On Memorial
Day weekend, 1970, Kit
Mark and his friend,
Charles Duke reportedly
left Pleiku, South Vietnam
on their Hondas for a
short trip to a village
nine miles north of
Pleiku. They never
returned.
A friendly
helicopter in the area saw
the two on Hondas, and the
tire tracks of two Hondas
leading to a mountainside
location where they found
concealed rockets pointing
to the military base at
Pleiku. Leaflets offering
a reward for any
information were dropped,
but no information
surfaced about Mark or
Duke.
Although Duke
and Mark were originally
listed as being missing
seven days apart, their
records were changed to
reflect the accurate date
of May 30, 1970.
Charles Duke
and Kit Mark were not
among the prisoners of war
that were released in
1973. High-ranking U.S.
officials admit their
dismay that
"hundreds" of
Americans known or
suspected to be prisoners
of war did not
return.
Alarmingly,
evidence continues to
mount that Americans were
left as prisoners in
Southeast Asia and
continue to be held today.
Unlike "MIAs"
from other wars, most of
the nearly 2500 men and
women who remain missing
in Southeast Asia can be
accounted for. Duke and
Mark could be among them.
Isn't it time we brought
our men home?
