For most people, the words POW-MIA bring to mind visions of military men in flight suits and jungle fatigues, walking the gauntlet of their armed captors. However, the issue of Prisoners and Missing encompasses many civilians as well.

Throughout the Second Indochina War, and the years that followed, countless civilians were lost during this brutal 16 year war. Journalists, advisors, construction and engineering specialists, missionaries, health care providers, intelligence agency personnel... and those aboard the Glomar Java Sea.

The Glomar Java Sea was a 5,930 ton oil drilling vessel, over 400 feet long and moored just southeast of Hainan Island, in the South China Sea. It left the United States in September 1982 and was in service by January of the following year. The GJS was owned by Global Marine Drilling Co., a subsidiary of Global Marine of Houston, Inc., and was leased by the Atlantic Richfield Company {ARCO}. With a drilling capacity of 5 miles, it operated along with a fleet of 31 vessels in a 3,500 square mile radius under China Nanhai Western Petroleum Corporation.

On October 25, 1983, Typhoon Lex struck the deep waters of the South China Sea... home to the Glomar Java Sea, and with those very first gusts, blew the ship into historical oblivion. There was no further contact with the doomed vessel or its 81 crew members.

The following is a chronolgy:

October 25, 1983: Typhoon Lex strikes South China Sea. The Glomar Java Sea in it's last communication stated it was listing 15 degrees starboard.

October 28, 1983: SAR of area includes 11 Chinese Naval vessels, US Naval Aircraft, Commercial ships and at least 2 North Vietnamese vessels. Reports out of Peking state: a lifeboat was seen along with visual signals, radio signals and a raft.

October 30, 1983: Rescuers spot, but do not recover, 2 or 3 survivors.

October 30, 1983: Continued SAR of Gulf of Tonkin by US, Chinese and Vietnamese aircraft and ships seeking survivors. Sea is extremely rough.

November 1, 1983: The Western Pacific Search and Rescue Center identifies wreckage 300 feet below water surface. Vietnam, after refusing to allow SAR by any other nations in their territorial waters, sends 3 ships into area.

November 10, 1983: Gary L. Kott, president of Global Marine Drilling Co., states, "Some of the 80 crewmen... got off the vessel safely before it sank and are now in Vietnam." Both 60 man life boats were "properly launched" and Vietnam informed Global that thye {the Vietnamese} "promised to search the area and return any live crewmen found there."

June 1984: Coast Guard Board of Inquiry convened. Both public and private hearings are held. Douglas Pierce, father of one of the missing crewmen, told the USCG panel that his son and 15 other US men were seen in Vietnamese prison camps. Hanoi denies this. 20 US families sue Global.

November 15, 1984: The National Transportation Safety Board announces that a combination of an unexplained crack and the ships tight moorings, resulted in the flooding and capsizing of the Glomar Java Sea. Of the 81 crewmembers aboard, 35 sets of remains are recovered, with 46 men unaccounted for.

November 20, 1985: Global Marine offers and families accept a financial settlement. The total pay out is 51 million dollars, with 38.5 million paid by Global and the balance by ARCO.

As a result of information that men from the Glomar Java Sea loss were being held in Vietnam, some families continue to fight for information and intelligence that will shed some light on this mystery.

Of the 79-81 crewmembers, 42 or 43 were US citizens, 4 from the United Kingdom, 1 Australia and the remainder from China. Of the 46 unaccounted for men, the following is a list of 43 that are known to be missing.