Bobby Garwood - Military Service and Capture

Military Service and Capture

Garwood was assigned to the Marine base at DaNang in South Vietnam as a motor-pool driver.

The circumstances surrounding Garwood's disappearance is in dispute; Garwood himself claims that he was ambushed when he got lost while driving alone in a jeep to pick up an officer, that his jeep was torched and he was stripped naked. What is known is that on 28 September 1965, he was found absent at the 2300 bed check. No unauthorized absence (UA) was reported because Garwood was thought to have had a "late run." He was reported UA after he failed to report for muster at 0730 on the 29th.

On 29 September, the Division Provost Marshal was notified of Garwood's absence and an all points bulletin was issued for him and his missing vehicle. This bulletin was repeated for three days with no results. Personnel from the motor pool searched areas of Da Nang that Garwood was known to frequent but no leads were uncovered. On 2 October, the division's provost marshal contacted the Republic of Vietnam's Military Security Services. Their search efforts also produced no information regarding Garwood.

As these investigations proceeded, Garwood's commanding officer reported to the Commandant, USMC, that, in view of Garwood's past record of UA, it was his opinion that Garwood was possibly UA and this UA could have resulted in Garwood being taken POW. Because of the lack of any evidence of Garwood's capture, however, the CO recommended that there be no change in Garwood's status and that he remain UA until evidence to the contrary proved otherwise.

Two separate Vietnamese agents reported that the Viet Cong (VC) claimed that a U.S. serviceman and his jeep had been picked up in the Cam Hai region, approximately 11.5 miles from the DaNang base, after the serviceman had become lost. The American had been captured and the jeep burned. A ground and aerial search for the burned vehicle produced no results, as did four platoon search operations on 1 October. Two additional platoons swept the area in the vicinity of Marble Mountain the next morning but found nothing.

On 12 October, the 704th ITC Det (CI) authorized the offer of a 100,000 $VN reward for information leading to the successful recovery of the missing serviceman and additional 2,500 $VN for the recovery of his vehicle.

On 3 December 1965, India Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment found a document entitled Fellow Soldier's Appeal with Garwood's name on it, on a gate near DaNang. The document recommended, among other things, that US troops stop fighting in Vietnam and return home. The signature (B. Garwood) may well have been made by a rubber stamp and the English usage in the letter suggests that it was not written entirely by a native English speaker. A second version of this document was found on 18 July 1966 in the DaNang area, but it appeared to be on better quality paper and the signature was at a different angle.

In view of this information, Pvt. Garwood's status was changed from "missing" to "presumed captured" on 17 December 1965.