Eleanor Ardel Vietti

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 on May 30, 1962.[1] She is currently the only American woman unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.[2][3]

Eleanor Ardel Vietti
Born(1927-11-05)November 5, 1927
Fort Worth, Texas
DisappearedMay 30, 1962 (aged 34)
Vietnam
StatusMissing for 58 years, 2 months and 10 days
Occupationphysician, missionary
EmployerChristian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA)

Biography

Vietti was born in Fort Worth, Texas and had a twin sister, Teresa J. Vietti and a younger brother, Victor.[1][2][4] Vietti and her sister were both interested in science and medicine early on.[5] The family lived in Bogota, Colombia until she was around fourteen.[6] Vietti then contracted a bad strep infection and had surgery in Houston, Texas.[2] Because of her illness, she became more religious, but also was a year behind her twin sister in school.[7] Vietti attended San Jacinto High School (Houston, Texas).[2] After graduation, Vietti attended Rice University and studied for a summer at Nyack Missionary College.[6] Then she went to medical school at the University of Texas from 1950 to 1954.[6][2] 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.[6]

Vietti entered missionary work around 1957 and the next year, went to Vietnam.[8] She worked in Buôn Ma Thuột at a Christian and Missionary Alliance leper colony.[9] There was a high rate of leprosy among the Montagnard people and Vietti both treated those with leprosy and worked to prevent the disease.[10] She made house calls to people in the villages.[2] In 1961, her sister Teresa visited the leper colony.[11]

Disappearance

In April 1962, Vietti came back to the United States and visited with her family in Houston and St. Louis.[7][2] She also took a course in cleft-palate repair in St. Louis.[7] Her family wanted her to stay in the United States.[2] The Department of State also warned Vietti about returning to the leper colony.[2] However, Vietti chose to return to Vietnam.[2]

On May 30, 1962, Vietti, Archie E. Mitchell and Daniel A. Gerber[12] were kidnapped by 12 Viet Cong guerillas.[1][13] Vietti's ankle was injured, so it was reported that she was not tied up by the soldiers and was limping.[13] 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.[13] The three captives were taken away by car.[13] The other nine Americans in the leper colony were left behind.[8] It was suspected that she was taken in order to work in a Viet Cong hospital.[14] A captured Viet Cong soldier told interrogators later in 1962 that Vietti was treating the Viet Cong wounded.[15]

It was believed that she was being moved from village to village and was still believed alive in 1965.[9][16] A report of a white woman asking for a Bible in a village came through in 1967.[2] In 1968, the Christian and Missionary Alliance announced at their General Council that Vietti and the other 2 missionaries captured were still alive.[17] Reports of seeing Vietti and the other two missionaries among the Montagnard villages continued into the 1970s.[2] However, by 1991, she was listed as "presumed dead" on the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action list.[18]

Legacy

In 1998, Maggie O'Kane reported about Vietti and her capture on a radio special called The Only Woman Left Behind.[19] In the show, she discussed Vietti's capture, aired memories of families and friends and speculated on what had happened to Vietti.[19][20] In 2008, Nyack College honored her and other alumni who were lost in Vietnam, adding their names to a special stone bench on campus.[21]

gollark: That's one of those stupid "balance"y proverbs.
gollark: WRONG!
gollark: This seems like more of an argument against killing existing ones than against not having new ones?
gollark: If your children are less likely to do well, just have more of them to increase the probability of one being well off or something? Or so you can have lots of them support you a bit in old age.
gollark: However, resource consumption goes up.

See also

References
  1. "Bio, Vietti, Eleanor A." POW Network. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  2. Fisher, Binnie (28 October 2001). "The last missing woman from the Vietnam War". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  3. Lloyd, Alice B. (2017-05-29). "Fact Check: Why Are So Few Women's Names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall?". Weekly Standard. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  4. "Victor William Vietti". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  5. Miller, Beth (2010-01-26). "Teresa J. Vietti, pediatric oncology pioneer, dies at 82". The Source. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  6. "Dr. Eleanor Ardel Vietti". The Christian and Missionary Alliance. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  7. "Dr. Teresa J. Vietti". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 2010. pp. A021. Retrieved 2018-01-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Awaits Word Here of Kidnapped Sister". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1962-06-01. p. 5. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. Garvin, Allen (1965-10-10). "What in the World!". Battle Creek Enquirer. p. 68. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Dr. Eleanor Ardel Vietti: Profile". Military.com. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  11. Skroska, Philip (5 October 2016). "Teresa J. Vietti, MD: Pioneer Pediatric Oncologist". Becker Medical Library. Retrieved 2018-01-07.
  12. "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.
  13. "Viet Cong Band Pledged Woman Doctor's Safety". Hartford Courant. 1962-06-24. p. 193. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Women Vets May Get a Memorial". The Morning Call. 1987-11-29. p. 130. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Says Reds Use Captive Doctor". Des Moines Tribune. 1962-07-23. p. 13. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. "18 Americans Prisoners of Communists". Nevada State Journal. 1965-06-27. p. 43. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. "Rev. Beezer Attends Meet in Carolina". Redlands Daily Facts. 1968-06-08. p. 2. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. Starr, Jerold M. (1991). The Lessons of the Vietnam War. Pittsburgh, PA: Center for Social Studies Education. pp. 243. ISBN 978-0945919155.
  19. "Radio". The Guardian. 1998-09-24. p. 51. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. "The Only Woman Left Behind". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  21. "Clipped From The Journal News". The Journal News. 2008-10-11. p. 3. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
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