Code-Name Bright Light: The Untold Story of U.S. POW Rescue Efforts During the Vietnam War

by George J. Veith

The history of the U.S. POW/MIA intelligence and wartime rescue operations has long remained concealed under the shroud of national security, unknown both to the public and to the families of the missing. George J. Veith has assembled an extensive range of previously unseen material, including recently declassified NSA intercepts, State Department cables, and wartime interrogation reports which reveal how the U.S. military conducted a centralized effort to identify, locate, and rescue its POW/MIAs.

Code-Name Bright Light also traces the development of the various national POW intelligence operations and provides an in-depth look at the activities of the Joint Personnel Recovery Center, a secretive and highly classified unit in South Vietnam responsible for rescuing captives. Further, it uncovers one of the most tightly held POW/MIA secrets, the primary reason why the government did not think any Americans were left behind: a clandestine communication program between the POWs and the U.S. military. This still-sensitive program provided the identities and locations of American prisoners, defeating North Vietnamese efforts to keep their names and locations secret.

The raids and efforts that make up the narrative of Code-Name Bright Light succeeded in freeing hundreds of South Vietnamese soldiers but resulted in the rescue of few Americans. The vast network of efforts, however, is a testament to the U.S. military's unknown commitment to freeing its captive soldiers. Veith concludes that the United States secretly went as far as any army could go in freeing captives in this type of wartime situation.

Genres: Military History, Politics, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, History

496 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1998

Reviews

[Mark Fallon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I was a history major in college, an ROTC student and a US Army Infantry officer, this was a chapter of the Vietnam War that I knew almost nothing about. Veith is unflinching in his criticism of the Johnson administration officials who hindered the valiant efforts of the men trying desperately to rescue their fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.

This book also hit a deeply personal note, as one of the chapters is about my cousin, Kevin Kelly - then Captain Kevin Kelly, US Army - and his role on the team. Kevin has always been a role model for me, and I never knew this aspect of his service.

[Audrey O'Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult to read but eye opening on what happened in Vietnam and Laos with POWs and MIAs.

It was particularly appalling to read about William Sullivan, the Ambassador to Laos and his unwillingness to put priority on American Serviceman shot down in Laos. He put Laos first. I wonder how many lives were lost due to his refusal to cooperate.

So sad.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Supremely detailed, dense with loads of information, and well researched, but this is essentially a rich timeline document. Incredible for research purposes or military fetishists, but a tough slog of a read for anyone looking to enjoy it on any other terms.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve labeled this as “popular” history (as opposed to academic) because, so far as I know, Mr. Veith doesn’t have an advanced degree or a University affiliation, but that’s not to say that this is simplistic or amateurish history, nor is it really geared toward a mass audience. This is one of those examples of highly advanced military history, performed by someone who is obviously familiar with the military from the inside and has had an opportunity to go through its records, but which is published by a mainstream publisher due to the perceived public interest in the topic. It does include a fair amount of personal narrative, probably at the editor’s request, but Veith is clearly writing for a niche market of folks who are informed about, fascinated with, or fetishize military jargon.

The book is, in essence, the history of a military operation that failed, and thus is a microcosm for the Vietnam War as a whole. The Joint Personnel Recovery Center (JPRC) was formed to perform rescue operations to recover American Prisoners of War (POWs) who were held by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), the National Liberation Front (NLF) or other forces sympathetic to the Viet Cong (VC) during the military operations in Vietnam. As such, the JPRC is one of the few military departments who might be seen as “heroic” in the context of a morally ambiguous war – all they wanted to do was get “our boys” out of prison and home to their families. And they made considerable efforts and sacrifices to do so, despite understaffing, under-funding, questionable intelligence, unreliable native collaborators, and constant interference from military and political echelons. However, Veith informs us, they liberated not a single soldier in the entire course of the war.

The tragic aspect to this narrative is underlined by a conclusion in which Veith traces the final negotiations to withdraw from Vietnam and the agreement to ignore intelligence that not all POWs had been released for purposes of political expediency. Veith suggests that many men were left behind, “written out of history” because there was no question of going back to war over their release, and that they (or their bodies) could and should be recovered by vigorous diplomatic action in the present. He is reasonably eloquent in this case, pointing out that no matter your position on the war itself, these men were its victims and that all Americans owe them and their families a debt for abandoning them. Fifteen years later, it seems a less pressing cause (since most of these men are probably dead and even the family members who remember them are becoming rarer), but as I understand it quiet progress has been made to enumerate and where possible recover their remains.

Some readers will find the political case disturbing, while others will find it stirs their commitment, but Veith’s presentation of it is largely lost in the broader military narrative. The bulk of the book will really only appeal to the niche audience I referred to above. I deliberately included a welter of acronyms in the second sentence of my second paragraph, because there is a bewildering array of them in this book, reflecting military practices. On some pages, I estimate that as much as one sixth of the words on the page are military acronyms (see page 92 for an example). A glossary at the back of the book provides assistance, without which I never would have made it through the text, but doubtless for some readers, it will simply be too daunting to even attempt. For those who can make it through, however, there is a valuable and interesting story here.

[Brian]

I can't give the book a rating because I wasn't able to really get into it. I kept losing my focus and barely broke the surface of the book itself. It might be great for some people, other's like me, it was difficult to get into the story.

[Jay Arbore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most complete essay on the personnel recovery efforts in Vietnam. This book gave me the background I needed regarding the successes and failures of previous PR policies and strategy that we were able to apply to our team's efforts in Iraq in 2011. It's an unemotional, facts based account of our efforts to recover the missing during the war. These men set the course for the modern PR structure in DESERT STORM and beyond. A long read and not for the casual reader, but a great account of what PR was like and how we got to where we are today.

[wally · Rating 3 out of 5]

i liked i

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book and so well documented about the efforts to free POWs during the Vietnam War. This book was difficult to put down. For anyone who follows this issue I recommend this book.