European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 7, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                My a government misinformation and secrecy frustrate anger families of the missing by Karen Tumulty and Dan Weikel los Angeles times Mary d. Matejov happened to have her television set tuned to Good morning America in August 1978, when she was stunned with news that would turn her emotions inside out and forever shake her Faith in her government. On the program investigative reporter Jack Anderson disclosed that . Interception of laotian radio traffic had shown that four americans who had survived the crash of an electronic surveillance plane Over Laos on feb. 5, 1973, had been captured by the Patchet lao and turned Over to the North vietnamese. Quot i said my god they Are talking about Joe Quot Matejov recalls. Five years earlier the government had told Matejov that there was no evidence that anyone survived that crash. They even encouraged her to hold a memorial service for her son 21-year-old sgt. Joseph a. Matejov at Arlington National cemetery. Matejov has since Learned that transcripts of the laotian communications had been in her son s Pentagon file All along. She has obtained copies of them and a sworn affidavit from the person who intercepted them. Though the military has never confirmed that those radio reports were accurate Matejov is now convinced of one thing Quot i was lied to a she said. Such stories Are not rare among the families of the 2,273 missing Vietnam War servicemen. In a recent speech to the National league of families of american prisoners and missing in Southeast Asia Secretary of defense Dick Cheney said that Quot resolving the Issue of prisoners of War and missing in action is and will continue to be a matter of highest National  but Many families complain that despite such statements Over the years the government has repeatedly misled them failed to follow up on legitimate leads and even sent them remains that they later discovered were not those of their missing relatives after All. But in recent months a with startling new accusations from a Pentagon insider and the release of much publicized photographs purporting to show missing servicemen alive in Southeast Asia a their complaints Are receiving fresh attention on Capitol Hill and elsewhere. Friday the Senate voted to create its own committee to investigate the Fate of service members missing from the Vietnam War. _ Quot we Hope to be Able to have the answers by then next Yea although we can to predict that a said sen. Robert c. Smith r-n.h., the chief sponsor of the committee. Rept Stephen j. Solarz in y., chairman of a House subcommittee on asian and Pacific affairs said Quot never in All my years working on this Issue in Congress have i encountered such scepticism cynicism and virulence As i have in these past few  what s More Many on both sides Are contending that the government itself is largely to blame for the problems it now faces on the pow Mia Issue. At a minimum they said Washington is guilty of hypocrisy hype secrecy and insensitivity to the legitimate concerns of families and others who want to know More about the Fate of the missing. In a Battle that continues today Matejov who believes that her son might still be alive is seeking to reverse the official finding that he was killed in action. She claims that a top ranking Pentagon official admitted to the family that the names of Joseph Matejov and the other crewmen were removed from a list of prisoners of War during the Paris peace talks in order to Speed Resolution of the Issue. Quot they weren t killed in action a they were killed on paper at the peace talks Quot said Matejov a Hampton va., Mother of 10 whose husband and daughter graduated from the . Military Academy at West Point. Quot i blame the leadership from the military All the Way up a to the presidents it does not matter if they Are Republican or Democrat. They Call mias the highest National priority but i think it is lip service and nothing  sen. John Mccain r-ariz., a former pow who is respected by both sides said he s concerned about How the government is handling the Issue. Quot i have talked to Many Many family members who clearly have had big  contending that the Pentagon is Quot overprotective of Many of its sources of information and the information that it has Quot Mccain is sponsoring one of several Quot truth Bills Quot that would open up decades old files on the Issue. Yet National Security adviser Brent scowcroft said that opening the old records would raise More problems than it would solve. Quot at one time in the past the Pentagon did allow fairly wide Access to the records and what happened As a result is that family members started getting letters from unscrupulous people who had some of the data and who were playing on those people Quot he said. Indeed the Pentagon said it has traced a recently released photograph a one in which three families have publicly claimed to recognize missing relatives a to what it describes As Quot a ring of cambodian opportunists led by a Well known and admitted Fabricator of pow Mia  on monday a Pentagon spokesman cast doubt on two other photos allegedly of mias. The spokesman said the photos were taken from a soviet Magazine and depict soviet citizens. When records have been declassified families have often been horrified by what they have discovered. Earl and Madeline Bond of Fullerton calif., had twice travelled to the military s joint casualty Resolution Center in Hawaii to look at what they believed were All the records relating to the 1971 disappearance of their son air Force it. Sen. John Mccain is a former pow. A a a Ronald l. Bond a  the file had Little More than the Date on which he had been shot Down jigs personnel records and other routine v paperwork. But when further information was later declassified they Learned there was much that they had not seen a including evidence that Beeper signals and coded messages picked up by search and Rescue planes near the crash site of their songs f-4e phantom showed that he had bailed out successfully. That same record indicated that an investigation was under Way but the Bonds have never seen the results. Nice of them to declassify a letter they said they never had Earl Bond said. Quot we have not received anything since but our son has not been proven  col. Millard a. Peck who resigned earlier this year As head of the defense intelligence Agency s special office for pow Mia affairs compared his former Job to running a police station without squad cars and officers. Rather than gathering evidence he said they wait until it is brought to them. Page 14 a the stars and stripes wednesday