California Man Prisoner of Viet Cong

May 8, 1965 - The jungle search by Donald Dawson (pictured) for his Army pilot brother has landed him as a prisoner of the Viet Cong deep in Communist territory. U.S. military officials in Saigon say there is little they can do to rescue him without endangering his life.

Lt. Daniel Dawson, 27, went down in the jungles northeast of Saigon last November, and no word had been received about him since. A few weeks later, Donald, 25, a merchant marine officer, flew to South Vietnam vowing to bring out his brother, dead or alive. Hope soon faded for finding Daniel alive.

“Danny will have a decent military burial,” he had written his wife in Costa Mesa, Calif. “I will see to that.”

Donald searched the jungles around Bien Hoa, 12 miles northeast of Saigon, and his trial got hotter about three weeks ago when he received reports that Daniel’s body had been found deep in Red-held territory.

A Catholic priest, identified only as Father Doan, agreed to help Donald. He arranged for him to meet with the Viet Cong for a discussion on bringing Daniel’s body out.

The Viet Cong insisted that Donald come alone and unarmed, except for a Vietnamese interpreter. It was not easy finding one, but finally Collette Embarger, 21, a French-Vietnamese college student, agreed to go.

Before departing, Donald asserted:

“If we’re not back in three or four days, you’ll know we’re in trouble. I can’t think of anything you can do to help except sweat it out for us.”

Yesterday, this message was received from Miss Embarger’s sister:“Collette and Mr. Dawson sent word that they have been arrested by the Viet Cong but are all right so far. What can we do to get them back?”In Saigon, a U.S. Army general said there was nothing the military could do.

“It’s a pretty tough business,” he said. “Anything the military could do would undoubtedly jeopardize their lives. They’re really in the hands of God out there now.”Recently, no American prisoners, military or civilian, have been released.

“It is unfortunate those two went into the jungle,” the general said. “None of us likes to think about it, but the rules of this game have changed. It’s not a good war for prisoners.”

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