POW network helps find answers: a dedicated Missouri couple makes information on former POWs readily available to the public

VFW Magazine, Sept, 2003 by Amy Houts

Chuck and Mary Schantag of Skidmore, Mo., began explaining the POW (Prisoner of War) Network by listing what it is not. "It's not a veterans group; it's not government-sponsored; there are no members; it is not for profit," Mary said. Then she defined the network, founded in 1989: "It is an educational group. We provide information on POWs. We provide answers."

Chuck added, "We have the biggest library on POWs that is open to the public" It includes a 5,000-page Web site, which focuses on Vietnam veterans and gets 50,000 hits per week.

Chuck is a Vietnam veteran who served in the Marine Corps until he was wounded on Jan. 31, 1968. He left some friends behind, and when he found out what happened to them, he decided to put it on the Web. That was nearly 15 years ago. So now he is helping others.

Five Ways to Help

Here are five ways the POW Network can help you:

* Search for POW/MIA family/extended family member information.

"We are seeing the generations grown up enough to want answers on grandfathers and uncles ... many times when mom of grandmom just wouldn't talk about it," Mary said. "We help these new family members to get missing records, continue the fight and keep the pressure on for answers to lost loved ones." There are 90,000 men still unaccounted-for from WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

* Find the person whose name is engraved on a POW bracelet.

Five million Americans bought POW bracelets during the 1970s. The bracelets were originally created to call attention to those lost or missing in Vietnam. The bracelet is a simple metal band engraved with the name of a POW or MIA and the date he was lost.

"Few were able to track all the planes coming home, watch all the news or read all the papers to see if their POW came home," Mary said. "But we do have the answer on whether each and every POW from Vietnam, Korea, WWII, or the Gulf War made it home."

* Get regular mail forwarded to your special former POW, with the hope he will write a letter to you.

Because of privacy issues, the Web site does not post any veteran's street address. "We make no promises that vets will write back," Mary said, "but many do."

* Read biographies.

There are 3,600 in all of those who are unaccounted-for and inspirational stories of those who returned.

For example, U.S. Navy Capt. Ernest M. Moore, Jr., was shot down March 11, 1967, and released March 4, 1973. "It is very important that those six years of my life leave no feelings of bitterness within me," he said. "I have worked hard to make those bleak years contribute something of value to me as a man--as a human being."

* Weed out phony POWs and MIAs.

The phonies are easy to spot because they like to brag: 700 are listed on Schantag's Web site alone.

The Schantags work very closely with a half-dozen POW organizations ranging from the American Ex-POWs to the National Alliance of Families, as well as local or unique veterans groups. Their POW bios are used at the Nixon Library and Andersonville's National POW Museum. They have helped numerous towns, states and counties validate names for memorials and ceremonies.

Testimonials to their work are abundant. "I am the daughter of a man who is still unaccounted-for from Vietnam," Diane Moore said. "And I am familiar with the POW Network. Chuck and Mary are up-front and very honest."

You can contact the Schantags by logging onto their Web site: www.pownetwork.org, or writing to: POW Network, Box 68, Skidmore, MO 64487-0068, or calling: (660) 928-3304.