Vietnamese MIAS on "Morning Edition"

April 17, 2000

There are still about 300,000 Vietnamese soldiers "missing in action" from the war that ended there 25 years ago.

Zwerdling gives a rather uncritical report of how one family found a lost brother and son. They hired a psychic. The psychic is a woman who's day job is in accounting.

She called forth the spirit of the missing soldier at a ceremony in the family shrine. The soldier spoke through the woman and told his family where he was buried.

The psychic went with the family to the cemetary and walked directly to the grave. The soldier again spoke through her to verify that this was his grave.

The family tested this by trying to balance an egg on a chopstick which they had stuck into the ground over the grave. The were able to do this and are completely convinced that they have found their lost relative.

Zwerdling concludes the report by noting that (according to Vietnamese government officials) psychics were employed to search for some 2000 missing soldiers last year and they were successful 70% of the time.

The report is archived at:

http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20000417.me.06.rmm

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