Bone Dealers in Vietnam

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Bob opened the clear plastic bag and immediately knew the remains were not those of an American or any other MIA. They were pig bones. When the name on the dog tag was checked against the database of MIAs, the team discovered that it had not belonged to an MIA. The dog tag read: CULLER D.L. 2326539 O USMC S BAPTIST.

Bob was sure that Culler had finished his tour in Vietnam and was now living happily somewhere back in the United States–and perhaps he would even get a kick out of learning that his dog tag had shown up after 25 years. Although no one knew how Culler had lost his dog tag–as did thousands of other U.S. soldiers while they were in-country–he was clearly not an MIA. The two pieces of aircraft wreckage, by the way, turned out to be turbine blades from a jet fighter. It was obvious that they had originated from a crash site because they were bent all out of shape. But because the blades were not unique to any one type of aircraft, no one would probably ever be able to determine the type of jet or where it had crashed. Within ten minutes the interviewers knew exactly what they had–the bones and teeth of a young pig, wreckage from a jet fighter, a bogus dog tag and a ludicrous story.

Colonel Ky of the VNOSMP pressed the witnesses for further information on where, how, and from whom they had obtained the remains. In the past, the VNOSMP had simply interviewed bone dealers and left it at that. But over the years the Vietnamese and American personnel have been presented with so many bogus remains, costing both governments money, time, and effort to collect and examine, that they have begun initiating investigations to learn the whole story of bogus remains. In other words, they now want to flush out the bone-trading networks–the who, why, and where of it all.

Clearly agitated by being presented with bogus remains and a fabricated story, Colonel Ky pressed the two witnesses for more information. We know that the bones are from a pig and that the dog tag is bogus, he angrily told them. So, knowing they were animal bones, why did you put them with a bogus dog tag and waste our time like this? But the witnesses held fast to their story. Ky told them that their actions had wasted everyone’s time. The witnesses squirmed in their chairs but were unwilling to change their story or provide additional information on the case. Although no legal action would probably be taken against the witnesses, they will likely think twice before they again try to bargain in human remains.

A Ticket to Paradise

Here is a classic example of how an unsuspecting Vietnamese citizen got involved in the remains for sale business. In 1995, a recovery team photographer and Bob Mann were flown by helicopter to Qui Nhon City to excavate an unmarked grave believed to contain the remains of an American MIA. When they finished digging the grave, they drove 100 kilometers to a small village to examine some other remains. They arrived at the small home of a 69-year-old Vietnamese woman who had remains and a dog tag that she had bought five years before. She did not know the name of the man who sold her the remains and she did not know where they had come from. All she knew was that the seller told her the bones were from an American soldier and that she would be able to sell them to U.S. authorities. Her motive, she said, was to use the money to get her youngest son to the United States. She wanted a better life for him, and she believed that the remains were his ticket.

She had purchased the remains for $1,500 or, as she put it, the equivalent of three taels of gold. A tael is an ancient measure of weight in East Asia–one tael equals about one ounce of gold or silver, depending on the measure used. Although the VNOSMP official accompanying the anthropologist to her home told the woman that she would receive no money for the remains, even if they were American, she still hoped that she would be compensated for her time and expenses. The anthropologist’s impression was that she was an honest woman who thought she was doing the right thing.

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Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Historical Conflicts, Vietnam War

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