|
|
 |
 |
|
Released 8 Oct. 1971.
| Name: | John Calvin Sexton Jr. |
| Rank/Branch: | E4/United States Army |
| Unit: | |
| Date of Birth (DOB): | |
| Home City of Record: | Detroit, MI |
| Loss Date: | 12 August 1969 |
| Country of Loss: | South Vietnam |
| Loss Coordinates: | 163635 North 1064125 East |
| Status (in 1973): | Returnee |
| Category: | |
| Acft/Vehicle/Ground: | APC |
| Refno: | 1480 |
| Other Personnel in Incident: | |
| Source: | Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews, "SPITE HOUSE, the Last Secret of the War in Vietnam", by Monika Jensen-Stevenson, published 1997, Norton Publishing. |
| Remarks: | 711008 RELEASED |
| Synopsis: | |
"Unreceptive certainly describes the attitude encountered by recently upgraded* Army Staff Sergeant John Sexton, who in 1971 was suddenly and without warning released from a VC prison camp near the Cambodian border. The possibility existed that the camp was actually inside a part of Cambodia controlled by communist guerrillas. It was difficult for POWs to decipher their precise location. At first Sexton was accompanied by NVA soldiers who made him walk point, as the Air Force man ldlled by First Force Recon had been made to do, but he was then abandoned near the small town of Snoul in Cambodia to make his own way back. Sexton, who was dressed in black pyjamas and carried a message from the communists asldng for reciprocity for his release, said that once he reached American lines no one on his own side was interested, other than to impress upon him that be was to keep his mouth shut. For a long time he felt that it might have been more convenient for his own side if he had died in prison camp. For years after his return, he could not speak at meetings held by the families of other prisoners without an ever-present government representative to insure his silence. He still feels that his own government had somehow become persuaded that he bad been turned by the communists and that was why he had been chosen to be released. His only crime was to have fallen into the hands of the enemy after being severely wounded. He was shot in the head, blinded in one eye, and incapacitated in one arm. His medical care was minimal but be is still grateful that the enemy applied the primitive medicine of setting maggots to clean out his wounds. He suffered torture and interrogation for two years. There was never any proof that he had in any way collaborated with the enemy. * Sexton was a corporal when he was captured. Under U.S. law American POWs were automatically upgraded in rank at certain intervals." |
|
All Biographical and loss information on POWs provided by OpJC have been supplied by Chuck and Mary Schantag of POWNET. Please check with POWNET regularly for updates. |
|
 |
 Next POW/MIA biography |
|
 Home |
 Back |
My TOC |
 E-mail me |
||
 Sign My POW/MIA Guestbook and/or Read My POW/MIA Guestbook |
||
Click here to adopt your own POW/MIA from Operation Just Cause (OpJC or OJC). Click here to go to the OpJC Comm Center for more information. All Biographical and loss information on POWs provided by OpJC have been supplied by Chuck and Mary Schantag of POWNET. Please check with POWNET regularly for updates. |
Anyone without Internet access may adopt a POW/MIA
by sending a SASE along with their state and branch preference to:
Operation Just Cause
P.O. Box 264
Stockholm, NJ 07460
I plan to participate in POW/MIA Internet Blackout Day on February 1, 2003.......What about you? 
Please click on the banner above to learn more about POW/MIA Internet Blackout Day.
| Home | Back | Top | My TOC |
