Is Vietnam-era POW/MIA warrior alive? Clues tantalize
By MARK BRUNSWICK
Scripps Howard News Service
Published: September 19, 2012
His remains have never been found, but David Hrdlicka, an Air Force pilot who became a prisoner of war when his jet was shot down over Laos in 1965, was officially declared dead in 1977.
His name has been chiseled on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. The U.S. government says there is no credible evidence any Americans POWs from the Vietnam War are still held. But Hrdlicka's wife, Carol, holds on to evidence that, at least until 1990, Hrdlicka may have been alive and held captive.
Jerry Streeter, a retired insurance executive and a former classmate of David Hrdlicka, also is obsessed with the search. He's filled his apartment in Edina, Minn., with documents and faded satellite photos that possibly connect the dots: a mysterious image of the letters "USA" seen on a satellite photo in a clearing of the Laotian village where Hrdlicka was last seen alive.
The Hrdlicka story has elements that, if true, might prove hard for a government to explain. But at its roots, it may be more about human perseverance against long odds.
When evidence emerged the last time that David might still be alive, Carol had a 12-year marriage to another man annulled. "I don't even try to convince people anymore," says Carol Hrdlicka, who lives in Kansas. "I just hand them a document. There's no sense trying to convince anybody of anything. I want them to see the documents. I want them to make up their own mind."
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