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July 15, 2009

Man claiming to be Vietnam POW not found on official lists

A man who appeared before the Muskogee City Council on Monday night and identified himself as a former prisoner of war never was, spokespersons for national prisoner of war/missing in action groups said Tuesday.

Jim Lowrey of Wagoner said Tuesday he doesn’t know why anyone would say he was never captured and held by the Vietnamese.

He said he was a machine gunner in a helicopter shot down near the Cambodian border on Jan. 13, 1969, and the three other men on board were killed.

He gave two of their names as O’Brian and Waters.

Mary Schantag of the POW Network of Branson, Mo., said records from the Vietnam War show there were 19 servicemen and women killed that day. None of them was named O’Brian or Waters. Neither was there any last name close to either of those, she said.

Lowrey said he was held four months before escaping one day when his captors opened his cage door to allow him to go to the bathroom.

He said he was debriefed, then rejoined his company to continue in the war.

Schantag said POWs were sent to Germany after debriefing and then to the Philippines before being returned home.

Lowrey said his name never made any list of those taken prisoner or missing in action because he “never wanted to make a big deal of it.”

For more on this story, see Wednesday's Phoenix.

Watch video of Lowrey's address to the Muskogee City Council below



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