Bobby Garwood

Bobby Garwood

Robert Russell Garwood (born 1 April 1946 in Greensburg, Indiana) is a former Vietnam War prisoner of war. Garwood was a United States Marine Corps Private First Class when he was captured on September 28, 1965 at DaNang, in Quang Nam province during the Vietnam War. Often cited as the last American POW from the Vietnam War, he was taken to North Vietnam in 1969, and reportedly released in 1973 along with all other American POWs, but did not return to the United States until March 22, 1979. He is listed either as having volunteered or been forced into a work group repairing a generator at Lien Trai I, one of the Yen Bai reeducation camps in Hoang Lien San Province in northern Vietnam. Other reports describe him as working at an unnamed "island fortress" in Thac Ba, North Vietnam, or having been kept behind in mainland labour camps as a driver and vehicle mechanic. Garwood was considered by the Department of Defense to have acted as a collaborator with the enemy. In 1998, the Department of Defense changed his status from RETURNEE to AWOL/Deserter/Collaborator.

Garwood denies the charges of collaboration. He accuses the Department of Defense of trying to rewrite history to make him seem like a liar to downplay his 1984 claims that he had seen other POWs "left behind" after 1973 and that he had been held prisoner for 14 years, though there are inconsistencies in his story. Many former POWs claim to have witnessed Garwood apparently collaborating with the enemy, though most say he should not have been court martialed. Nevertheless, the Marine Corps convicted Garwood of collaboration, reducing him in rank to private and dishonorably discharging him. He forfeited all back pay.

In June 1992, a U.S. task force examined the sites where Garwood claimed to have seen live U.S. prisoners, interviewed nearby residents, and met with Vietnamese officials, but reported "no evidence could be found to suggest that there are, or ever were, any live U.S. POWs" there.

Read more about Bobby Garwood:  Military Service and Capture, BBC Interview, The D.I.A, The Last P.O.W.? The Bobby Garwood Story (1992) (TV), Books About Bobby Garwood