June 23, 1962 - Three American missionaries who were kidnapped by Communist guerrillas May 30 are being used to treat the wounded and to train the guerrillas in medical aid. This has been reported to U.S. military officials in South Vietnam by Communist prisoners and deserters, who said that the missionaries were in good health and were not being mistreated. Search operations have been called off for fear that harm might befall the missionaries if a pursuit were pressed. The Americans hope that the Viet Cong will release the three prisoners as soon as they have trained guerrilla medics in the use of the surgical equipment and the drugs that the Communists confiscated from a jungle leper colony when they kidnapped the missionaries. In previous cases, the Viet Cong have freed missionaries after a few hours of lecturing on the evils of “American imperialism.” Only one of the prisoners is a trained doctor. She is Dr. Eleanor A. Vietti, of Houston, Texas. The others are the Rev. Archie Mitchell, of Ellensburg, Wash., and Daniel Gerber, of Dalton, Ohio.
