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]
Eleanor Ardel Vietti | |
---|---|
Born | |
Disappeared | May 30, 1962 (aged 34) Vietnam |
Status | Missing for 62 years and 10 days |
Occupation(s) | physician, missionary |
Employer | Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) |
Biography edit
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 edit
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 edit
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 edit
References edit
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