Finding Forgotten Soldiers - Digging Up The Past with Vietnam Green Beret Rich Wall | Mike Drop #190

About this video

Rich Wall, a Vietnam Green Beret, recounts his involvement with the Joint Personnel Recovery Center (JPRC) and describes how personal effects found on North Vietnamese soldiers provided clues to locate missing Americans. He shares the detailed story of how Belgian hobbyists in 1989 discovered the remains of WWII Lieutenant Holloway in the Battle of the Bulge area, leading to DNA identification and burial at Fort Sam Houston. Wall explains how these Belgian diggers became credentialed recovery specialists and have since helped provide closure to numerous families by finding missing American service members.

Key takeaways

• Wall describes how the JPRC used personal effects found on enemy soldiers to trace missing American personnel during and after the Vietnam War
• Wall recounts how Belgian hobbyists discovered Lieutenant Holloway’s remains in 1989, which were later DNA-identified and returned to the U.S. for burial despite initial bureaucratic concerns
• Wall explains that the Belgian diggers were officially credentialed by the Department of Defense and have continued recovery work, providing closure to families of missing WWII service members

Episode details: published June 6, 2024 · 1.9K views · 8:42 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Stories told by Mike Ritland’s podcast guests are the guests’ own accounts, attributed to them — not independently verified. Commentary is Ritland’s, presented as his analysis.

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