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Eleanor Ardel Vietti

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Eleanor Ardel Vietti
Born(1927-11-05)November 5, 1927
Fort Worth, Texas, US
DisappearedMay 30, 1962 (aged 34)
Vietnam
StatusMissing for 62 years, 5 months and 10 days
Occupation(s)physician, missionary
EmployerChristian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA)

Eleanor Ardel Vietti (November 5, 1927—disappeared May 30, 1962) was an American physician and missionary. She worked at the Buôn Ma Thuột leper colony where she was taken as a prisoner of war (POW) on May 30, 1962.[1] She was America’s first woman POW in Vietnam.[2] She is currently the only American woman unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.[3][4]

Biography

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Vietti was born in Fort Worth, Texas and had a twin sister, Teresa J. Vietti and a younger brother, Victor.[1][3][5] Vietti and her sister were both interested in science and medicine early on.[6] The family lived in Bogota, Colombia until she was around fourteen.[7] Vietti then contracted a bad strep infection and had surgery in Houston, Texas.[3] Because of her illness, she became more religious, but also was a year behind her twin sister in school.[8] Vietti attended San Jacinto High School (Houston, Texas).[3] After graduation, Vietti attended Rice University and studied for a summer at Nyack Missionary College.[7] Then she went to medical school at the University of Texas from 1950 to 1954.[7][3] She interned at the South Shore Hospital in Chicago and then did a year's residency at the General Hospital of Wichita Falls, finishing in 1956.[7]

Vietti entered missionary work around 1957 and the next year, went to South Vietnam.[9] She worked in Buôn Ma Thuột at a Christian and Missionary Alliance leper colony.[10] There was a high rate of leprosy among the Montagnard people and Vietti both treated those with leprosy and worked to prevent the disease.[11] She made house calls to people in the villages.[3] In 1961, her sister Teresa visited the leper colony.[12]

Disappearance

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In April 1962, Vietti came back to the United States and visited with her family in Houston and St. Louis.[8][3] She also took a course in cleft-palate repair in St. Louis.[8] Her family wanted her to stay in the United States.[3] The Department of State also warned Vietti about returning to the leper colony.[3] However, Vietti chose to return to Vietnam.[3]

On May 30, 1962, Vietti, Archie E. Mitchell and Daniel A. Gerber[13] were kidnapped by 12 Viet Cong guerillas.[1][14] Vietti's ankle was injured, so it was reported that she was not tied up by the soldiers and was limping.[14] Vietti, Mitchell and Gerber were taken to the nurses' house, where the Viet Cong members lectured them, and also promised that Dr. Vietti would not be harmed.[14] The three captives were taken away by car.[14] The other nine Americans in the leper colony were left behind.[9] It was suspected that she was taken in order to work in a Viet Cong hospital.[15] A captured Viet Cong soldier told interrogators later in 1962 that Vietti was treating the Viet Cong wounded.[16]

It was believed that she was being moved from village to village and was still believed alive in 1965.[10][17] A report of a white woman asking for a Bible in a village came through in 1967.[3] In 1968, the Christian and Missionary Alliance announced at their General Council that Vietti and the other 2 missionaries captured were still alive.[18] Reports of seeing Vietti and the other two missionaries among the Montagnard villages continued into the 1970s.[3] However, by 1991, she was listed as "presumed dead" on the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action list.[19]

Legacy

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In 1998, Maggie O'Kane reported about Vietti and her capture on a radio special called The Only Woman Left Behind.[20] In the show, she discussed Vietti's capture, aired memories of families and friends and speculated on what had happened to Vietti.[20][21] In 2008, Nyack College honored her and other alumni who were lost in Vietnam, adding their names to a special stone bench on campus.[22]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Bio, Vietti, Eleanor A." POW Network. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  2. ^ "Your Navy". Navy Times. May 28, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Fisher, Binnie (28 October 2001). "The last missing woman from the Vietnam War". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  4. ^ Lloyd, Alice B. (2017-05-29). "Fact Check: Why Are So Few Women's Names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall?". Weekly Standard. Archived from the original on 2018-06-18. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  5. ^ "Victor William Vietti". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  6. ^ Miller, Beth (2010-01-26). "Teresa J. Vietti, pediatric oncology pioneer, dies at 82". The Source. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  7. ^ a b c d "Dr. Eleanor Ardel Vietti". The Christian and Missionary Alliance. Archived from the original on 2018-08-23. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  8. ^ a b c "Dr. Teresa J. Vietti". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 2010. pp. A021. Retrieved 2018-01-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ a b "Awaits Word Here of Kidnapped Sister". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1962-06-01. p. 5. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ a b Garvin, Allen (1965-10-10). "What in the World!". Battle Creek Enquirer. p. 68. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Dr. Eleanor Ardel Vietti: Profile". Military.com. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  12. ^ Skroska, Philip (5 October 2016). "Teresa J. Vietti, MD: Pioneer Pediatric Oncologist". Becker Medical Library. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  13. ^ "U.S. Unaccounted-For from the Vietnam War (Sorted by Name) Prisoners of War, Missing in Action and Killed in Action/Body not Recovered" (PDF). Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  14. ^ a b c d "Viet Cong Band Pledged Woman Doctor's Safety". Hartford Courant. 1962-06-24. p. 193. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Women Vets May Get a Memorial". The Morning Call. 1987-11-29. p. 130. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Says Reds Use Captive Doctor". Des Moines Tribune. 1962-07-23. p. 13. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "18 Americans Prisoners of Communists". Nevada State Journal. 1965-06-27. p. 43. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Rev. Beezer Attends Meet in Carolina". Redlands Daily Facts. 1968-06-08. p. 2. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Starr, Jerold M. (1991). The Lessons of the Vietnam War. Pittsburgh, PA: Center for Social Studies Education. pp. 243. ISBN 978-0945919155.
  20. ^ a b "Radio". The Guardian. 1998-09-24. p. 51. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "The Only Woman Left Behind". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  22. ^ "Clipped From The Journal News". The Journal News. 2008-10-11. p. 3. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
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