SABOG, MATEO

Name: Mateo Sabog
Rank/Branch: E8/US Army
Unit: 507th Transportation Group
Date of Birth: 22 November 1921
Home City of Record: Waipahu HI
Date of Loss: 25 February 1970
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: CR082226
Status (in 1973): (none)
Category: (none)
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S.
Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families,
published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: MSgt. Mateo Sabog reenlisted in May 1969, and arrived in Vietnam on
May 29, 1969. In late February, he had served his tour and was scheduled to
leave Vietnam. He had served with the 507th Transportation Group in Vietnam,
and had been in the Army for 24 years, including his Vietnam service.

Sabog cleared the headquarters of the 507th Transportation Group in Saigon on
February 25, 1970, and was scheduled to be returned to the 12th Transportation
Group at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. Somewhere along the way, Sabog disappeared.
There were no records to indicate whether his ticket home was ever used, or if
his personal effects were claimed. The Army doesn't know if he disappeared in
Vietnam or in the U.S.

The Army listed him AWOL (absent without leave), and after 30 days, they DFR'd
him (dropped from rolls), and listed him as a deserter. His dependents did not
receive pay or allowances following this determination. Sabog was carried in
this status for a number of years.

Finally, a family member or someone with an eye for detail recognized the
improbability that Sabog would have deserted after all his years in the Army,
and in light of his good service record. The Army revised its determination,
removed Sabog from AWOL status and declared him dead as of the date of his
disappearance on February 15, 1970.

Still, no one really knows what happened to Mateo Sabog. Did he have his fill
of war and desert in Saigon or even Hawaii? Did he meet with some accident in
Saigon? Or could he have been captured by the Viet Cong and perhaps be among
those who are said to be still alive today?

*****
[ap0308.96 03/09/96]
'Dead' Soldier Alive In Ga.

8 Mar 96 18:22 EST
The Associated Press.

ROSSVILLE, Ga. (AP) -- Mateo Sabog occasionally told war stories to
his neighbors and once confessed to police that he thought he had
deserted the Army during the Vietnam War. When police checked with
military officials, however, they were told: No, the story couldn't
be true, Mateo Sabog was dead.

Now, it turns out the Army master sergeant -- whose name is on the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington -- did indeed go AWOL and had
been working as a companion for an elderly woman in this northwest
Georgia town. "This is all a shock to us," Kay Sabog, his
sister-in-law, said in Honolulu. "We haven't heard from him for more
than 26 years. We had no knowledge of his whereabouts or if he were
alive." Sabog, 73, was taken Thursday to a hospital at Fort Gordon
near Augusta for physical and mental tests. Results won't be
available until next week.

Sabog's four brothers and two sisters in Hawaii thought he was dead
until several weeks ago, when he tried to apply for Social Security
benefits. So did the Army, which had placed his name on the
Washington memorial.

Without any personal identification or other records to verify his
eligibility, Sabog apparently referred officials to his brother,
Kenneth.

While the Army is "treating him like someone who just returned from
being lost," said spokesman Col. Don Maple, Sabog may be in trouble
for deserting. The mystery began in 1970, when Sabog stepped off a
plane from Vietnam in California en route to a new assignment at Fort
Bragg, N.C., and vanished. He was declared dead 17 years ago. Last
April, the Pentagon informed his family that remains believed to be
Sabog's, including teeth, had been turned over by the Vietnamese
government. Authorities haven't said why they believed the remains
were Sabog's, since he had been seen in California.

Using the name Robert Fernandez, Sabog had lived with Juanita Collins
for about 10 years after caring for her ailing mother and brother in
California for many years. Mrs. Collins entered a nursing home last
year, and Sabog remained alone in the home. Neighbors checked on him
frequently in the tiny row house near a yarn manufacturing plant in
this textile town just south of Chattanooga, Tenn.

On Friday, the empty house was in disarray. The coffee table in the
living room was littered with over-the-counter medicines and tissue
boxes, open cans and empty milk jugs were scattered across the
kitchen, and a rosary and a cross were lying on a table next to an
unmade bed in the bedroom.

Next-door neighbor Edna Hulsey said Sabog, known around the
neighborhood as Bobby, was always trying to find odd jobs, but never
had steady work. He kept the yard neat, planted a garden and rode a
bicycle through town. A young woman from Hawaii had visited Sabog
in Rossville each summer for several years but the visits stopped
several years ago, Ms. Hulsey said. Mrs. Collins had said the woman
was Sabog's niece.

"He thought because he was a Filipino and looked different, no one
would have anything to do with him. But I always liked talking to
him. He was outgoing and friendly," she said.

All that changed about three years ago, when Sabog began to withdraw.
He didn't want to go outside, he didn't want to talk to neighbors.
Mrs. Collins began calling him "the old vermin."

Around that time, Sabog called police officers to the house to report
the theft of some tools, Ms. Hulsey said. While they were there, he
told them he thought he might be absent without leave. He "wanted to
make things right," Ms. Hulsey said. Officers checked the report,
made several calls, but were told it couldn't be, because he was
dead.

Sabog sometimes seemed confused and didn't like talking about the war
but once told Ms. Hulsey that he had been knocked unconscious during
the war. "Whenever he came to, his buddy was lying there, dead. He
left. He started running," Ms. Hulsey said. "When he woke up, he was
in a hospital and couldn't remember who he was. He found dog tags,
but thought that they had come off his buddy."

Another neighbor was more skeptical. "I don't think he was ever
confused," said Verlon Culver, who lives two doors down from Mrs.
Collins' home. "He just wouldn't talk."


*****
[bits0309.96 03/09/96]

NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF FAMILIES
FOR THE RETURN OF AMERICAS MISSING SERVICEMEN
WORLD WAR II - KOREA - COLD WAR - VIETNAM

DOLORES ALFOND - 206-881-1499 BITS 'N' PIECES
LYNN O'SHEA ---- 718-846-4350 MARCH 9, 1996

POW/MIA ALIVE IN THE UNITED STATES! THE STRANGE CASE OF MATEO SABOG.

LAST MONTH MASTER SERGEANT MATEO SABOG, LISTED AS MISSING FROM THE
VIETNAM WAR, FILED FOR HIS SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS. A SOCIAL SECURITY
ADMINISTRATION EMPLOYEE INFORMED MSG. SABOG THAT HE WAS DEAD. SABOG
INSISTED HE WAS NOT DEAD, BUT HAD NO PAPERS OR DOCUMENTS TO PROVE HIS
IDENTITY. SABOG GAVE THE NAME OF A BROTHER, IN HAWAII, TO IDENTIFY HIM.
THAT IS HOW THE FAMILY OF MATEO SABOG, DEAD FOR 26 YEARS, LEARNED HE WAS
ALIVE. ACCORDING TO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, ARMY OFFICIALS ARRIVED IN
ROSSVILLE GA., THIS WEEK, AND FINGERPRINTED MSG. SABOG. THOSE PRINTS
WERE COMPARED TO PRINTS IN HIS MILITARY RECORDS, AND MASTER SERGEANT
SABOG'S IDENTITY WAS CONFIRMED.

THE ARMY MADE NO FORMAL ANNOUNCEMENT AS TO THE RESURRECTION OF MASTER
SERGEANT MATEO SABOG. INSTEAD, THE STORY WAS GIVEN TO SUSAN KATZ
KEATING (AUTHOR OF THE HIGHLY INACCURATE "PRISONERS OF HOPE.") ON MARCH
7TH, 1996 THE WASHINGTON TIMES PUBLISHED THE STORY.

ACCORDING TO THE KEATING ARTICLE, "THE ARMY LEARNED HE WAS ALIVE ONLY
LAST WEEK, WHEN HE USED HIS CORRECT NAME AND SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER
WHILE APPLYING TO THE DEPT. OF VETERANS AFFAIRS FOR BENEFITS...."
KEATING ALSO DISCUSSED THE FINGERPRINTS.

"IT IS A VERY UNUSUAL CASE AND IS CURRENTLY UNDER INVESTIGATION," SAID
MAJ. ANDA STRAUSS, SPOKESWOMAN FOR THE ARMY PERSONNEL COMMAND. "SO FAR,
ALL WE REALLY KNOW IS THAT AN OLD MAN SHOWS UP WHO ALSO HAPPENS TO BE ON
OUR MIA ROLLS. WE HAVE A LOT OF QUESTIONS. WHAT HAPPENED BACK IN 1970
THAT LED TO HIS DISAPPEARANCE?"

KEATING ALSO QUOTES AN UNNAMED SOURCE "CONNECTED WITH MILITARY
INTELLIGENCE" AS SAYING "EVEN THOUGH THE ARMY LOST TRACK OF MR. SABOG IN
VIETNAM, THE FORMER LOGISTICS SERGEANT DID IN FACT BOARD A PLANE HEADED
FOR THE FORT BRAGG ARMY BASE NEAR FAYETTEVILLE, N.C."

QUOTING ARMY MAJOR STRAUSS, THE ARTICLE CONTINUED, "THIS IS NOT ANOTHER
BOBBY GARWOOD SITUATION," SHE SAID. "WE ARE NOT GOING TO HARDBALL THIS
CASE." MAJOR STRAUSS CONTINUED, "HERE IS A GUY WHO, FOR WHATEVER
REASON, DISAPPEARED. HE'S BEEN SOMEWHERE FOR THE LAST 26 YEARS. BUT HE
SERVED HIS COUNTRY HONORABLY. WE WILL TREAT HIM WITH DIGNITY."

ON MARCH 8TH, 1996 THE ARMY ISSUED A FORMAL NEWS RELEASE. ACCORDING
ARMY SPOKESPERSON COL. DON MAPLE, "WE ARE TREATING MASTER SERGEANT SABOG
LIKE A LONG LOST SOLDIER RETURNED."

THE RELEASE CONTINUED "IN FEBRUARY 1970 HE WAS AT THE END OF A TOUR IN
VIETNAM AND HAD OUT PROCESSED FROM HIS UNIT WITH ORDERS TO A NEW
ASSIGNMENT AT FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA. THAT IS WHERE OFFICIAL
RECORDS LAPSE. OFFICIALS AT FORT BRAGG WERE NOT AWARE SABOG WAS TO
REPORT HERE AND DID NOT MISS HIM, WHEN HE FAILED TO APPEAR. RECORDS
INDICATE THAT IN 1973 SABOG'S BROTHER WROTE THE ARMY ASKING THE
WHEREABOUTS OF MSG. SABOG. IT WAS AT THAT TIME THAT SABOG'S
DISAPPEARANCE CAME TO LIGHT. AFTER REVIEWING AVAILABLE EVIDENCE, THE
ARMY'S DESERTER INFORMATION POINT ADMINISTRATIVELY DETERMINED THAT SABOG
HAD DESERTED. IN 1979 SABOG'S BROTHER WROTE THEN PRESIDENT CARTER
SEEKING ASSISTANCE IN FINDING INFORMATION ON HIS BROTHER AND CHALLENGING
THE ARMY'S DETERMINATION THAT HE HAD DESERTED...."

"THE BOARD OF OFFICERS DETERMINED THAT IS WAS REASONABLE TO PRESUME THAT
MSG. SABOG WAS DEAD. BASED ON SUCH EVIDENCE AS UNIT PERSONNEL
ACCOUNTABILITY REPORTS, STATEMENTS FROM UNIT MEMBERS AND FRIENDS,
LETTERS FROM THE FAMILY AND FBI REPORTS REAFFIRMING THAT SABOG COULD NOT
BE LOCATED, THE BOARD CONCLUDED THAT HE "DID NOT ABSENT HIMSELF
VOLUNTARILY," AND THAT HE SHOULD NOT BE CLASSIFIED AS A DESERTER. THERE
WAS NO REASON TO BELIEVE THAT AN INDIVIDUAL WHO HAD 24 YEARS OF
HONORABLE SERVICE, WAS RETIREMENT ELIGIBLE AND WAS RETURNING FROM
VIETNAM WOULD DESERT FROM THE MILITARY."

"THE BOARD RECOMMENDED SABOG'S STATUS BE CHANGED FROM DESERTER TO
"MISSING, PRESUMPTIVE FINDING OF DEATH," EFFECTIVE MARCH 26, 1970, WHICH
WAS THE DATE HE WAS TO HAVE REPORTED TO FORT BRAGG. THIS RECOMMENDATION
WAS APPROVED AND SABOG'S FAMILY WAS NOTIFIED IN DECEMBER, 1979. IN
1993, MSG. SABOG'S NAME WAS ADDED TO THE VIETNAM MEMORIAL IN WASHINGTON,
D.C."

SO MUCH FOR THE ARMY PRESS RELEASE. NOW TO THE REST OF THIS FAST
BREAKING STORY. ACCORDING TO REPORTS, THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT SABOG
USED HIS PLANE TICKET OUT OF VIETNAM OR THAT HIS PERSONNEL EFFECTS WERE
CLAIMED. IT IS PRESUMED THAT SABOG DEPARTED VIETNAM. HOWEVER, IN
THE COMPREHENSIVE CASE REVIEW, PREPARED FOR CONGRESS IN 1995, THE
PENTAGON STATED "THERE NEVER WAS ANY CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THIS
PRESUMPTION."

THE ARMY DECLARED MSG. SABOG AWOL (ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE.) THIRTY DAYS
LATER, THEY DECLARED HIM A DESERTER. AN OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT LIST, DATED
APRIL 1988, DESCRIBES SABOG AS "CARRIED BY SERVICE AS DEAD BUT JCRC
ANALYSIS INDICATES INDIVIDUAL TO HAVE BEEN A DEFECTOR/ COLLABORATOR, NOW
CARRIED AS DEAD."

IN JUNE 1992, INVESTIGATORS FROM JOINT TASK FORCE - FULL ACCOUNTING
(JTF-FA) ADDED THE CASE OF MATEO SABOG #2059, TO THEIR LIST OF CASES TO
BE INVESTIGATED DURING THE JUNE 15TH, 1992, INVESTIGATION AND RECOVERY
ACTIVITY. THEIR DESCRIPTION OF THE CASE READS "2059 (GROUND INCIDENT,
ONE UNACCOUNTED FOR."

AS PART OF THE 34TH JOINT FIELD ACTIVITY (JFA), CONDUCTED IN EARLY 1995,
INVESTIGATORS WERE LED TO A GRAVE IN BINH DINH PROVINCE. OFFICIALS OF
THE PROVINCE BELIEVED THE GRAVE CONTAINED THE REMAINS OF AN AMERICAN
SOLDIER. THE GRAVE WAS EXCAVATED. "ANTHROPOLOGISTS IN BINH DINH
PROVINCE EXAMINED THE REMAINS POSSIBLY ASSOCIATED THEM WITH CASE 2059"
(SABOG.) AMONG THE REMAINS WERE 22 TEETH WITH 5 POSSIBLE RESTORATIONS.
ALSO, RECEIVED WERE PERSONNEL EFFECTS AND CLOTHING.... ANTHROPOLOGISTS
TENTATIVELY ASSOCIATED REMAINS AND EFFECTS WITH CASE 2059."

ON APRIL 11, 1995, REMAINS ASSOCIATED TO CASE 2059 (SABOG) WERE RETURNED
TO THE UNITED STATES. THE SABOG FAMILY WAS NOTIFIED AND AWAITED FORMAL
IDENTIFICATION. DENTAL COMPARISON WAS INCLUSIVE AND THE ARMY WAS
PREPARING TO DO DNA TESTING, WHEN THEY DISCOVERED SABOG WAS ALIVE.

AS OF MARCH 8TH THE ARMY HAS "INITIATED ACTION TO BRING HIM BACK ONTO
ACTIVE DUTY SO THAT HIS LEGAL STATUS CAN BE ESTABLISHED, AND SO HE CAN
RECEIVE ANY MEDICAL, LEGAL OR ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANCE HE MIGHT NEED.
HE IS CURRENTLY UNDERGOING A MEDICAL EVALUATION AT THE EISENHOWER ARMY
MEDICAL CENTER, FORT GORDON, GEORGIA. HE HAS BEEN IN CONTACT WITH HIS
FAMILY AND PLANS ARE BEING MADE FOR A REUNION IN THE NEAR FUTURE."

##############

THE ARMY MAY HAVE MANY QUESTIONS BUT OUR GUESS IS WE HAVE MORE. LETS
START WITH THE KEATING ARTICLE AND THE FINGERPRINTS. DURING THE SENATE
SELECT COMMITTEE WITNESSES TESTIFIED THAT OVER 900 SETS OF POW/MIA
FINGER PRINTS WERE DESTROYED. SABOG'S PRINTS WEREN'T DESTROYED. WHY
WHERE THE OTHERS DESTROYED?

KEATING ALSO QUOTES ONE OF HER FAMOUS UNNAMED SOURCES "CONNECTED WITH
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE" AS SAYING SABOG " DID IN FACT BOARD A PLANE
HEADED FOR THE FORT BRAGG." IF THIS IS SO, THEN HE DESERTED. YET, THE
ARMY AGREED TO CHANGE HIS STATUS AS MISSING IN VIETNAM. WHY? PERHAPS
MS. KEATING NEEDS NEW AND ACCURATE SOURCES. COULD THIS BE THE SAME
SOURCE THAT TOLD HER THE CIA FORGED THE 1205 DOCUMENT AND PLANTED IT IN
KGB ARCHIVES FOR DR. STEPHEN MORRIS TO FIND?

WHY DID THE ARMY ALLOW A STATUS CHANGE FROM DESERTER TO POW/MIA, IF
SABOG BOARDED THE PLANE FOR THE UNITED STATES, AS MS. KEATING
AND HER UNNAMED SOURCE CLAIM?

WHY DID THE PENTAGON, IN 1995, CONTINUE TO STATE "THERE NEVER WAS ANY
CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THIS PRESUMPTION," THAT HE GOT ON
THE PLANE.

WHY IS THE MEDIA NOW REPORTING, AS FACT, THAT SABOG DID ARRIVE IN THE
U.S., WHEN THE ARMY CONCLUDED IN 1979, THAT HE "DID NOT ABSENT
HIMSELF VOLUNTARILY."

WHY ISN'T THE ARMY TREATING HIM AS A DESERTER, IF HE DID ARRIVE IN THE
U.S.? THE MARINES RECENTLY COURT MARTIALED A MAN WHO COMPLETED
HIS TOUR OF DUTY IN VIETNAM, ARRIVED IN THE U.S. AND LEFT FOR
CANADA. HE LIVED IN CANADA FOR 25 YRS.BEFORE RETURNING TO THE U.S. WHY
WERE JTF-FA INVESTIGATORS LOOKING FOR SABOG, IN VIETNAM, IF THEY
KNEW HE WAS HOME?

WHY DISAPPEAR WHEN, WITH 24 YEAR IN SERVICE, HE COULD HAVE RETIRED
WITH FULL PENSION AND BENEFITS?

DID SABOG HAVE ANY FUNDS AVAILABLE TO HIM WHEN HE ARRIVED IN THE U.S.?

DID THE FBI FIND ANY EVIDENCE THAT BANK ACCOUNTS WERE EMPTIED?

HOW DID HE LIVE WHEN HE FIRST ARRIVED IN THE U.S.?

WHY IS MSG. SABOG, AGE 74, ONLY NOW APPLYING FOR HIS SOCIAL SECURITY
BENEFITS?

WHAT NAME AND SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER DID SABOG LIVE AND WORK UNDER FOR
THE LAST 26 YEARS?

WHY NOT APPLY FOR BENEFITS UNDER THAT NAME?

HOW IN A SOCIETY OF NUMBERS DID HE REMAIN INVISIBLE FOR 26 YEARS?

WHY DIDN'T SABOG CONTACT HIS FAMILY FOR THE LAST 26 YEARS, IF HE
WAS LIVING IN THE U.S.?

WHEN WILL MSG. SABOG BE AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS WITH THE MEDIA?

HOW WERE REMAINS ASSOCIATE TO THIS CASE?

WHAT "EFFECTS" WERE USED TO MAKE THIS ASSOCIATION?

HOW FAR IS THE QUI NHON GRAVE SITE, FROM THE LOCATION SABOG WAS LAST
SEEN?

WHO DO THE REMAINS, THOUGHT TO BE SABOG'S REALLY BELONG TO?

WOULD CIL-HI HAVE IDENTIFIED THESE REMAINS AS SABOG'S, HAD HE NOT
SURFACED?


MATEO SABOG, POW/MIA OR DESERTER.... UNTIL THESE AND MANY OTHER
QUESTIONS ARE ANSWERED, WE ARE ALL WATCHING, WAITING AND WONDERING..

#####################

RUMOR DEPT. - WERE CERTAIN MEMBERS ON CAPITAL HILL ASKED NOT TO COMMENT
ON THE CASE OF MSG. MATEO SABOG?
-----

As of July 26, 1998, The WALL had not been corredted to show him as
"returned alive." (A circle is supposed to be engraved around his cross.)

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