European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 5, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Some researchers Are convinced that american serve remembers remain in Captivity in . I Asan Issue that won t idea photo purporting to show an american held in Southeast Asia left looks suspiciously like that of a Baker whose likeness was spotted by Pentagon officials in a soviet Magazine. By Jim Abrams the associated press the Specter of thousands of americans missing from the Vietnam War is again haunting the government that pursues their remains and the families who insist some Are still alive. A special Senate committee expected to begin hearings in late october will probe the unthinkable a that 18 years after North Vietnam s final release of 591 pos americans Are still being held captive in the Jungles of Southeast Asia. It will sift through intelligence reports of live sightings take up disputed photos of Middle aged pos and listen to those who support and disparage the government position there is no convincing evidence of survivors being held against their will. Sen. John Kerry d-mass., chairman of the select committee on pow Mia affairs said the investigation the eighth conducted since 1973, a begins with the presumption that somebody May still be  the revival of the Mia Issue has meant that families that had come to grips with their missing relatives death Are being offered Quot proof Quot they Are alive and Are beset by suspicions the government knew this All along. Quot i Don t want to think my country would do something so morally wrong Quot said Carol Collins of san Antonio Texas whose former husband army capt Donald g. Carr was identified in one recent pow photo. A i did t know anything for 24 years about my father. Now in be got a photograph that shows him alive Quot said Shelby Robertson Quast who was 4 years old when her father air Force col. John l. Robertson was shot Down Over North Vietnam in 1966. To the Pentagon which has cast doubt on the photo purporting to show Robertson and two other missing american servicemen Quast s message is that s my dad that s not a photograph. Its terrifying to me that they re not looking at them As  the Pentagon bristles at suggestions it has abandoned the 2,273 americans unaccounted for from the War in Indochina. Quot i know there Are stories that question our commitment to those missing in action in Southeast Asia Quot Secretary of defense Dick Cheney said at pow Mia recognition Day ceremonies. A families should not have to Bear this extra Burden of uncertainty because there should be no doubt about the depth of our  the Pentagon is increasing its staff dealing with the Mia Issue and this Spring Washington reached agreement with Hanoi on setting up a temporary office in the vietnamese Quot capital headed by the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Gen. John Vessey or. Kerry said another major Mission of his committee will be Quot to get Over the credibility Gap Quot rising from perceptions that the Pentagon and intelligence agencies for political reasons have chosen to write off any live americans in Indochina. If anything those perceptions have grown in recent months following disclosures in May that army col. Millard a. Peck had quit his Job in a special pow office of the defense intelligence Agency after Labelling its activities a farce Quot done with smoke and mirrors to stall the Issue until it Dies a natural death a also in May republicans on the Senate foreign relations committee issued a report saying the government had a history of forgetting americans in soviet prisons after world War ii North korean prisons after the korean War and in Vietnam. The Pentagon a rejection of 1,400 Quot live sightings Quot of americans in Vietnam was Quot contrary to common sense Quot it said. The Pentagon has been put on the defensive by a spate of photos purporting to show american captives it has discounted most As fakes saying the faces were lifted from soviet magazines although Pentagon officials said they were taking seriously the picture of Carr missing in Laos since 1971. Dan v. Borah sr., a Bank director from Olney iii., does t believe Pentagon assertions that the Man identified in a photo As his son Dan jr., is a laotian villager. Quot its another Case of denial Quot Borah said. Quot it would be so easy if our government would just own up to the fact there Are some americans Over  Dorothy Apodaca Alfond Seattle based director of the National Alliance of families for the return of americans missing servicemen feels her brother was among those pos alleged to have been shipped to the soviet Union. She discounts Pentagon claims that air Force maj. Victor Apodaca is dead and says recent changes in the soviet Union could help bring her brother Back. Her Hopes Are based partly on recent disclosures by Terry Minarcin who says he was a cryptographer with the Page 14 a the stars and stripes saturday october 5, 1991