The Honorable Eni Faleomavaega
2422 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
29 July 2000
Representative Faleomavaega,
Good day. I am writing to you in regards to Eleanor Ardel Vietti, a Vietnam POW whom I have adopted. Ms. Vietti was a civilian surgeon with the Christian and Missionary Alliance when she, Reverend Archie E Mitchell, and Daniel A Gerber were taken captive on 30 May 1962. As a Vietnam Veteran and as a member of the House International Relations subcommittees on International Operations and Human Rights and Asian and Pacific Affairs, you should understand what all went on in Vietnam during the War, and what still goes on there years later. Vietnam was hell for those who served there, and it is undoubtedly still hell for those Americans who remain behind. Ms. Vietti was nearly thirty-five years of age when she went missing, but being the tough woman she was, she very well may still be alive. Old, yes, but still alive, probably. Just think about it ... when you were graduating from high school, not yet on your way to serve in Vietnam, Ms. Vietti was already over there, saving the lives of other men, and serving her country proudly, and then, in an instance, the lives of her, the other captives, and their families were changed forever. We owe it to ourselves, to the families, and most of all, to those who dared to fight a war no one quite understood to get an accounting for those left behind. I thank you for reading this letter, I thank you for daring to serve, and I hope that you too will never forget the ultimate sacrifice many a person made in Vietnam, particularly the only female Vietnam Prisoner Of War, Ms. Eleanor Ardel Vietti.
Respectfully,
Stacey N. Jones