Some secrets are never meant to be kept, find out why this Vietnam veteran stayed quiet for 45 years.
War Is Hell
The Vietnam war was one of the most disputed wars of all time, and it polarized an entire generation of young adults in the 60s. The active war zone in Vietnam was messy, brutal, and unpredictable. American soldiers fought in unfamiliar environmental conditions and had to face off against an enemy with a fighting style that had never been used before the Vietnam war.
Prisoners of War Went Missing
American prisoners of war in Vietnam were often killed, because of the lack of resources that the Vietnamese troops had, as well as the rising tensions. POW’s that were captured towards the end of the war typically had the opportunity to go home, but some of them ended up getting executed before American intervention, and some of them even escaped into the jungle…
Or So They Thought
It was typically assumed that if a soldier did not return from war, they had been killed. Special Forces Green Beret Master Sgt. John Hartley was presumed dead when he didn’t return home, but his family guessed otherwise.
Tom Faunce
In 2008, retired Vietnam veteran Tom Faunce went on a mission trip to bring fresh water to the citizens of Cambodia. The locals were telling a story about a helicopter that had crashed in the jungle close to their homes during the war, and they knew that one of the passengers was alive. Tom Faunce served two tours in Vietnam, so he knew how to traverse the jungle, he decided to go out and search for the survivor, having a feeling he was still alive despite the war ending 40 years ago…
Surviving the Crash
Faunce had some serious doubts about the likelihood of this person still being alive. This soldier would have had to survive a helicopter crash, the entire last 3 months of the war, and the next 40 years in the jungle. It does sound farfetched if you sketch it out.
Gathering Information
Faunce went on gathering information from the locals. One old man told him that he had seen the person dive from the helicopter, clearly injured, and ran deeper until the jungle until he collapsed. This old man was fighting for the Vietnamese army at the time, and he had followed the man into the jungle, where they found him collapsed, in too much pain to make a sound…
Trapped
The Man recalled taking the American soldier prisoner and assigning him to a hospital bed because he was such a high ranking officer, the Vietnamese army assumed that he had some information that would be valuable to them. The man was assigned a nurse, who had orders to make him healthy as fast as possible.
Robertson
The man gave his name to the nurse, calling himself Robertson. He knew as long as he was being taken care of by this nurse, he was safe from execution. He started taking note of all of the guard’s schedules, and the openings in the camp they were in until he was struck with something he didn’t expect…
Oh No, He’s Falling in Love
Robertson started developing feelings for his nurse, and she to him. She knew that as long as he stayed under her care, he would not be taken away. The nurse also knew she would be killed if her authorities found out about his health condition. Facing this major conflict of interest, Robertson had to choose between freedom and love.
The Right Decision
As time went by, Robertson’s health was no longer something the nurse could hide. Robertson kept his plans to escape a secret because even though he loved the nurse, he couldn’t trust her. In a leap of faith, Robertson dropped his guard and told the nurse absolutely everything he had planned and how he felt, thinking that he didn’t want to leave anything behind if he died escaping…
Shock and Acceptance
The nurse was terrified of what Robertson had planned, but she went along with it, confirming the mutual feelings between them. The nurse helped him escape, giving him Vietnam army credentials that she stole from the record tent, and helping him get over their fence.
The Teary Departure
The nurse didn’t know where Robertson would go, and neither did he. They did not know whether he would live out in the jungle, or even if their disguise would work. All they could do was hope for the best, Robertson was committed to get home or die trying. Nobody had heard from him since, and Faunce didn’t know where to start looking for him…
We Have Options
Faunce contacted a friend of his that was in the army, Faunce had once trusted this man with his life. Faunce’s friend advised him not to get his hopes up, but he said he would do anything in his power to help him.
Somehow, They Found Him
Faunce and his friend used their military connections to locate Robertson, somehow. Unfortunately, they could not disclose how they found the location of this unfindable man, probably military secrets or something. They discovered that John Hartley Robertson had been going as Dang Tan Ngoc, adopting this new identity to assimilate into the Cambodian society. Faunce and his friend departed from America and set out to find Robertson, hoping it wasn’t too late…
Holiday in Cambodia
Faunce flew all the way from Dallas to Cambodia, found where Robertson had been living, and walked up to his front door. Faunce was shaking with anxiety, unsure of how he would be greeted, unsure if he was doing the right thing. He leaned in closer to knock on the door, and before he could strike the wood, the door flew open.
How Did You Find Me?
Robertson stood in the doorway, well over 6 feet tall, grey hair, wrinkled complexion. Robertson invited them into his home after their explanation led them to an understanding. Robertson’s wife, however, became increasingly hostile to the two Americans…
A Secret Well Kept
Robertson calmed his wife down and assured her that they were safe. After all those years, she was still worried about being caught for releasing Robertson. Oh yeah, Robertson married the nurse who set him free. Maybe that’s why he never returned home.
The Life of a Soldier
Robertson told Faunce that he had dropped out of high school to begin training to become a Green Beret, and worked his way up to high rank at a very young age. War was all he knew, especially the Vietnam war. Prior to entering battle, he learned everything he possibly could about Cambodia, even about the area he was stranded in for so long…
Down Down Down
Robertson recounted the story of when his helicopter went down. He stated that a stray bullet killed the pilot, and they plummeted to the ground because the pilot had died on top of the steering controls. He survived by packaging himself in with the parachutes, and miraculously they softened his fall. Unfortunately, everyone else that was in the helicopter had died in the impact.
Run Soldier, Run
Robertson ran as far as he possibly could from the crash, attempting to camouflage himself in the jungle. He was caught and brought to the Vietcong encampment, nursed back to health, and lived in the jungle for five years until he found the nurse again, they moved into a house together and were already technically married because Robertson took over the identity of her former husband who had died in the war undocumented. What a crazy turn of events.
Returning to America
It was easy for Robertson to forget about his life back in America, but Faunce wanted to bring him home. He wanted to award Robinson with outstanding performance in the war, as well as reunite him with his sister, who he hadn’t seen in 40 years.
The Documentary
On top of returning home to his family, a military documentary team wanted to shoot a movie recreation of Robertson’s life. Staging the excitement that led him to where he was, and capturing him reuniting with his sister in America.
Unclaimed, the Movie
The part documentary, part drama film is titled “Unclaimed” and is still available to watch online. The directors of this movie did a ton of background research on Robertson and really found nothing. He had truly become a ghost after his helicopter crashed, or so they thought…
The Grand Reveal
Reuniting Robertson with his sister did not go as smoothly as he expected. After all the time they spent apart, all of the tears shed and loss felt, Robertson’s sister did not believe it was him. After all, the family does know best.
Prompting an Investigation
Following his sister’s accusations, Robertson agreed to take a fingerprint test to determine whether he actually was who he said he was. Lo and behold, the fingerprints didn’t match up.
The Mahoney Factor
A man named Mahoney agreed to meet with the film crew and Robertson, to confirm his identity, that Robertson assured them was true. Mahoney had fought with Robertson in Vietnam, and was supposed to be on the helicopter but was transferred to a different detail mere hours before the crash. Mahoney swore that Robertson was who he said he was, despite his inability to speak English any longer, that Robertson claimed he had forgotten over the years of assuming a new identity.
A DNA Test Reveals All
After all these conflicting testimonies, the family issued a DNA test for Robertson. To once and for all prove that Robertson was who he was claiming to be.
There’s No Way
To the disbelief of many, Robertson’s DNA test came back false. This man was not the person he said he was, in fact, he was actually just the person whose identity he claimed he stole, Dang Tan Ngoc.
Another Secret To Keep
This all happened after the documentary was released, and as the film started to gather some attention, the truth about Robertson’s identity began to come out.
Strange Government Procedures
Ngoc was detained and sent back to Cambodia after his identity was discovered. He had received high acclaim for posing as Robertson and had even been given a large enough amount of money to live comfortably in Cambodia for the rest of his life.
Turns Out, We Were Wrong
Ngoc turned out to be a fairly well-known con-man in Vietnam, he had even changed his name a few times prior to this because his birth information was not known, due to political unrest at the time of his coming into the world. Moral of the story, don’t be so quick to trust a stranger, even if your own intuition tells you to.