Testimony of Albro Lundy III
Submitted On Behalf of His Father Major Albro L. Lundy Jr.
November 7, 1991

This is an overview to establish a baseline for initial investigation by the committee. This is not meant to be an exhaustive analysis, as the Lundy family is still conducting investigation. As further factual evidence surfaces, the Lundy family will submit the details for the Senate to investigate.

In March of 1970 at the age of 37, Major Albro L. Lundy, Jr. said goodbye to his parents, wife and six children to answer his country's call. In the face of extreme controversy about a conflict half a world away, he unquestioningly went off to fight for freedom against an enemy known as communism. He is first and foremost, a patriot. Major Lundy is a fighter pilot but his military record shows far more. Prior to his assignment to Southeast Asia, he had taught German Luftwaffe pilots how to fly America's best planes. Upon return from his tour in Vietnam, he was to be assigned as the military attache to an Eastern European embassy (he went down just twelve days before his rotation home.) Major Lundy had also served at Space and Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO) where he had designed weapons systems and operations. This assignment came after he had completed his master's degree in Human Factors.

In addition to his family, his love was flying and he was very skilled at it. During the first eight months of his tour in Southeast Asia, Major Lundy was awarded the Silver Star, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Air Force Air Medal and six Air Force Commendation Medals, (Fourth through Ninth Oak Leaf Clusters.)

Facts of Loss Incident

On Christmas Eve 1970, Major Lundy was flying a med-evac search and rescue mission in North Central Laos over the Ban Ban Valley. Although two other A1E fighter groups had refused this mission, Major Lundy volunteered. Three Air American helicopters, two Raven forward air controllers, and Air America C-7A and another A1E were flying on that mission. Major Lundy reported having a rough engine and that he needed to leave the airplane. Subsequent intelligence analysis indicated that his engine was hit by groundfire, as the area was heavily defended by both North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao ground troops.

Major Lundy announced that he was leaving the airplane and the observers watched an apparently normal chute deployment. One observer reported seeing someone in the chute initially, while other observers reported that no one was in the parachute as it neared the ground. Ground rescue teams were unable to reach the parachute site as the area was very hostile and casualties were taken.

Major Lundy was declared MIA, survivability rated as Category 1 (indicating out of aircraft at time of crash--Attachment 1). Two days later Major Lundy was declared KIA/BNR. There is no clear explanation given as to why he was declared KIA. Although combat forces try to make the best determinations they can in the face of uncertainty, this does not mean their judgments are infallible. For instance, Ernie Brace, who had been declared dead by the U.S. Government, returned alive in 1973 during Operation Homecoming I.

Immediately following Major Lundy's "death", and for twenty years thereafter, the Lundy family was given but a fraction of the above information. For instance, both the telegram and official condolence letter from the Commander of the 56th Special Operations Wing, Col. E.J. Walsh, specifically indicated that Major Lundy did not leave the aircraft and that "he died instantly as a result of the aircraft crash." (Attachment 2) Yet, one witness states that he saw Major Lundy in his parachute and the government to this day lists his survivability category as 1, meaning that he was out of the airplane. Additionally, the family was told that a parachute deployed from the plane, yet no adequate explanation has ever been given as to how his parachute could deploy if he went down and was incinerated in the plane. Finally, from whom, when, and where did any of this information come from? The family was not given an information to answer these questions or verify the facts.

Family Response

Major Lundy's family accepted the KIA/BNR designation despite the mysteries surrounding the crash. The Lundy family went on with their life. Johanna Lundy went to law school, became an attorney and raised six children on her own. Major Lundy's loss was so traumatic to the family that they completely avoided the POW/MIA cause even while the war was ongoing. The Lundy family accepted the death of Major Lundy so firmly that when Scott Barnes met some of the family at church in the summer of 1981 and said he had information that Major Lundy was still alive, the family said they were not interested in his information because Major Lundy was dead. Barnes approached the family because he saw Albro Lundy III's name in a visitor's book and recognized the unique name.

Scott Barnes reported on Major Lundy in his book BOHICA on page 42. THE LUNDY FAMILY FORMALLY REQUESTS THE SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE TO SUBPOENA THE CIA FILES ON MAJOR LUNDY THAT ARE REFERRED TO IN BOHICA AND TO SUBPOENA COL. PAUL MATHER, to question him about Major Lundy and all other POWs. (Attachment 3)

Major Lundy's eldest son, Albro III, had always wanted to speak to the wingman who watched his father go down and in 1985 he submitted a FOIA Request for his father's file and the names of the witnesses to his crash. The Air Force responded by sending Major Lundy's personnel and medical files but sent a letter stating that there were "no witnesses to Major Lundy's incident." Albro Lundy III accepted this letter as the truth and did no further follow-up. Despite this letter, when the Robertson/Lundy/Stevens photo was leaked to the media, the government immediately said that there were four witnesses to the "death" of Major Lundy. (Attachment 4)

WHY DID THE GOVERNMENT LIE TO THE FAMILY WHEN THEY KNEW THERE WERE WITNESSES AND AT LEAST ONE WITNESS STATEMENT? The government has lost all credibility in the family's eyes--they now want to see all the original documents for themselves. And so they should. There is no legitimate reason to classify these documents.

First Live Reporting of Major Lundy

In the spring of 1991, the government sent Johanna Lundy a transcription of letter purportedly written for Major Lundy. The government classified them as "dog tag reports" of an obviously fraudulent nature although the report contained correct information not found on a dog tag. Johanna's response was to toss them in the trash and mention them to her family in passing. This is another example of how firmly the family believed that Major Lundy was dead.

Albro III ordered his own set of documents and while examining them found a mention of thumbprints buried in the bottom of the transcription. It was difficult for him to understand why this wasn't mentioned in any of the government's analysis. Certainly this could prove or disprove the correct nature of the report and whether or not Major Lundy did survive. Albro called his Air Force Liaison officer, William Frampton, about the case. His first question was, "Have you run the fingerprints yet?" Frampton replied that THEY DO NOT CHECK FINGERPRINTS UNLESS THE NEXT OF KIN REQUESTS IT. Lundy III was stunned. At this point it had been five months since the original documents were received. This is the "Highest National Priority" and the government does not even try to match fingerprints of a possible POW? The Pentagon leaves "no stone unturned" in their search for POWs and does not try to verify fingerprints? Lundy also noted that they also did not call the Next of Kin and ask if they wanted them checked or mention them in their reporting. In some cases the NOK may not even know that fingerprints exist to try matching.

Missing Fingerprints

Lundy's amazement at the cavalier attitude towards the fingerprints turned to shock when it was discovered that his father's fingerprints were missing from the file and no match could be attempted. In addition to knowing that his father had been fingerprinted as least 5 times, Lundy III possessed a letter from his father's file saying "Attached is Major Lundy's fingerprint card." (Attachment 5) His father's prints did not just fall out of the file if they were attached to this letter. Someone had to take them out on purpose.

Enter: the Famous Photograph

In late April, Judge Hamilton Gayden called Albro III and suggested he contact Gladys Fleckenstein, the mother of Lt. Comdr. Larry Stevens, because she might have a photo of Major Lundy. Gladys had had the photograph in her possession for almost six months and had never been able to identify the third man in the photo. The names of Stevens and Robertson were on the back of the photo Shelby Robertson Quast had obtained.

Gladys had previously been aware of the Lundy family name from a letter sent to her by Chuck Trowbridge of the DIA in February 1991 stating that Major Lundy was supposedly held with Robertson and Stevens (Attachment 6). Gladys requested the Lundy family address, however, the government would not release this information. The fact that private individuals had to bring these families together is not so incredible when compared to the fact that the government possessed a three-man photograph with an unidentified third man and independent corroborating evidence that these three men were being held together and never once contacted the Lundy family to possibly identify the third man. This blatant government malfeasance directly contradicts the stated POW policy of being the "nation's highest priority."

Upon receiving a copy of the photograph from Gladys's source, an American humanitarian worker who received the photo at Site 2, Thailand, Albro immediately submitted it to a preliminary photo analysis that showed the photo had not been tampered with, except for the label applied as the sign. Albro who wanted to protect his family, especially his mother, did not mention the photo or his investigations.

Second eye-witness account

On June 27, Lundy was called by the Air Force Liaison with a second-hand live sighting of his father, still reportedly held with Robertson and Stevens, that was received in January 1991 by DIA. AS OF SEPTEMBER, 1991, THE DIA HAS NOT INVESTIGATED THIS LIVE SIGHTING. This was confirmed by Bob Sheetz, Chuck Trowbridge and Warren Grey in a meeting with Lundy and Shelby Quast September 1991. In fact, when the question was raised at this meeting specifically about these men, none of these individuals, supposedly fully briefed on the case, even recalled the existence of a second live sighting report. DIA had the report 5 MONTHS before giving it to the family and has STILL NOT FOLLOWED UP A LIVE SIGHTING NOW NINE MONTHS OLD of this highly visible case. If the families had been given the names of the sources and supposed locations, instead of having this information classified, the men might be home right now.

Photo Identification

Albro finally told his mother about the existence of the photo in early July, just prior to flying to Washington for the National League of Families conference. Johanna demanded to see the photo before hearing any corroborating evidence, and she identified the photo within minutes. "That is a picture of my husband," Johanna Lundy has said to the world. Nothing but an actual photograph of her husband would convince her that he survived. It took the weight of this picture, along with other evidence, as well as the government's dishonesty and malfeasance to cause her to question the government's initial declaration of this death. "Why would they lie if they don't need to?" she states. This photo is also unanimously identified by all Major Lundy's relatives and friends.

This photograph has also been analyzed and the identity of Major Lundy has been confirmed by photographic and computer photo analysts. These analyses will be submitted separately upon request of the committee. Particularly with Major Lundy there is an UNMISTAKABLE CORRELATION of Major Lundy's features in his young photos to his aged image in the Robertson/Lundy/Stevens photo.

Pentagon Treatment of Photo

Albro Lundy III has made four trips from California to the Pentagon to see the file on his father and has been denied access each time. The first time occurred during the League of Families conference where the Robertson, Stevens, and Lundy families all met together for the first time. When all three families questioned Pentagon officials during the League of Family Conference July 11-14, they all said they had never seen the photo before. Because of the families' definite identifications of the men in the photo, Carl Ford and Ken Quinn made plans to give the photo to the Vietnamese and request repatriation of the men.

On July 15 the photo was given to the Vietnamese and surrounding governments.

On July 16th the photo was leaked to the press--not by the families.

On July 17th, the Pentagon held a press conference saying the photo could not be proved authentic and "unnamed Pentagon sources" said the photo was a hoax.

Before Ken Quinn could even get to the bargaining table on July 25th, the real OFFICIAL government policy was made quite clear to the Vietnamese: THE POWS ARE ALL DEAD.

The Pentagon undermined Ken Quinn's trip to Hanoi to discuss the Robertson/Lundy/Stevens photo by releasing to CBS News a seven-page analysis discrediting the letters and therefore, by association, the photo, even though the two had never before been connected, on the eve of this meeting. This analysis, containing a plethora of errors and misinformation too numerous to cite here, was handed to nation-wide news media before it was released to the three families involved. Carl Ford had promised the families prior to this that nothing would be released to the news media without it first being given to all three families involved. When questioned by Albro III about this breach of his promise, not to mention policy, Ford responded, "I guess my work is not worth much, is it?" Absolutely not, says the Lundy family.

One of the most tragic results of this breach was the fact that Johanna Lundy was told by reporters over the phone that the analysis indicated that remains of her husband and his identification card had been found. The fact that the government would even have printed this information when it knew that Major Lundy flew sanitized, (meaning that he flew without any identification on his person because he was flying in the secret war in Laos), and that the official government line to Mrs. Lundy until this moment had been that he was incinerated in his plane, is nothing less than brutal and blatant dishonesty. The government has yet to make a retraction nor provide the Lundy family with any of the evidence they purport supports this lie.

The government has had this photo in its possession since June 1990 according to DOD News Briefing on August 6, 1991. A FOIA submitted in September requesting all copies of the photo and photo analyses done on it has still not been responded to by General Soyster. The families were told by Bob Sheetz that the photo was not sent to the FBI for analysis until July 1991. WHY DID IT TAKE THE DIA ONE YEAR TO EVEN SUBMIT THIS PHOTO FOR ANALYSIS? WHY DOES DOD CONTINUE TO FOCUS ON ANY POTENTIAL ASPECT OF THIS CASE EXCEPT FOR THE IDENTITIES OF THE MEN? WHY DOES THE ONLY PHOTOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS (FROM SANDIA) RELEASED TO THE FAMILIES DWELL ON THE ERRONEOUS IDENTIFICATION OF THE PHOTO AS CIRCA WWII INSTEAD OF SPECIFICALLY FOCUSING ON THE SPECIFIC IDENTITIES OF THE THREE MEN? In fact, an identity analysis was not even requested of Sandia.

Concerning other Pentagon allegations about this photo, the Robertson/Lundy/Stevens photo has never been found in Soviet magazine nor has it been proven to be a "fake" or a "hoax". The Pentagon's official response to the families is that the families' identifications indicate that theses men are who we say they are and the Pentagon is seriously investigating it. Yet, in actuality, they are doing nothing to bring these men home and, in fact, are discrediting the evidence that shows they are alive.

Questions Requiring Answers

Why would our government risk their credibility with the Vietnamese by giving them a photo they had done no analysis on?

If the government truly had evidence showing questions about the photo, why did the DIA not share this information with the families when they made numerous trips to the Pentagon requesting all information on the photograph? Or did the DOD just start slandering the photo for their own purposes after it became public?

If two other families have actually identified the middle man in this photo, why haven't they come forward to shed light on this photo and to help bring their man home?

Why hasn't the DOD forwarded the Lundy family's request to these two families that they come forward or contact the Lundy family privately? Did the DOD just create this story as a way to debunk the most readily identifiable image of the three men?

How could a parachute deploy without a person in it?

Who were all the people who saw Major Lundy's incident? Where are the witness statements of the Durax pilots referred to in Park Bunker's witness statement?

Why was Major Lundy rated survivability Category 1 and still declared KIA without further proof of his death?

Certainty of prisoners in Laos

The United States lost 586 servicemen, missing in action, in Laos during the Vietnam War. In February of 1973, the communist Pathet Lao, through their spokesman Soth Petrosky, claimed to hold dozens of our men as prisoners of war and demanded that the U.S. negotiate for their release. Within two months, President Nixon fell from power because of Watergate and never negotiated with the Pathet Lao. The Vietnamese, as recently as July 1991, through their U.N. Ambassador, told Johanna Lundy that the Vietnamese did not negotiate with the United States regarding POW's held in Laos and that the U.S. must negotiate directly with the Path Lao. To this day, not one living American POW has returned from Laos. "You do not understand...there is a greater destiny for our foreign policy in Asia and the POWs are expendable in pursuit of that policy..." said Harriet Isom, Charge'd d' Affairs, United States Embassy, Vientiane, Laos, 1990.

Summary

In the Lundy case, the family has been deliberately lied to. Major Lundy's file tampered with, all evidence including the live-sightings and fingerprints have not been pursued and the photo has been erroneously slandered by the government. The Lundy family feels the government has shown a complete lack of good faith in trying earnestly to follow up all possible leads on the possibility of Major Lundy's captivity. They have in fact deliberately obfuscated the truth, prolonging the captivity of Major Lundy as well as all the other live POWs. It's time to stop the ludicrous charade that has been perpetrated by the Department of Defense. We pray that the Senate Select Committee can reveal the truth and finally bring our loved ones home.

Formal Information Request

The Lundy family formally requests the Senate Select Committee to obtain and provide to the Lundy family the following information which we know exists:

All classified information on Major Lundy.

CIA Radio Intercepts on prisoners captured in Laos from 1970 until today.

All photo analysis done since receipt of the photo in June 1990 which should include DIA and FBI photo analysis.

All reports of photo and sources.

Latent prints of Major Lundy known to be held at the FBI.

Any and all Henry Fingerprint Classification Cards on Maj. Lundy.

Witness statements of all Air American pilots referred to in Park Bunker's witness statement.

All CIA files on Major Lundy, particularly the one referred to in BOHICA.

Subpoena of Col. Paul Mather to discuss post-1973 reports of major Lundy.