ARE THERE MIA/POWs?: FORMER AF STAFF SERGEANT SPEAKS OUT TONIGHT

Eighteen years after the Vietnam War ended, American POWs are still being held in Southeast Asia, maintains a veteran of the conflict who received the Purple Heart.

Former Air Force Staff Sgt. Kenneth Scheer was a crew chief/mechanic on a helicopter, assigned to Detachment 9 of the Western Air Rescue Center at Portland, Ore., International Airport, when he was ordered to Southeast Asia for six months in 1964.

Scheer will speak at a POW/MIA program at 5 p.m. today, in front of Academic Hall.

The program is part of a week-long observance of MIA/POW Awareness Week, sponsored by the officers and cadets of Detachment 437 of the Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps on campus.

Scheer, who is now a sales representative for a major insurance company in Cape Girardeau, received a Purple Heart after he was wounded during a Viet Cong mortar attack on the Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigon. The attack occurred 27 years ago this week, which fittingly is MIA/POW Awareness Week on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.

Although never taken captive, Scheer became active in the growing movement to resolve the POW/MIA question.

Scheer said he read several books on the MIA/POW issue, but it was a recent release, "Kiss the Boys GoodBye," written by Monika JensenStevenson and her husband, William Stevenson, that galvanized him to action.

Scheer said the book leaves no doubt that American servicemen are still being held against their will in Southeast Asia, and that there is evidence that suggests elements of the United States government are doing everything in their power to cover up the MIA/POW issue.

He said JensenStevenson, a producer for CBS's "60 Minutes," set out to produce a segment dealing with MIAs after the 1973 Paris Peace Accord was signed by Henry Kissinger and the Nixon administration. Her husband is a journalist with extensive contacts in the military.

"During their investigation, she came in contact with a `telephone tree,' which consisted of former military people who had a continuing interest in MIAs and POWs and were willing to share their bits of information," said Scheer. "Because they had signed pledges of secrecy while in the military, they could not give their names."

Scheer said JensenStevenson's interest intensified when she was contacted by a White House National Security Council member who suggested that she drop the story because of "national security."

Scheer said the terms of the Paris Peace Accord stipulated the return of 591 prisoners of war, but said nothing about the fate of the 2,497 MIAs and POWs.

He said Jensen-Stevenson's investigation revealed the Nixon administration had made a secret agreement to the North Vietnamese to "pledge $4.5 billion in aid to heal the wounds of Vietnam."

According to Scheer two things derailed that pledge: The Congress would not agree to it because of reports of mistreatment and tortures of American prisoners by the North Vietnamese. The other was Watergate, which resulted in Nixon's resignation.

Scheer said the Jensen-Stevenson book contains information from former military people and refugees who have made "live sightings" of Americans throughout Southeast Asia.

Scheer said the government's response to the sightings and testimony was that it was unsubstantiated. The testimony was sealed from the public and the families of the MIA/POWs as a matter of "national security."

Scheer said Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot, a member of President Reagan's foreign intelligence advisory board, adamantly believes there is clear evidence that there are American POWs who are still alive in Southeast Asia.

He said Larry O. Daniels, a former Army intelligence officer, wrote in his book, "Missing in Action: Trail of Deceit," that he told President Reagan in 1981 that there was positive proof of Americans still living in Southeast Asia. Scheer said Daniels received no reply from the administration.

Later, Daniels and another CIA officer reported in October of 1980 that they had photographed American POWs in large work gangs while on an assignment to gather intelligence in Indochina.

Scheer said when the two men returned to Bangkok, Thailand, with the photographs and intelligence information, they were ordered to "keep their mouths shut about what they had witnessed that it is not in the interest of America to have any prisoners come out alive."

Scheer said a possible motive for the 20year coverup comes from a former intelligence officer who told Jensen-Stevenson that the POWs were "political hot potatoes.

"Their book reports that Gen. Alexander Haig made the comment, `This POW thing is a can of worms. If opened up, a lot of people could get hurt,'" Scheer said.

Scheer said Jensen-Stevenson's conclusion for the heavy veil of secrecy even today indicates the Central Intelligence Agency was involved in what he termed, "ultra-covert" operations before and after the war in Southeast Asia, and that these operations were financed with money generated by flying drug shipments out of the Golden Triangle and Laos.

"A revelation of this information would be too embarrassing to the intelligence community and any politicians that might be associated with the covert military activities in Southeast Asia," Scheer said. "Since the signing of the Paris Peace Accord, each and every administration that has occupied the White House found it more convenient to "cover up" serious investigation of existing POWs and MIAs."

Scheer said that as late as 1990, U.S. government intelligence on military personnel captured in Indochina was still officially classified and could not be obtained by families or relatives of MIAs or POWs.

But Scheer is cautiously optimistic the POW/MIA issue may be settled yet. "If this thing is resolved, in my opinion, it will be the result of the publicity of this book and others on the POW/MIA issue," he said.

Scheer said there are several things citizens concerned about the fate of the MIA/POWs can do. "Be aware and make your beliefs known in conversations and on call-in talk radio shows. Remind politicians at every opportunity to resolve this question. Politicians understand two things, money and public pressure."

He said more information can be obtained by contacting the American Defense Institute, Box 2497, Washington, D.C., 20013, or calling 1-703-519-7000.

Scheer said people should in keep mind that "an MIA or POW never has a good day."