The Vietnam War, the USA’s two-decade losing war against the Communists in South East Asia, was a wake-up call for a country proud of its military might. Countless American service members faced the perils of combat, casualties were high, and many more tragically went missing in action.
Amongst this loss were some strange tales Among them was Charles Shelton, an Air Force navigator, who disappeared during a covert reconnaissance mission over Laos in 1965.
Despite extensive search efforts, Shelton was never found. Over the years, long after the war’s end, stories of Shelton’s exploits as a prisoner of war would crop up, but the US government seemed uninterested in investigating.
Decades later, his ultimate fate remains unresolved, leading to tragic consequences for his nearest and dearest who were left chasing his trail. What happened to Shelton, known as “the last Prisoner of War in Vietnam”?
America’s Last POW in Vietnam?
Colonel Charles Shelton was born in Utica, Kentucky on April 29, 1932. He married his wife, Marian, in 1951 and three years later joined the US Air Force. He quickly moved up the ranks and by 1962 he was stationed in Saigon, training Vietnamese pilots.
However, teaching was a waste of his talents, and three years later, he was tasked with flying top-secret photo reconnaissance flights above Laos. Shelton, his wife, and five children were all sent to Okinawa, Japan. Despite getting to live together it wasn’t an easy posting, with Shelton often being away for weeks at a time with no idea of when he’d be back.
The last time Shelton saw his family was April 26, 1965. Three days later, on his 33rd birthday, his plane went down over Laos. Unaware of what had happened to him, his family held a birthday party for him. It was during this party his wife Marian was informed her husband had been downed and search parties had been sent out to find him.
At first, things looked hopeful. American planes quickly made both visual and radio contact with Shelton. Unfortunately, before rescue helicopters could reach him the weather turned bad, making a rescue mission impossible. Shelton waited in the area for several days for his rescuers before things took a turn for the worse.
Six days after his initial crash Shelton’s family received word that he’d been captured. According to local Laos villagers the Pathet Lao, communist forces in the area had caught Shelton and transferred him to a prison camp. He was officially a prisoner of war or POW.
Not long after Shelton had been captured his wife received a package containing his personal effects. Inside were his dog tags and military ID, this was odd because pilots usually carried these at all times. Around the same time, a camera was found which when developed held pictures of Shelton wearing a sanitized uniform with no military insignia.
According to his family, amongst others, this likely meant Shelton’s flight was part of black ops. In other words, the US government didn’t want anyone to know they had servicemen active in Laos at the time. This made it seem unlikely that he’d be getting much official help.
His family didn’t give up hope but three months later returned home to Kentucky. The war continued and occasionally soldiers would return claiming to have news of Shelton. This news tended to suggest he was still alive and remained strong.
Sadly, it wasn’t always good news. Some stories told how he was badly being mistreated by his captors. One particularly dark story claimed he was held in a shallow grave with bars on top of him. Others said he was being tortured almost daily.
And then, on January 27, 1973, President Nixon announced that the United States was leaving the Vietnam War. At this point, Shelton had been missing for nearly eight years, but surely the end of the war was good news for his chances of release.
Nixon proclaimed that within a couple of months, all surviving POWs would be returned to their families. Two lists were released. The first had the names of everyone coming home. The second had the names of those believed to have died in captivity.
Before Shelton’s family could get their hopes up, they learned his name was on the second list. Three months later the Pentagon released an official statement claiming no POWs remained in Southeast Asia, everyone who was coming home was home. Marian, however, refused to give up.
She was convinced some POWs were still alive and, teaming up with reporter Leah Larki, traveled to Laos. Their pilot / guide was fluent in the local dialects and helped the two women interview locals who claimed Shelton was alive in a nearby cave. Sadly, this lead turned out to be a dead-end, and no concrete evidence was found.
Two years later events took yet another turn. Ten years to the day that Shelton had been shot down, April 29, 1975, Saigon fell to the communists. Thousands of refugees fled to the US, bringing with them stories of American pilots still being held as POWs all these years later. For whatever reason, the American government was aware of this but had decided to withhold the information from the servicemen’s families.
Never Found
After a lot of effort, Marian received several documents on Shelton via the Freedom of Information Act. According to credible sources, he had been spotted numerous times in the years following his capture. Some even claimed to have seen him as late as 1983, eighteen years after his crash and eight years after the end of the war.
In the files were reports that he’d led numerous escape attempts. One told how he’d been handed over to the North Vietnamese who interrogated him for intel, but he never broke. Instead, he is said to have fought back, killing several of his Vietnamese captors. The last rumored sighting of Shelton was in 1985, and after that the trail went cold.
Over the years the Air Force did its best to put an end to the saga. On October 7, 1980, Marian met with officials to convince them Shelton was still alive.
Despite showing them multiple witness reports showing he was alive, the board remained unconvinced. This led her to believe the government was just attempting to put the disastrous Vietnam war behind and was sweeping the surviving POWs under the rug.
Only one official, Secretary of the Air Force, Vernon Orr, seems to have cared. He refused to accept the board’s decision and in 1984 upheld Shelton’s POW status.
For her part, Marian spent the 80s campaigning and appearing on TV shows to talk about Shelton’s case and that of the other leftover POWs. Tragically, she eventually turned to alcohol and on October 4, 1990, took her own life.
But the story doesn’t end there. In 1994 Laos and the United States reached an agreement that allowed American searchers to enter the country and look for evidence of Shelton, his aircraft, and his remains.
Despite their best efforts no evidence he had survived was found. That June a board was held and three generals agreed Shelton’s status should be changed to killed in action.
In October 1994, at the request of Shelton’s children, this decision was made official. It’s thought he most likely died in captivity, probably due to abuse or malnutrition.
Where and when he died remains a mystery to this day. His unresolved fate underscores the enduring impact war has on individuals, families, and communities.
But many questions remain unanswered. Why were his effects returned so promptly after his capture. Why the photo of him without insignia? Why the sightings for years after the war?
Whatever we know about the fate of Charles Shelton, it is far from the whole truth.
Top Image: Charles Shelton evaded capture for several days and was almost rescued, but nobody knows his ultimate fate. Source: Dieter Holstein / Adobe Stock.
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