SINGSON, WILFREDO D. Name: Wilfredo D. Singson Rank/Branch: US Marine Corps Unit: Date of Birth: Home City of Record: Date of Loss: 28 January 1968 Country of Loss: South Vietnam Loss Coordinates: Status (in 1973): AWOL Category: Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground Refno: Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing) Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1991 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998. REMARKS: NOT ON OFFICIAL LISTS SYNOPSIS: In Vietnam, military experts devised a system to try to relieve the battle fatigue experienced in earlier wars by those who served long tours with their units intact. In Vietnam, soldiers were rotated after roughly one-year tours. The practice had noble intent, but it served to isolate the soldier and interrupted continuity. Virtually as soon as a man learned the ropes, he was shipped home and a green replacement arrived to fill the gap. Some were quite literally, in the jungles one day and at home the next. The emotional impact was terrific and thousands of veterans are dealing with it two decades later. Vietnam was also a limited political war, and had peculiar problems: a vague enemy, restrictive rules of engagement, an uncertain objective, non-military State Department minds directing many aspects of the war. In certain periods of the war, military morale was lower than perhaps any other time in our history. Adding to these factors was the extremely young age of the average soldier shipped to Vietnam. For example, the average combatant's age in World War II was 25 years, while Vietnam soldiers were 19. The young fighters became jaded -- or old -- or died -- long before their time. For various reasons, some soldiers deserted or even defected to the enemy. Their counterparts in the U.S. fled to Canada, manufactured physical or mental problems, or extended college careers to escape the draft. There are only a handful of American deserters or AWOL (Absent Without Leave) maintained on missing lists. At least one of these was known to have fallen in love with a woman whom he later learned was a communist. Another fled because he had scrapped with a superior and feared the consequences. This man was ultimately declared dead, and his AWOL record expunged. Most are on the list of missing because there is some doubt that their AWOL status is valid. There is little information regarding those listed as AWOL on the missing lists. For instance, the Marine Corps does not maintain a missing file on Wilfredo D. Singson, reported missing January 28, 1968. Although he did not appear on 1973 lists, in 1980, the Defense Department listed Singson as Absent Without Leave. His story and his fate are unknown. Some of the reports among the over 10,000 received relating to Americans missing or prisoner in Southeast Asia have to do with deserters, although there is no evidence they have been asked if they want to come home. In light of the amnesty granted draft dodgers by the United States Government, can we be less forgiving of them?