Sgt John Hartley Robertson, US army veteran, 'found living in remote Vietnam village 44 years after being shot down and presumed dead'

New Michael Jorgenson documentary claims the man believed to be the former Green Beret can no longer speak English or remember the names of his wife and children

JOHN HALL TUESDAY 30 APRIL 2013

A US army veteran has been found living in a remote Vietnam village 44 years since his plane was shot down and presumed dead, a new documentary suggests.

Unclaimed, a documentary by Canadian filmmaker Michael Jorgenson, claims that a frail, elderly man, found in a remote south Vietnam village unable to remember the English language, his date of birth or even the names of his wife and two children, may be Sgt John Hartley Robertson – a former Green Beret shot down in 1968.

Sgt Robertson was working on a special operation over the South East Asian country of Laos when his helicopter was shot down. Despite his body never being found, he was presumed dead for nearly half a century; his name etched on Vietnam memorials and army records listing him as “killed in action”.

Read More: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/sgt-john-hartley-robertson-us-army-veteran--found-living-in-remote-vietnam-village-44-years-after-being-shot-down-and-presumed-dead-8597350.html

The Independent -- 2013-04-30

The horror...the horror...

Blimey. He's probably just looking for benefits. I don't believe this story.

missing in action

Looks like he's got a lot of action while missing.

Why do they not do a DNA test? A DNA test would clarify 100% who this is.

I am sure that they will do DNA or other scientific testing to verify he is the missing person. The press, however, will get a bit of mileage out of the story before the tedious portion begins.

Unless he is suffering from some sort of dementia, I didn't know anyone could forget a language, especially their mother tongue. I know young children who started in a language and lost it, but they were very, very young (for example children adopted from China or Korea).

His family have refused to give DNA for tests. MMMMM I wonder why!

Have a feeling some of you didn't you read the story in the link.

Have a feeling some of you didn't you read the story in the link.

You think?

Aside from the possibility - at least in some people's minds - that there were POWs (who were listed as MIAS)still alive, there has always been the possibility of deserters who deliberately remained in Vietnam and some reports that this may be the case but that the US military would not speak of it...odds are are the might even be a couple of them.

This guy, however is neither an MIA or a deserter. Just a fraud.

Thinking about how many that came and left over a decade or more, surely some will "just disappear" due to a number of reasons.

Criminal, political, cowardice, love, being just a few reasons.

Thinking about how many that came and left over a decade or more, surely some will "just disappear" due to a number of reasons.

Criminal, political, cowardice, love, being just a few reasons.

Yep.

Having said that, in many, most or all of those cases, Vietnam would have been a much less appealing or feasible place to stay after the fall of the South.

The UK papers are carrying a story that confirms the man is a fraud, it seems his DNA was checked some 20 years ago and he was a fake then, doubt much has changed since.

The UK papers are carrying a story that confirms the man is a fraud, it seems his DNA was checked some 20 years ago and he was a fake then, doubt much has changed since.

Uhmmm...the link in the OP is to such a report.

Thinking about how many that came and left over a decade or more, surely some will "just disappear" due to a number of reasons.

Criminal, political, cowardice, love, being just a few reasons.

Yep.

Having said that, in many, most or all of those cases, Vietnam would have been a much less appealing or feasible place to stay after the fall of the South.

True.

I guess it would be difficult to pop up again just before it was over, and come up with a story.

A deserter couldn't really know for sure what was going on anyhow, since the news were censored, so a few just got stuck.

Anyhow, embarrassing for this guy who made the documentary.

Have a feeling some of you didn't you read the story in the link.

Indeed. Why let the facts get in the way of a good yarn.

The UK papers are carrying a story that confirms the man is a fraud, it seems his DNA was checked some 20 years ago and he was a fake then, doubt much has changed since.

Uhmmm...the link in the OP is to such a report.

Right then, I'll get my coat !

True.

I guess it would be difficult to pop up again just before it was over, and come up with a story.

A deserter couldn't really know for sure what was going on anyhow, since the news were censored, so a few just got stuck.

Anyhow, embarrassing for this guy who made the documentary.

Difficult, yes but not necessarily as difficult as staying behind when the tanks were heading toward your territory and there was anticipation of a bloodbath (which never occurred precisely in the form some feared or the scale but rather the political killing and incarceration was much lower profile).

Deserters and pretty much everyone in Vietnam would know what was going on: US journalists were not typically censored (though attempts were made to do so) and overall the efforts of the US apparatus and the South Vietnamese to suppress the (obvious) facts were a futile farce.

The secret to get away with a lie.

Tell it so many times so one starts to believe it one self.

Anyway, filmmaker Michael Jorgenson should have his previous works looked into as well, as he surely can not be that naïve and not do better research than this.

Probably a fraudster himself.

Its obviously FunFon,ex TV member.

Trying to raise funds,to get home.

Thinking about how many that came and left over a decade or more, surely some will "just disappear" due to a number of reasons.

Criminal, political, cowardice, love, being just a few reasons.

Yep.

Having said that, in many, most or all of those cases, Vietnam would have been a much less appealing or feasible place to stay after the fall of the South.

According to this logic, Thailand would have not many visitors, and the women in Vietnam are a lot more beautiful and petiter than here. Some people just don't care about good vs evil, but pussy is all there is.

Seems it's all a fraud, a Vietnamese citizen of French origin. If a Frenchmen can stay in communist Vietnam scared to death by mademoiselle, I bet an American can even more. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/463271/20130501/vietnam-fraud-forgotten-veteran-john-hartley-exposed.htm

According to this logic, Thailand would have not many visitors, and the women in Vietnam are a lot more beautiful and petiter than here. Some people just don't care about good vs evil, but pussy is all there is.

That is absurd. If you think staying in Vietnam circa 1975 - especially as American deserter - is the same as visiting Thailand for a sex holiday - regardless of whether one thinks Vietnamese women are "a lot more beautiful and petiter" (sic) you clearly have either no idea what you are talking about or just aren't thinking.

By the way, the story was already debunked by the link in the OP...

UPDATE

Film's Vietnam vet find after 44 years false: US

HANOI, May 2, 2013 (AFP) - A man who claimed in a widely publicised documentary to be an American soldier, missing since his helicopter was shot down during the Vietnam War, is actually Vietnamese, the US said Thursday.

"Unclaimed", directed by Michael Jorgensen, which has generated an explosion of interest since its premiere this week, purports to have discovered US serviceman John H. Robertson -- alive, well and living in the communist nation.

But a United States Defense Department statement said the man -- who appeared on film in an emotional "reunion" with Robertson's sister -- has been DNA tested and found to be a citizen of the Southeast Asian country.

"All claims and alleged live sighting reports related to Robertson have been investigated and found to be false," according to a release from the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office on Thursday, provided to AFP by the US Embassy in Hanoi.

A tightly edited trailer for the movie, posted on production company Myth Merchant Films' website, does not show any clear full-face images of the Vietnamese man, known by the name Dang Ngoc Than.

Nearly 60,000 American soldiers died in the bloody Cold War-era conflict, which also claimed the lives of up to three million Vietnamese civilians and soldiers before ending in 1975 with Vietnam's reunification.

Robertson was on board a Vietnamese Air Force H-34 helicopter that came under heavy enemy ground fire in May 1968 and crashed, leaving no survivors. He was declared dead in 1976.

The documentary shows Robertson's elderly sister in an emotional reunion with the man claiming to be her brother.

The film-makers in a post on their Facebook page said the movie was not "produced to help perpetrate fraud of any kind or misrepresent anyone's identity".

Investigators interviewed the Vietnamese man twice, in 2004 and 2009, after "alleged live sighting reports", according to the US statement.

Fingerprint samples taken at the time were not the same as those on file for the missing serviceman, it said, and DNA "did not match either of Robertson's siblings".

"A recently released film features this same Vietnamese individual who continues to allege that he is Robertson," the statement added.

Had the man been proven to be Robertson, he would theoretically have been entitled to back pay and veterans' benefits from the US government.

When the guns fell silent, 1,971 Americans were left unaccounted for, according to figures from the US Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command (JPAC), which handles the search for MIAs.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2013-05-02

Sad man !! Not even the same nationality as who he said he was

Sad man !! Not even the same nationality as who he said he was

I don't think that is (the nationality) is a requirement for fraudsters.

I don't know that the Vietnamese gov't would have allowed him to stay, especially right after the war. The household registration requirements etc. make it rather hard to stay there under the radar.

A troll post and replies have been deleted.

I don't know that the Vietnamese gov't would have allowed him to stay, especially right after the war. The household registration requirements etc. make it rather hard to stay there under the radar.

I believe they "re-educated" quite a few after the war.

Re-education camps were reserved for the Vietnamese nationals. I don't believe that they would have put an American in a re-education camp.

I believe they "re-educated" quite a few after the war.

They sent lots of Vietnamese to "reeducation camps". Are you saying they had some Americans who they sent also?

I believe they "re-educated" quite a few after the war.

They sent lots of Vietnamese to "reeducation camps". Are you saying they had some Americans who they sent also?

No, I just say that if someone were hiding under the radar long enough, until they got caught, maybe some were.

Wasn't the fraudster a Frenchman? How did he manage?