Turmoil in London… thoughts and an introduction to Bennie Dexter

Wednesday, 8Mar06

from digging thru the piles of papers trying to make things neater, since I’d hate to mirror London’s Turmoil…

“POW – not returned

Dexter, Bennie Lee
Oregon, Bend
Name: Bennie Lee Dexter
Rank/Branch: E3/US Air Force
Unit:
Date of Birth: 18 July 1944
Home City of Record: Bend OR
Date of Loss: 09 May 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 123433N 1075016E (XD795050)
Status (in 1973): Prisoner Of War
Category: 1
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: M151 Jeep
Other Personnel in Incident: (None missing)

Remarks: Capture witnessed, Jeep found

Synopsis: On May 10, 1966, A2C Bennie Lee Dexter was captured by communist forces while diving a jeep south on National Route 14 near the Darlac/Quang Duc Province border, South Vietnam. His jeep was found at this location the next day and there was a Vietnamese witness to his capture.

Subsequent intelligence reports confirmed Dexter’s capture and named the location at which he was being held. Dexter was placed in Prisoner Of War status.

When American military involvement ended in Southeast Asia, Bennie Dexter was not released from prison, nor did his name appear on any lists provided by the Vietnamese. The United States Government later declared him administratively “dead” because no specific information had been received that he was still alive.

In 1987, classified information regarding Bennie Dexter was given to the Vietnamese by General John Vessey in hopes of resolving the mystery of his fate. The information, which is denied to the American public, was widely distributed by a government official who was outraged that the public and POW*MIA families were denied information that could be given to our former enemies.

Although the numbers of Americans that the Vietnamese have accounted for with the return of remains increased in the late 1980’s, the Vietnamese have yet to discover the whereabouts of Bennie Dexter, alive or dead.

Over 13,000 reports have been received by the U.S. relating to the nearly 2,500 Americans missing, prisoner or unaccounted for in Southeast Asia. Many experts believe that hundreds of them are still alive in communist hands. One of them could be A2C Bennie Dexter. It’s time the brave Americans still serving their country in Vietnam were brought home.

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 June 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW*MIA families, published sources, interview. Copyright 1990 Homecoming II Project.+

:+s+:
dona nobis pacem