LOCAL VETERANS WATCH POW STORY UNFOLD IN WASHINGTON

Two local Vietnam veterans hope Russian President Boris Yeltsin's confirmation that American prisoners from the Vietnam War were taken to the Soviet Union, and his promise to search out more information may bring the final chapter of the war to an end.

Ken Scheer of Cape Girardeau and Blair Moran of Sikeston, who are active in POW and MIA matters, said Tuesday that veterans have been persistent in their pursuit to determine the fate of servicepersons still unaccounted for.

Both said they also had heard stories of a Soviet connection with the missing servicemen.

Scheer said: "I am not surprised at the fact that there may be POWs in Russia; I am somewhat surprised that Boris Yeltsin would say it.

"I suspect that someone advised him to make a clean breast of things on this to contribute to stronger ties and lead to economic venture capital."

Scheer said citizens are encouraging the Vietnamese government to "come clean with our MIAs and POWs."

"We have had strong indications that there were MIAs and POWs in the Soviet Union," Scheer said.

Moran said: "The scars of the Vietnam war will never be healed until this issue is fully resolved. If there are live POWs, I believe they would be in Russia.

"When I heard this, I thought of the information that Capt. McDaniel had given us in Sikeston. It really makes you wonder," Moran said.

In 1991 Navy Capt. Eugene McDaniel spoke at the Sikeston Memorial Day ceremony.

McDaniel and his navigator, Lt. Comdr. Kelly Patterson, were shot down over North Vietnam in 1967 by a surface-to-air missile. McDaniel was held captive for seven years. He never saw Patterson again.

Moran said that in 1986 two Russian KGB agents from the Soviet embassy gave McDaniel Patterson's military ID card.

"So that makes you wonder if Comdr. Patterson was taken out of Vietnam to Russia," Moran said. While in Sikeston, McDaniel said that navigators had a much better knowledge of weapons and radar systems in the jets.

"That's why (the Soviets) would be interested in Patterson. We were so much farther ahead of where they were," Moran said.

In April 1973, Scheer said, the New York Times estimated that there were 5,000 MIAs and POWs still left after the 591 prisoners came home at the end of the war.

"In June 1973 the State Department said there are no more MIAs and POWs alive," Scheer said. "From that time until now, the question remains as to what is the disposition of those people.

"Up until this time the State Department has continually denied their existence."

"A large group of American people have been clamoring about this. It is a real question," Scheer said.

When the question of the missing servicemen is resolved, Scheer said a tougher question must be asked: "Why has it taken so long for this issue to be resolved? I think it will really bring up some dirty laundry."

Moran said perhaps the general public is not too concerned about this issue. "But, if you had a father or son or brother still missing in action, you would have a great deal of concern. I think the majority of us who wore the uniform during that war still have a great deal of concern. We could have also suffered that cruel fate.

"We will have to wait and see what happens in Washington over the next few days," Moran said. "We have to keep the issue alive in the media so these brave men are not forgotten."