History Mystery: Former Kenoshan was a civilian adviser, held as prisoner of war
BY DIANE GILES
dgiles@kenoshanews.com
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The last History Mystery question:
What native Kenoshan was a civilian adviser who was captured and held as a prisoner of war for five years in Vietnam?
The answer:
Eugene Andre Weaver was born in Kenosha on March 7, 1923. He graduated from Kenosha High School in 1941.
Weaver joined the Army Air Corps and was a pilot with the 390th Bomber Group during World War II, flying B-17s out of London.
After the war he went to the University of Wisconsin and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy.
He married and had two sons.
He then joined the CIA and served two years in Korea and later went to South Vietnam as a civilian adviser assigned to the Military Assistance Command there.
Weaver was captured by the Viet Cong in Hue on Jan. 31, 1968, and was subsequently forced on a march to the North Vietnam capitol of Hanoi.
The Geneva Convention of 1949 called for the decent and humane treatment of prisoners of war, but because it was an undeclared war, these terms did not apply in Vietnam. The Vietnamese tortured captives in an effort to uncover information about American military operations.
Weaver was released March 16, 1973, two days after the release of Lt. Cmndr. John McCain, with whom he had been imprisoned near. They were two of 591 Americans released in Operation Homecoming; more than 2,000 Americans remained unaccounted for at that time.
Like McCain, Weaver was tortured, and his captivity left him with lifelong physical problems. A local family member said Weaver rarely spoke of his experiences.
Weaver, 82, died May 30, 2005, in Sun Lakes, Ariz.
This week’s mystery:
How many oarsmen manned the U.S. Coast Guard surf boat stationed here?
History Mystery appears weekly in the Kenosha News. The answer to today’s question will run next Tuesday.
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