Stories of Sacrifice - American POW/MIAs

Show Notes The Radio Man and the Teacher A Stories of Sacrifice episode In this episode we return to the story of 1st Lt. Roy E. Welbon — not only as the lost guerrilla of Baroy, but as a husband. Through newly uncovered documents from the MacArthur Memorial Archives and the powerful 1990 oral history of his wife, Helen Haladay Welbon, we step into the quiet life they built together in Butuan and...

Baron 52: What the U.S. Intelligence Community Knew — and When Baron 52 (REFNO 1983) Date: August 2026 Three months after Baron 52 went down, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon’s senior civilian official for POW/MIA affairs still treated the survival of the crew as an open analytical question. A year later, language about four Americans believed captured in Laos reached the President...

On the night of 5 February 1973, just nine days after the Paris Peace Accords were signed, an NSA intercept reported that Group 210 was holding four “pirates” and moving them from kilometer location 44 to kilometer location 93 under the control of “Mr. Van,” while experiencing difficulties along the road. In this episode we examine the full body of evidence now surrounding that intercept. We ident...

In this episode, we tell the story of First Lieutenant Roy E. Welbon — a Canadian-American mariner turned guerrilla communications officer — who was killed defending a radio station in Baroy, Lanao del Norte, in January 1944. We explore how contemporary evidence, declassified documents, and modern forensic methods are giving new hope to a case long considered closed. Main Topics: Roy Welbon’s mari...

In this special episode, we present a formal appeal to Under Secretary of War Anthony J. Tata, whose responsibilities include oversight of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and related POW/MIA policy matters. We examine significant new evidence that has emerged since the 2016 DPAA review of the Baron 52 incident (REFNO 1983). This includes previously unavailable Vietnamese primary sources from...

In this gripping episode, Asymmetric MIA Accounting Group Chief of Investigative Research John Bear reveals one of the most haunting “full circle” stories in American history. On November 27, 1745, during King George’s War, a French and Native force raided Old Saratoga, New York. Young Jacob Fort watched his father Abraham “Abram” Fort and uncle Capt. Johannes Fort taken prisoner, marched north th...

On this solemn Memorial Day, we remember the thousands of American heroes who still lie unknown — some beneath the white crosses of our national cemeteries, others still lost on the battlefields of the past, like Brigadier General Guy O. Fort. In 1935, General Fort stood at Camp Keithley cemetery in Marawi and delivered a heartfelt Memorial Day address, pleading for the identification of fallen so...

In The Baron 52 Enigma Part 3, we uncover the most powerful evidence yet in the decades-long search for the four missing back-end crew members of Baron 52. Building on Parts 1 and 2 — where we examined the survivable crash and the NSA intercepts that reported four “pirates” captured by Group 210 — this episode introduces two explosive primary Vietnamese sources: Two independent memoirs written by...

On November 19, 1942 — exactly eight days after Brigadier General Guy O. Fort was executed by Japanese forces at Camp Keithley — Seiji Koga sat down and wrote a calm, polite handwritten letter to Moro guerrilla leader Datu Busran Kalaw. In it, Koga claimed he could not arrange a meeting with the still-living General Fort due to “strict rules and regulations concerning prisoners of war.” What Koga...

Episode Summary In July 1942 at Camp Keithley in Mindanao, Lt. Col. Robert H. Vesey made an extraordinary choice that would define his legacy. When Brig. Gen. Guy O. Fort was selected for execution, Vesey stepped forward and volunteered to take his place. What followed was two hours of unimaginable suffering under Japanese bayonets—yet Vesey’s sacrifice saved Fort’s life and preserved critical all...

From Execution to Excavation: AMAG’s Hopeful Recoveries in Mindanao Episode 1: Daniel Boone of the Philippines: How General Fort’s Legacy Built AMAG’s Partnership with the Moro People Welcome to the launch of our powerful new 4-episode mini-series: From Execution to Excavation: AMAG’s Hopeful Recoveries in Mindanao — the real-time story of courage, cross-cultural partnership, and the determined ef...

*Disclaimer* The content of this episode is AI-generated based strictly on our provided source documents in the possession of the Matejov family and the Baron 52 research team. Direct all comments to StoriesOfSacrifice@protonmail.com In this riveting episode of Stories of Sacrifice: The Baron 52 MIA Mystery , titled “The Baron 52 Enigma: Captured in Laos – Signals of Survival But Buried by Bureauc...

Ep4 Pt2 With Senator Robert Smith || Baron 52 MIA Mystery - No Accountability Important Documents in this episode: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EcBDgBjYVSC6Duh1IlJWqiPM4wsG55Oo?usp=share_link In this episode, we take a deep dive into one of the most controversial and emotionally charged issues in American history: the fate of American servicemembers who were missing in action or were pr...

Important Documents in this episode: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1EcBDgBjYVSC6Duh1IlJWqiPM4wsG55Oo?usp=share_link In this episode, we take a deep dive into one of the most controversial and emotionally charged issues in American history: the fate of American servicemembers who were missing in action or were prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. Our guest for this episode is Senator R...

Welcome to Ep 3 of The Baron 52 MIA Mystery "DoD Misclassification DIA Intel Failure" with the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense POW/MIA Office, Dr. Roger Shields. Link to all official documents discussed in this episode can be viewed here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1pe4mdaE9m14egj5PcZFdo-i6jvS3RSDZ?usp=share_link In this episode, Dr. Shields takes us through his...

Welcome to Episode 2 part 3 of The Baron 52 MIA Mystery "The Crash Investigation" In this episode, Ralph and our team will delve into his investigation of the mysterious Baron 52 crash. We feature a phone interview with the Operation's Officer from Joe's squadron. This officer believed that the intercepted radio message about "4 captured air pirates" was evidence that J...

Welcome to Episode 2 part 2 of The Baron 52 MIA Mystery "The Crash Investigation" Part 2 of featured guest, aviation archaeologist Col (ret) Ralph Wetterhahn. Ralph has become a real-life "Indiana Jones," traveling the world in search of aircraft wrecks, our nation's missing-in-action, and the amazing stories these discoveries reveal. Ralph's documentary efforts have ap...

Welcome to Episode 2 part 1 of The Baron 52 MIA Mystery "The Crash Investigation" ,  Today’s featured guest is aviation archaeologist Col (ret) Ralph Wetterhahn. Ralph has become a real-life "Indiana Jones," traveling the world in search of aircraft wrecks, our nation's missing-in-action, and the amazing stories these discoveries reveal. Ralph's documentary efforts have...

Sgt Joseph A. Matejov joined the U.S. Air Force from New York and was a member of the 6994th Security Squadron. On 5 February 1973, he was one of eight crew members aboard an EC-47Q (serial number 43-48636) call sign "Baron 52" on a night reconnaissance mission over Saravane Province, Laos that was shot down during the predawn hours, a week after the Paris Peace Accords officially ended the United...

Sgt Joseph A. Matejov joined the U.S. Air Force from New York and was a member of the 6994th Security Squadron. On 5 February 1973, he was a crew member aboard an EC-47Q (serial number 43-48636) call sign "Baron 52" on a night reconnaissance mission over Saravane Province, Laos. Baron 52 was the EC-47 was carrying eight crew members that was shot down over Laos during the predawn hours of 5 Februa...

Rebroadcast of our interview with Senior Chief SEAL (Ret) Derrick Van Orden. Derrick was one of the actors in the real SEAL movie Act of Valor. During Derrick's service, he volunteered for missions on DoD POW/MIA Recovery operations from the Vietnam war.  Derrick is a retired Navy SEAL Senior Chief and former Senior Enlisted Advisor, Operations (J3), Senior Enlisted and Compartmented Operatio...

Part 5 - Chat with Australian, David MacMillan and special guest Michael Henshaw. Mike retired after 25 years of service, where he participated in searching for missing in action (MIA), recovering and repatriating the remains of U.S. Service Members missing overseas from World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War.  Find our podcast, Stories of Sacrifice - American POW/MIAs on your favorite...

Interview with US Navy veteran and former Cold War POW John Mitchell who was captured on the USS Pueblo in 1968 and held Prisoner of War in North Korea for 11 months along with 81 other shipmates. The USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is a Banner-class environmental research ship, attached to Navy intelligence as a spy ship, which was attacked and captured by North Korean forces on 23 January 1968, in what was...

Part 3 - Late night chat with Australian, David MacMillan who spent years in SE Asia working on US POW/MIA cases. We discuss the capture of US Journalists, Sean Flynn and Dana Stone just weeks prior to the US Military’s Cambodia Incursion known as "Operation Rock Crusher" in the Parrot's Beak area. We will go over the locations of the NVA/VC Base Area nearest to their capture with mapping and phot...

Part 2 - Late night chat with Australian David MacMillan who spent years in SE Asia working on US POW/MIA cases. We discuss remains he found and turned over to the US Government for identification. Today's part 2 we discuss Sean Flynn, son of actor Errol Flynn and Dana Stone who were freelance journalists captured by communist in April 1970 in Cambodia and have never been found.   Thank you t...