
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 5, 1994                   TAG: 9402050134
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MANY VA. MIA FAMILIES WANT SANCTIONS TO REMAIN

Many Virginia families of American servicemen missing from the Vietnam War side with national POW/MIA groups who oppose President Clinton's lifting of the trade ban with Vietnam.

The ban on American firms from doing business in Vietnam was imposed 19 years ago, after the Vietnam War.

In announcing his long-anticipated and controversial decision, Clinton insisted it was based solely on securing further Vietnamese cooperation to account for U.S. servicemen missing in action from the Vietnam War.

But some families of prisoners of war and servicemen still listed as missing in action say Clinton broke a promise he made to keep the pressure on Hanoi to fully account for MIAs.

"President Clinton has stated that he would not lift the embargo until we had an accounting of those still missing," said Barbara Consolvo of Virginia Beach, whose son's plane crashed in Vietnam more than 20 years ago. "We feel betrayed."

"Clinton promised all the families he would not lift the embargo until he got answers on all these cases," echoed Mary Matejov of Hampton, whose son was shot down over Laos in 1973. "And they're making up the answers."

But some U.S. veterans of the war said lifting the 19-year-old embargo may get greater cooperation from the Vietnamese to determine the fate of more than 2,200 Americans who remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia.

"If you had asked me this question 10 years ago, I'd have told you no," said Charles Montgomery, president of the Tidewater Virginia chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America. "But it's time we face the reality of it. The POW/MIA issue is still there, but we still need to open our arms to these people."

"It's been years and we haven't gotten any results," said George Duggins, a Chesapeake resident who is a national board member of the Vietnam Veterans of America. "Let's see if we can get any without [the embargo]."

Some families of prisoners of war and those missing in action said they are getting new information from U.S. search teams working in Vietnam since last year.

A spokeswoman for Vietnam's Foreign Ministry said her country would turn over more remains of missing Americans on Monday and that a new search operation would begin Feb. 26.

by CNB