New Bid Made for Vietnamese Soldier Pay

A congressional subcommittee on Wednesday approved $20 million in restitution payments to a group of Vietnamese commandos who had fought for the U.S. but were left behind in prison at the end of the Vietnam War.

The proposal, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), is intended to undo a bureaucratic snag that stalled a similar bill approved overwhelmingly by Congress last year.

The commandos took part in CIA-sponsored missions into North Vietnam and Laos in the 1960s. Many were killed. Most were captured and spent years in captivity, where they endured torture and starvation.

Secret documents unsealed last year showed that the U.S. government declared the men dead shortly after their capture, even though people in the government had information that many were in fact alive in North Vietnamese prisons.

The families of many of the Vietnamese commandos received small “death gratuities” along with notices that the men had been killed.

Shortly after that, the paychecks being sent to their families were halted altogether--an action that ran counter to U.S. military practice, whereby POWs remain on the payroll during their incarceration.

Most of the surviving commandos were released in the 1980s, and most have since made their way to the United States. The largest group now lives in Orange County.

Last year, Congress approved $20 million to compensate all commandos, including some beyond the 281 who had sued, for the years they spent in prison. Under the proposal, each would receive $40,000.

The White House backed the legislation, but the Pentagon has balked at making the payments, saying the language used by Congress was too vague to justify disbursing the money.

Sanchez introduced the new legislation after learning of the snafu. She pointed out that three of the commandos have died since the legislation was approved last year.

“Congress will not sit and wait,” Sanchez said. “They are not demanding outrageous sums. They are simply asking for the back pay they earned while imprisoned as POWs.”

The legislation approved Wednesday must still be approved by the full House and the Senate. The proposal has support in both houses of Congress and in both parties.