When it comes to missing persons and POWs taken during the Vietnam War, there are plenty of discussions to be had. After all, over 1,000 Americans are still unaccounted for, and discussions of bringing captured Americans home tended to be a pretty hot topic. One of the stranger cases, however, has to do with the disappearance of Dr. Eleanor Ardel Vietti in 1962.
Vietti acted as a medic in the Vietnam War, helping South Vietnam’s Montagnard population with the Christian and Missionary Alliance, but on May 20, 1962, guerilla fighters appeared in the village. They ordered Vietti to go with them, tying up two other volunteers — Archie Mitchell and Dan Gerber — in the process. All three were taken, never to be seen again, but the reasons and circumstances have remained hazy. No ransom was ever made for their return, only adding to the confusion, though the higher-ups of the Christian and Missionary Alliance suspect the raid was directed toward obtaining more medical supplies.
But that doesn’t change the fact that, beyond some hazy rumors, the fates of Vietti, Mitchell, and Gerber have never been determined. A Des Moines Tribune article from later in 1962 mentioned a captured guerilla fighter who actually referenced Vietti directly; reportedly, she was treating wounded Viet Cong soldiers and traveling alongside Mitchell and Gerber, all of them unharmed. A 1965 Battle Creek Enquirer article included very similar claims from Viet Cong prisoners; that all three were being shuttled from village to village to provide medical aid, but any attempts to make contact were apparently unsuccessful.
