Archive Report
Archive Report
Plight of Prisoners of War in Viet Nam
Apprehension Over Fate of Captured Americans
The near-certain execution by the Viet Cong of Gustav C. Hertz, a U. S. Agency for International Development official in Viet Nam, has given the American people a grim reminder of the frailty of protections afforded prisoners of war taken by the enemy in Southeast Asia. The U. S. Embassy in Saigon disclosed on June 27 that a Viet Cong broadcast 11 days earlier had spoken of the execution of Hertz and referred to it as payment of a “blood debt” for the alleged execution by South Viet Nam of certain convicted terrorists. The possibility that he would be the victim of an act of reprisal had hung over Hertz for much ...