Background In June 1965 the
US Embassy Mission Council in
Saigon established a Committee on Prisoners and Detainees with membership composed of representatives from each element of the country mission team. Under Embassy chairmanship, the committee was given the primary responsibility for formulating policy recommendations and coordinating actions relating to
US POWs and civilian detainees held by the
Vietcong (VC) in
South Vietnam. The committee was also tasked to formulate policy recommendations to the Mission on US POWs held in
North Vietnam and third country civilian detainees and military prisoners held by the VC in South Vietnam. The committee was further tasked to initiate necessary liaison with South Vietnamese authorities and to coordinate any necessary Mission action that might be required concerning US prisoners or detainees in third countries, specifically
Laos. Acting on the recommendations of the committee, and with the concurrence of the Mission Council, the Ambassador, General
Maxwell Taylor, established a Joint Recovery Center (JRC) which would: (a) be staffed by individuals provided by the
Department of Defense, US Overseas Mission,
US Information Service, the Embassy and Controlled American Source (CAS) (i.e.
Central Intelligence Agency); (b) be directly responsible to the Ambassador for all operational matters; and (c) coordinate operations in adjacent areas, particularly Laos with the appropriate embassy or command During 1968 the JPRC was involved in 32 attempted POW recovery operations, of which eight were successful, resulting in the recovery of 155 South Vietnamese POWs. During 1969 the JPRC was involved in 29 attempted POW recovery operations, of which 9 were successful, resulting in the recovery of 117 South Vietnamese POWs. In early April 1972, following the loss of three helicopters and two aircraft in the
Rescue of Bat 21 Bravo, JPRC commander,
United States Marine Corps Lieutenant colonel Andrew E. Andersen was tasked with organising the ground rescue of Lieutenant colonel
Iceal Hambleton who had been evading capture for six days. On 13 April Hambleton was successfully rescued by Lieutenant
Thomas R. Norris and
Republic of Vietnam Navy Petty Officer
Nguyen Van Kiet. Throughout its existence the JPRC never recovered a single US POW.
Deactivation In April 1972 the ten JPRC personnel and their MIA records were transferred from MACV-SOG to the Director of Intelligence, J-2, MACV. At the end of November 1972, JPRC was provisionally renamed the Joint Casualty Recovery Center. On 23 January 1973, in anticipation of the imminent signing of the
Paris Peace Accords, the
Joint Casualty Resolution Center was activated under the command of
Brigadier general Robert Kingston with its temporary headquarters at the MACV Headquarters complex at
Tan Son Nhut. ==List of commanders==