News-Info-Alerts

Re: Vet Claiming POW Status Barnded Phony By Other Vets

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: November 25, 2002

"Vietnam vet hits back at US critics
Nov 25 2002

The Western Mail
 
A VIETNAM War veteran whose account of the conflict was branded a fraud by former American soldiers believes he is the victim of a conspiracy to discredit him because he is British.

Tom Abraham moved to America when he was 19 and served in the US army from 1966 to 1969. His book The Cage tells of being captured by the Vietcong, tortured and forced to spend the night in a 4ft cage partly immersed in water.

He managed to escape after two-and-a-half days and made it back to his unit of the 1st Cavalry Division, returning to Britain soon afterwards.

But after his book was published, Donald Bowman, a retired US serviceman who was operations officer in the same brigade, questioned the account.

The Pentagon also said they had no records of Abraham being held captive or escaping in Vietnam, although they did confirm that he served with the US army and was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry.

Mr Abraham, 57, who was born in Hoylake, on the Wirral, attributed this to the army's "incompe-tence" with record keeping.

He said he had proved that they had wrongly recorded his service details, and that they had missed the fact that he was of British origin. This meant there were also questions over what records were kept about those held captive in Vietnam.

In 1999 Mr Abraham, who now lives in Hersham, Surrey, was pulled over, suspected of drink-driving and put into a police van. The experience of being back in a confined space brought back disturbing memories of the past and he had a breakdown.

When his case was thrown out of court after lengthy psychiatric assessments, Mr Abraham's story was picked up by the media and he was approached to write a book.

© owned by or licensed to Trinity Mirror Plc 2002"