Wonderful and tragic at the same time. This may not be borne out by further investigation but is certainly sounds like it could be verified.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2316937/US-Army-veteran-Sgt-John-Hartley-Robertson-living-Vietnam-village-44-YEARS-shot-down.html

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...In Vietnam, Faunce tracked down the man who was locally rumored to be a former American Green Beret who had never returned home.

'Tom went to meet him and was very skeptical, grilled this guy up and down trying to get him to break, to say, "Oh, no, I’m just making it up." And he was adamant he was that guy,' Jorgensen told The Toronto Star.
As the director delved further into the bizarre story, he discovered unusual evidence for Robertson's claims.
He found that reports existed as early as 1982 of Robertson's alleged survival, leading him to question why his family were not contacted to help provide proof.
'Why did the Americans leave him there for all those years?' Jorgensen asked The Globe and Mail. 'Are there other John Hartley Robertson's in Vietnam?'

Jorgensen answered his own question, adding 'a highly-placed source has told him there are and it's not because the Vietnamese won't let them go, it's more the U.S. Military doesn't want them to come home'.

Indeed, Faunce and Jorgensen discovered that in 2010 Robertson was fingerprinted at the U.S. Embassy.

Faunce was reportedly told that there was not enough proof to confirm this was John Hartley Robertson - to which they replied that there was not enough evidence to suggest he wasn't.

As the film proceeds, stronger personal reunions add to the case that the elderly man who seems to suffer from dementia is indeed the American special forces solider.
There is a tearful reunion with a soldier who Robertson trained in 1960 - who claims he knew it was him on sight.

And there is a moving moment when the man is brought back together with his sister, 80-year-old Jean Robertson Holly, at her home in Canada - who would have been Sgt. Robertson's only surviving sister.

'Jean says... "There’s no question. I was certain it was him in the video, but when I held his head in my hands and looked in his eyes, there was no question that was my brother",' Jorgensen told the Toronto Star.
This could be confirmed if Robertson-Holly agreed to DNA testing, but she said she does not need to take the test to know the man is her brother.

Robertson's American wife and two children initially said they would like to participate in DNA testing.

However, they changed their minds about being involved during production last year, Jorgensen said.

'Somebody suggested to me maybe that's (because) the daughters don't want to know if it's him,' said Jorgensen. .It's kind of like, "That was an ugly war. It was a long time ago. We just want it to go away".
'I don’t know. What would compel you not to want to know if this person is your biological father?'

Jorgensen recruited a Vietnamese speaking police officer from Edmonton to act as a translator.

The translator, Hugh Tran, said that the elderly man spoke just like a Vietnamese native with no trace of an American accent - leading him to become very suspicious.
'I still didn’t believe... until I saw the family reunion,' said Tran about the emotional meeting with his sister.

Other moments made Jorgensen believe they had the right man.

At the family reunion, Robertson also met his sister's husband, Henry, and told him that he remembered him working in a drugstore. Henry did indeed work for as a pharmacist for 50 years.

Jorgensen said he believes that no matter what viewers take away from the film, which opens on Tuesday at the Toronto Hot Docs festival, the man who claims to Robertson fulfilled his wish: to see some of his American family before he dies.
Hot Docs director Chris McDonald, said he had never seen an audience react with so much emotion after seeing the film of Mr Robertson's life.
He said: 'Everyone was wobbly and teary - and curious. If this individual is a legitimate MIA left behind, as the family and filmmakers believe, it's hard to overestimate what the impact might be.'

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Fascinating, but two things seem weird:

1) The guy never tries to return home for 44 years.

2) No one involved will get a DNA test.

And a side comment, is a MIA truly "left behind" when they choose to stay? I recall the story of an escapee from the Hearne POW camp who stayed and lived his life out in Texas. Wasn't discovered until time to apply for Social Security and he had to fess up.


Troy's Tractors dot com

That's a fmailiar story in the community where I grew up in southern NM. German POWs were used as farm labor to harvest the crops during and after the war since there was a shortage of able bodied American men (before welfare and minimum wage became so enticing as to attract large numbers of illegal immigrants). Those POW camps were only loosely guarded because the train ride across the US convinced them that the size of the country and remoteness of the western stated made it impossible to succeed in escaping and rejoining their comrades in Europe. Many of the German POWs in New Mexico chose to stay after the war and apply for citizenship.

One former Luftwaffe pilot who farmed chile neat Hatch for many years said that the only secret for success that he had found in life came to him by accident. His forula for success and prosperity was to be taken as a POW by US forces, be interned by the US until the end of the hostilities, apply for residence, become an entrpreneur, become a citizen, and live the American dream. He did just that and died as one of the wealthier men in the Mesilla Valley. He added the caveat to his secret for success that the strategy definitely would no have worked if taken prisoner by the Red Army.

The disturbing part is "the US doesn't want them returned"...why? What did they do that if revealed would create a scandal? Between 1974-1977, 42 shooters remained in Vietnam. A "civilian" would drive a three man team out to a drop off location, the team would proceed on foot to the hide and wait for the target to show up. Then after termination of the target, the team would march back to a rendezvous point for pick up. Of course, all the orders had the teams assigned elsewhere in the world, so the whole thing "never happened"...just wonder if this guy was an operator or was hiding from the operators. Oh yeah, I wasn't involved in any of the activities described, but "heard from someone who was..."

I read this today, and must say interesting f true. However the daily mail is not known to always be correct with their stories, nor to always fact-check.

According to this milblog a DNA test was finally done and it showed that the guy was not Sgt Robertson.

thisainthell.us/blog/?p=35352

Thanks for that link. It points to this one which has been tracking the guy for some time. Apparently the film makers were willingly deceived and are now willfully deceiving the public.

http://www.fakewarriors.org/phonies/phonies486.htm

http://www.macvsog.cc/john_hartly_rob.htm

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This info from SGM (R) Billy Waugh, MACVSOG

Sorry that the information concerning John Hartley Robertson (JHR) flying around the net for the past days, has become confusing.
According to persons in the USG, working in Phnom Phen, the Caucasian depicted in the photo has been proven not to be JHR, but to be a French citizen, long time in Cambodia, with a Vietnamese wife, and several children. Proof was produced by a DNA sample, more than one year back.
On receiving a message via email, for a solid contact, from the USG, with this info, who received this from his USG organization in Cambodia, I have become convinced that the brothers Faunce (Joseph and Thomas) are being duped by this Caucasian, whose language is pidgin English and Viet.
I did speak to Joseph Faunce on 25 Feb, prior to his departure / return to Cambodia that very day. These Faunce lads seem thoroughly convinced (that) they have JHR, but those USG personnel on the ground, who have taken DNA from this same man (according to the info I received) are certain this man is a fraud. I wish this was not true; however, it surely seems to be true.
Ex-POW (Mark Smith) in a message I received on 28 Feb and shown below, is convinced this Caucasian male is a fraud, having dealt with him 18 years back.

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Thanks for the follow up. As I said in my first post, the lack of willingness to take a simple DNA was a real red flag.


Troy's Tractors dot com