. authorities to request aid from the Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian governments in determining whether the men are still alive. A technical analysis of the grainy photo has thus far been unable to conclude whether the photo is authentic or a hoax. A “black market” in bogus intelligence, including other putative POW and MIA photos, has complicated the search for the missing.

The Vietnamese government stated Thursday that Robertson’s remains had been returned to the United States in April, 1990. The Robertson family disputed the claim, saying they learned only weeks ago that the box that supposedly held his remains in fact contained animal bones, aircraft parts and a rock.

Lundquist said the Vietnamese government had been notified that the bones and artifacts apparently excavated at Robertson’s crash site were, in fact, animal bones. He emphasized that Pentagon officials are “not upset with the Vietnamese that these remains turned out to not be those of an American. We would like for them to provide anything helpful.”

Lundquist said that in the absence of human remains, dog tags and other metal artifacts may aid researchers in determining the fate of missing pilots. “It’s not unusual for remains that are recovered from the ground to have other things with them,” Lundquist said.

Despite the government’s inability to identify the remains said to be Robertson’s, a team of U.S. researchers who interviewed villagers near where the pilot’s aircraft crashed concluded he did not survive, Lundquist said.

Robertson’s family insists that there have been several reports from individuals claiming he is alive. “They’re saying the Vietnamese are not credible when they say they’ve seen him alive,” daughter Shelby Robertson Quast said of Pentagon researchers.