Families of Viet War POWs recall pain

by Leigh Dethman Deseret News staff writer

PROVO -- Breaking the rules, Franklin A. Caras flew his F-105 over his hometown of Benjamin before he left to fight in the Vietnam War in the fall of 1966.

The town cheered as its hero left to serve his country. Franklin's nephew Clark Caras smiled and waved as he watched his hero fly by. He didn't know it would be one of the last times he would see his Uncle Franklin.

On April 28, 1967, after participating in a bombing run just outside of Hanoi, his plane was shot down. Vietnamese troops subsequently took him as a prisoner of war. It wasn't until after intense pressure from the media that his remains were returned to the United States 21 years later in a 4-by-3-foot box.

"My uncle was my first real hero," said Clark Caras, who was 8 years old at the time of his uncle's flight over Benjamin. "As a little boy, my hero was gone."

The pictures of American POWs captured by Iraqi soldiers -- including LDS Chief Warrant Officer Ronald D. Young Jr., who was shown Monday on Al-Jazeera television -- triggered many emotions for Utah County families that endured having a family member as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

"Seeing (the POWs) suddenly brought back all of those memories," Clark Caras said. "Their families right now are in the most amazing limbo that any military family can be in at this point."

Pearl Rex-Hartzell remembers that feeling of limbo. Her son, Air Force Capt. Robert Alan Rex was shot down over the thick jungles just off the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. Rex was missing for 28 years before he was finally laid to rest.

"It's very hard to sleep. In fact last night, I was having nightmares again," Rex-Hartzell said. "It's a reoccurring nightmare. You just pray for a quick end to come to the hostilities."

Rex-Hartzell said families of the POWs are going through severe agony in not knowing where their sons or daughters are.

"Every report on the way prisoners are treated and every time you see the bombs on the TV you wonder if your son is there," Rex- Hartzell said. "I know they said in Vietnam the prisoners were treated more savagely than any other war before. We've heard this war is just as bad as that one."

BYU's ROTC program, which is made up of cadets from Brigham Young University, Utah Valley State College and Southern Utah University, has 12 cadets serving in the war. Capt. Noel Namauu said families of POWs should continue to believe their loved ones are alive.

"It is tough. You know they are being mistreated for sure," he said. "Of that there is no doubt in my mind, especially when you hear all the testimonials of the people there in 1991."

Robert Rex left behind a wife and two little girls. One of his daughters was born two months after the crash.

"If he were here today, he would be rejoicing in nine beautiful grandchildren," Rex-Hartzell said.

Rex-Hartzell tells families of POWs to never lose hope in finding their sons and daughters. "Believe that our leadership today will do all in their power to keep them safe and find them if they are taken prisoner," Rex-Hartzell said. "They have pledged to do that. You balance between fear and faith. You couldn't survive without faith."

Clark Caras said his family watched the news every night and prayed to catch a glimpse of their loved one.

"I'll never forget that night we watched those (Vietnam) prisoners come off the plane," he said. "As every man came out of the doorway, we prayed he (Franklin) would come home, and he didn't. We kept praying, and 21 years later he came home."

Clark Caras and Rex-Hartzell agreed that the one thing Americans can do is support their country.

"If those boys can give their lives and times with their families to help keep us free and to bring freedom to oppressed people, I think every one of us should have the courage to speak up," Rex- Hartzell said. "Freedom is not free. We all have to support our president and military."

Clark Caras said Americans should take the initiative in bringing POWs home.

"Until we win it and until we're the ones that can make the rules, as Americans we can support our president and military families by letting them know we do care about what is happening to our POWs," he said. "If demonstrators want to do something useful and end war quicker, they can make POWs their issue and cause."

E-MAIL: ldethman@desnews.com