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One Man’s Unending Fight for Our POW/MIAs
Veteran of WWII, Korea, Vietnam says John McCain’s perfidy must be exposed to the public
By Julia Foster
The streets of the nation’s capital rolled with the sound of thunder as over 700,000 men and women on motorcycles gathered in what has become a special annual Memorial Day tribute to POWs and MIAs (prisoners of war and missing in action) as well as past and present members of the armed forces and American veterans of all wars.
Beginning 21 years ago, Rolling Thunder—as the tradition has become known—initiated the concept of motorcyclists coming to Washington to bring attention to thousands of POWs/MIAs who were left behind in Vietnam and other wars. Now Rolling Thunder is bigger—and louder—than ever.
One person who played an important part in getting Rolling Thunder started was Sgt. Maj. John “Top” Holland, a veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam who served in both the Marines and the U.S. Army and whose sons and daughters have followed him into military service.
As president of Concerned Citizens for Known But Abandoned POWs, at age 81, Top is continuing his battle for the POWs/MIAs. He is the co-author (with Father Patrick Bascio) of the provocative book Perfidy, just published by American Free Press. This eye-opening volume tells the story of the official federal abandonment of the POWs and MIAs and the role that high-ranking U.S. government officials played in that betrayal.
Although it will come as a shock to many Americans—even those who consider themselves to be “informed”—the fact is that Sgt. Holland and most other key POW/MIA activists rank former POW turned-U.S. senator and would-be U.S. president John McCain (R-Ariz.) as a treacherous enemy of the POW and 
As Holland introduced his book to the thousands of individuals who came to Washington for Rolling Thunder, they shook his hand and thanked him for his continuous dedication to those who have served and those who were never brought home.
Many stopped and sat with Top—men such as Congressional Medal of Honor winner John Boca. And Dave Teke, a Vietnam veteran, who came down to help introduce Top’s book. Teke said: “It’s such an honor to be here with Top.”
Top continues the battle for the estimated 88,000 POW/MIAs who’ve been unaccounted for since World War I. As of July 2005, here are the “official” figures of “Total Personnel Unaccounted For” as reported by the
Government Accountability Office: WWII, 78,000; Korea/ColdWar 8,300; VietnamWar, 1,800; GulfWar, 3 and Current Conflicts, 12.
Sgt. Holland says, “as long as I’m breathing I will continue to fight for those who were left behind.”
In February, Charles A. Ray, deputy assistant secretary of defense for POW/Missing personnel affairs signed an arrangement with the Chinese Ministry of National Defense to research the archives on Americans who were held as prisoners in camps managed by the Chinese during the Korean War.
In Perfidy, you will learn the truth about the betrayal of our POWs: the whos, the whens and the whys. (Click here for pictures of this event.)
Julia Foster is the managing editor of AFP.
(Issue # 23 & 24, June 9 and 16, 2008)
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