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In the
Spring of 1969, the VC picked up five W. German nurses...two male,
Bernhard Diehl, Georg Bartsch, and three female: Rika Kortmann,
Marie Louise Kerber, and Monika Schwinn. They worked for an
organization called The Knights of Malta, which was established as
an aid organization in the Middle Ages, under the aegis of the Roman
Catholic Church. The modern Knights of Malta are much like our Red
Cross, rendering aid without religious overtones. These five young,
idealistic nurses were working near Danang. They were helping the
Vietnamese people, regardless of ideology. Monika worked on a
children's ward in Danang. They went out in the countryside for a
picnic and were picked up by the VC. [I always thought they were
captured by mistake, because they were Caucasians and thought to be
Americans. By the time the VC realized the mistake, one had died and
they couldn't afford the bad PR, so they were held until the end of
the war.] The VC brought them to our camp west of Tam Ky in late
spring of '69. They had been walking about a month. Marie Louise
Kerber died in route, and I never knew her. Bernhard told me she
died of malaria. They stayed in our camp until the fall of '69, I
think November and then held in NVN until the end of the war. I saw
Monika and Bernhard in the Hanoi Hilton from January to March '73
when they were repatriated. In the interim between June and
November 1969, I had constant daily contact with them. They lived in
a hooch next to ours with a fence intervening, and we had free
access to each other. They had slightly higher rations and more
medicine than we did, indicating to me that the VC realized they had
screwed up by taking them.
But they were sicker and
less able to cope with the environment. We tried to help them. We
tried to teach them the ways of the camp, gathered wood for them,
carried rice, helped them with water, washing, making fires, etc.
Georg Bartsch died of a sudden pulmonary embolus in mid-summer.
This was a strange death for a young man, even a captive, with
Beri-Beri. Bernhard told me that Georg had rheumatic heart disease,
and had fudged his physical a little to be allowed to come over.
Rika (I think her real name was Henrika) Kortmann died of
generalized weakness and inanition. She had malaria, malnutrition,
and was terribly sick. Monika lay at death's door with Bernhard for
months. He got well before she did and began to nurse her,
physically and psychologically. He did physical therapy on her and
helped her a great deal (her dad had been in the German Army during
WW II, had been captured by the Russians and never came home). ...
~~~~~~~~
Monika and Bernhard (Mary Louise Kerner, Rica Kortmann and
Georg Bartch died there) were in our camp in SVN from
capture to November, 1969 when they were taken North.
I didn't see Monika again until shortly before she was released.
I gave her a letter to my family and she smuggled it out.
RIP.
Cheers,
HK
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Monika was the only female, out of a number who were
captured, who survived to
come home in Homecoming. RS
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There were no known U.S. military women POWs. MM
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SECOND
PROVISIONAL REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT INCREMENT
(5 MARCH 1973)
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One
C-141, Tail Number 60161 |
Released at Gia Lam Airport. Hanoi, North Vietnam at 1504 hours
and arriving at Clark Air Base, Philippines at 1751 hours:
Name Rank SVC
Adkins, Clodeon CIV CIV
Anderson, John T. MSG USA
Astorga, Jose M. SP5 USA
Badua, Candido CIV PHIL NAT
Baird, William A. SSG USA
Balagot, Arturo M. CIV PHIL NAT
Benge, Michael D. CIV CIV
Budd, Leonard R. Jr. SGT USMC
Burgess, Richard G. SOT USMC
Cius, Frank E. Jr. SSG USMC
Deering, John A. SSG USMC
Dibernardo, James V. CPT USMC
Diehl, Bernhard J. CIV WEST GERMAN
Ettmueller, Harry L. SSG USN
Flora, Carroll E. Jr. SFC USA
Frank, Martin S. MAJ USA
Gouin, Donat J. MSG USA
Harker, David N. SSG USA
Henry, Nathan B. SSC USA
Kerns, Gail M. SSG USA
Leopold, Stephen R. CPT USA
Lewis, Robert III SP6 USA
McMurray, Cordine SFC USA
Miller, Roger A. WO2 USA
Newell, Stanley A. SSG USA
O’Connor, Michael F. WO2 USA
Perricone, Richard R. SSG USA
Pfister, James F. Jr. SSG USA
Rose, Joseph III WO2 USA
Schwinn, Monika CIV WEST GERMAN
Sooter, David W. W03 USA
Stark, Laurence J. CIV CIV
Thompson, Dennis L. SFC USA
Ziegler, Roy E. II WO2 USA
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Schwinn, Monika and Bernhard Diehl
translated from German by Jan van Heurck, foreword by Benjamin H.
Purcell,. New York:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976. Simpson, Howard R.,
Tiger in the Barbed Wire: an American in Vietnam, 1952-1991.
New York: We Came to Help Macmillan, 1992.
Sherwood, John Darrell, Afterburner: Naval Aviators and the
Vietnam War.
New York: New York University Press, 2004.
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