American Notes Mias

The grainy photo of a smiling middle-aged man bore a striking resemblance to Army Captain Donald G. Carr, who was shot down over Laos in 1971. So much so that his relatives, like those of many of the 2,273 U.S. servicemen listed as missing in action, dared to believe that their loved one was still alive in Southeast Asia. But the Carr family was the victim of a cruel fraud.

The photo, purporting to show the missing soldier in a Laotian prison camp, turned out to be that of a German national named Gunther Dittrich. The man's identity, first reported by ABC News, was confirmed by Defense Department investigators who interviewed him in a German prison, where he is serving time for illegally exporting exotic Asian birds.

The photo was sent to the Carr family by retired Air Force pilot Jack Bailey, whose Operation Rescue group has raised more than $3 million from MIA families over the past decade. Bailey claims he was duped by an unidentified hoaxer and did not knowingly mislead anyone. Nevertheless, the Justice Department is investigating Bailey's enterprise to determine whether he is responsible for other fake MIA documents and photos.