Bobby Garwood

Robert Russell Garwood (born April 1, 1946) is a former United States Marine. Often cited as the last verified American prisoner of war (POW) from the Vietnam War, Garwood was captured on September 28, 1965, by Việt Cộng forces near Da Nang, Quang Nam Province. He was taken to North Vietnam in 1969, and although he was reportedly released in 1973 along with the other U.S. POWs as part of the Paris Peace Accords, he did not return to the United States until March 22, 1979.

Upon his return, the Department of Defense (DoD) judged him to have acted as a collaborator with the enemy, for which he was subject to a court-martial, stripped of his rank as Private first class and dishonorably discharged.

Garwood has repeatedly denied all charges of collaboration. He also accuses the DoD of trying to rewrite history by framing him as a liar to discredit his 1984 claims about American POWs left behind in Vietnam, with activist and fellow Vietnam War veteran Ted Sampley commenting at Garwood's congress hearing that "before he even spoke, he was victim of character assassination".

Early life and education Garwood was born in Greensburg, Indiana, into a large, poor family of farmers to Ruth Buchanan and Jack Garwood. At age four, his parents divorced, after which Garwood lived with his father and paternal grandmother. Garwood attended high school in Indianapolis and dropped out at age 17 in order to join the U.S. Marine Corps. He began recruit training at Camp Pendleton in October 1963 and was deployed to South Vietnam in 1964. He was due to be reassigned on October 9, 1965.

Military service and capture Garwood was assigned to the U.S. Marine Corps base at Da Nang in South Vietnam as a motor pool driver. The circumstances surrounding his disappearance are in dispute. Garwood claims he was ambushed when he got lost when driving alone in a jeep to pick up an officer. He says his jeep was torched and he was stripped naked. Marine Corps records show on 28 September 1965, Garwood was absent at the 23:00 bed check. No unauthorized absence (UA) was reported, since he was thought to have had a "late run." He was reported UA when he failed to appear at formation the next morning.

On 29 September, the Division Provost Marshal was notified of Garwood's absence and an all points bulletin was issued for him and his vehicle. This was repeated for three days with no results. Motor pool personnel searched the areas of Da Nang that Garwood was known to frequent, but nothing was found. On 2 October, the division's Provost Marshal notified the South Vietnamese Military Security Services. Their search efforts also produced no information. Garwood's commanding officer reported to the Commandant, USMC, that in view of Garwood's past record of UA, he believed he had gone UA again and had possibly been taken POW. However, he recommended there be no change in Garwood's status and that he remain UA until evidence proved otherwise.

Two separate South Vietnamese agents eventually reported that the Việt Cộng (VC) claimed a U.S. serviceman and his jeep had been picked up in the Cam Hai region, about from the Da Nang Marine Corps base, when the serviceman had become lost. The American had been captured and the jeep burned. However, a ground and aerial search for the burned vehicle produced no results, nor did search operations on 1 October by four platoons. Two additional infantry platoons swept the area near Marble Mountain the next morning but also found nothing. On 12 October, the 704th ITC Det (CI) authorized a 100,000 VND reward for information leading to the recovery of the missing serviceman and additional 2,500 VND for the recovery of the vehicle.

On 3 December 1965, Company I, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines found a document titled Fellow Soldier's Appeal with Garwood's name on it, on a gate near Da Nang. The document recommended that U.S. troops stop fighting in South Vietnam and return home. The signature (B. Garwood) may well have been made by a rubber stamp and the English usage suggests it was not written by a native English speaker. A second version of this document was found on 18 July 1966 in the Da Nang area, but it appeared to be on better quality paper and the signature was at a different angle. Based on these, on 17 December 1965 Garwood's status was changed from "missing" to "presumed captured". The "white VC" was described as 20–25 years old, with brown hair, 5' 6" tall, "round eyes", and speaking very distinct English. Because they were outnumbered, Dublin City broke off contact with the VC but were followed. In a subsequent firefight a few minutes later, PFC C.C. Brown was killed.

In September 2011, 43 years later, U.S. President Barack Obama awarded one team-member of Dublin City, James Wilkins, a Silver Star for heroism on that day. Following receipt of the Silver Star, he recalled the white VC incident and stated "Myself and three other Marines looked at about 200 photos of guys who were missing in action. All of us were positive it was Bob Garwood, who apparently had defected and was helping the VC."

In 1969 Garwood had a conversation with captive Bernhard Diehl, a German nurse who, along with four other German nurses, had been captured by the North Vietnamese in April 1969. Diehl later related that he asked Garwood how he came to work for the VC and Garwood responded, "I don't think the Americans have suffered any great loss because I chose to fight on the other side. In any case, so many Americans are fighting with the South Vietnamese; why shouldn't there be a few fighting with the North?" Other reports describe him as working at an unnamed "island fortress" in Thác Bà Lake, North Vietnam, as a driver and vehicle mechanic.

In early 1979, in Hanoi, Garwood passed a note to a Finnish businessman associated with the United Nations: "I am American in Viet Nam. Are you interested? Robert Russell Garwood. 2069669 USMC." On 22 March, 13 years and 6 months after he was captured, Garwood flew from Hanoi to Bangkok and was met by a contingent of diplomatic, press and military officials, including the Marine Corps defense counsel assigned to represent him. in his story.

In June 1992, a U.S. task force examined the sites where Garwood claimed to have seen live U.S. prisoners. They interviewed nearby residents and met with Vietnamese officials. However, the task force reported that "no evidence could be found to suggest that there are, or ever were, any live U.S. POWs" disputed the finding, stating the structure had not existed when Garwood was a POW (satellite imagery from 1977 revealed "no buildings anywhere near the site"),

Since 1999, Robert R. Garwood has privately resided in Gautier, Mississippi. His first wife Kathy died shortly before their move. Garwood subsequently married the former Marilou M. Charest.

Media Film The made-for-TV film The Last P.O.W.? The Bobby Garwood Story, starring Ralph Macchio and Martin Sheen, was released in 1992. Garwood, played by Macchio, was a consultant on the film. The film's producers claimed that Garwood had received orders to survive from another higher ranking POW. However, there is no substantiation for this claim.

Garwood was also interviewed in 2006 by Sean Clifford for a Yale University senior thesis project. The project involved a documentary film component and Garwood participated in more than eight hours of videotaped interviews. The film included interviews with Garwood's court-martial attorney, Vaughan Taylor, and fellow former POW David Harker. The interviews with Garwood were the first in more than a decade and they represented his most complete account to date of the events surrounding his capture and eventual return to the United States.

Books Conversations With The Enemy: The Story of PFC Robert Garwood, published 1983, written by Winston Groom with Duncan Spencer. Groom, himself also a Vietnam veteran, later wrote the novel Forrest Gump and its follow-up novel, Gump & Co. Kiss the Boys Goodbye, published 1990, written by Monika Jensen-Stevenson, a producer for CBS's 60 Minutes in 1985. The book begins with a segment she produced on Garwood. Spite House, published 1997 and also written by Monika Jensen-Stevenson, gives a detailed account of an attempt by one of Lt. Colonel McKenny's commando teams to kill Garwood in a North Vietnamese jungle camp for allegedly collaborating with the enemy. It then tells of McKenney's conversion from a would-be assassin into someone who now believes in Garwood's innocence. Why Didn't You Get Me Out? published 1997, written by Frank Anton with Tommy Denton, gives a detailed account of Anton's five years as a POW. He offers extensive eye-witness accounts of Garwood and his collaboration with the NVA, claiming he even saw Garwood using a rifle to guard U.S. POWs. However Garwood maintained the rifle was not loaded and was taken from him as soon as there were no U.S. POWs around.