VENTURA : Vietnam Veteran to End Caged Vigil

After more than a week of self-imprisonment in a bamboo cage alongside the Ventura Freeway north of Ventura, an anonymous Vietnam veteran, upset at what he called the “government’s abandonment of prisoners of war,” will return to civilian life today.

The bearded, middle-aged man, who refused to give his name, has been in the 4-by-4-foot cage since Sept. 21, surviving on freeze-dried Army rations and food from passersby.

“I’m a POW and America is driving by, ignoring me,” the caged veteran said Friday as he watched traffic speed by his cell.

“There are men that were left behind.”

The veteran entered the rickety cage after national POW/MIA Recognition Day, which was marked last Saturday with a candlelight vigil at the county Government Center.

Local veterans rights activist Gary Parker said the man’s action was an attempt to increase public awareness of the 2,400 veterans who did not return from Vietnam. He said the man wished to remain anonymous to focus attention on the issue rather than himself.

The cage, located about two miles north of Ventura near the Rincon Parkway, is on private property. No complaints have been filed from property owners.

Truckers and other motorists stopped to deliver food and provisions during the veteran’s stay, according to officials at the California Highway Patrol and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.