A Decade of War

Viet Nam long ago became the longest U.S. war, and this week another grim and numbing milestone arrives. It is from Jan. 1, 1961, that the official log of American military dead in Southeast Asia is kept, and thus with the New Year, the war enters its second decade for Americans. Over 53,000 servicemen have died, 44,167 through "action by hostile forces," 8,990 from other causes in the combat theater. They are irretrievable, but those Air Force, Navy and Army fliers still held prisoner in North Viet Nam are not. Hanoi last week released a list of P.O.W.s, briefly raising hopes that at last there would be an accounting of them. But the list was incomplete and contained no new information. The families, continuing to live in a painful limbo, sent special Christmas cards urging letters to Hanoi on their loved ones' behalf.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.